[clue-tech] RAID Cards

[Chris]

On Fri, 2006-08-25 at 10:44 -0600, dhahn wrote:
> 3Ware.  I've used both and have always had better luck with 3Ware; both 
> on driver availability and performance.
> 
> Femtoghoti wrote:
> > i am looking to purchase a raid card to run raid5 accross 8 drives.  i
> > am currently looking at either a HighPoint or 3Ware card.  does anyone
> > have any expierience setting up either of these brands of hardware?
> > are there know pitfalls with specific chipsets or cards in general?
> >
> > any input would be helpful before i 'commit' to a purchase.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Eric
> >

Agreed.

I'm currently using a HighPoint card right now and, to be honest,
getting it working with Linux was quite the PITA.  In general, they
don't provide opensource drivers, and the binary ones on their site are
usually outdated and require an old version of the kernel to run (thus
requiring you to possibly run an older out-of-date distro).

There are some opensource highpoint drivers in the kernel but I had to
run an "unofficial" patch to get them to recognize my card (again,
because I didn't want to run an old distribution on my desktop), and ..
oh by the way .. I found out that the RAID HighPoint was using is
actually software RAID in my case.

3Ware has opensource drivers built into the kernel, and anyone that I've
talked to recommends them over the Highpoint ones.  It's one of those "I
just popped in the card, and it just worked!" stories.  Next time that's
what I'll end up buying .. they are more expensive but worth it in the
long run.

Also, Adaptec might have something out there if you haven't looked at
them.  They also seem to be fairly well supported in the kernel.

Cheers,

-Chris