[CoLoCo] RAID controller

[David L. Willson]

On Tue, 2008-01-01 at 17:43 -0700, Jim Hutchinson wrote:
> On 1/1/08, Jim Hutchinson <jim at ubuntu-rocks.org> wrote:
> > On 1/1/08, David L. Willson <DLWillson at thegeek.nu> wrote:
> > > 1) You can't hit that price-range with any quality.
> > > 2) Stick with 3ware.  They rock.
> > > 3) Mirroring = RAID1, Striping = RAID0, Striping w/ one disk of
> > > distributed parity = RAID 5.
> > >
> >
> > Ah, got those mixed up. I have mirroring right now with software RAID.
> > I don't think it works as my second drive is mostly empty.
> >
> > There are a bunch of hardware RAID controllers on Newegg for $15 and
> > up. There must be something decent available. There are just too many
> > choices and I have no experience with these.
> >

> For example, this one
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816116030

Good card.  Do you have a 64-bit PCI slot?  Will you ever want a second
mirror-set?  Notice "Rod"s review.  After 2-4 years running Linux on
3ware, he's never going to use anything else.  I'm with him.  

> Not less than $100 but a 3ware as you suggest. Would this work? How
> different is this one
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132009 for
> only $20?

I'll bet you dollars to dough-nuts that that one's a win-RAID
controller, and that it doesn't support Linux.

Last thought:  If you're just screwing around, you might want to just
use true software RAID for free.  Linux is f*ing great at it, and it's
about the only way to get RAID6 without selling children.  But if you're
heading for massive storage server land, eBay up a 3ware, and start with
at least 4 ports, not 2.  You'll be glad you did when you add your
second array.