which Raid Card?

[BigBen]

Hi Chaps,
I want to get a NF2 board but none seem to come with IDE Raid soooo what raid card would any of you recommend?

Regards

[Player0]

Having just been there done that, I can help :) But need more information. What kind of raid do you want to do? Stripping? Mirroring? Raid 5?

A raid card is a great investment. Costs more upfront, but you can move it between system to system (and save yourself about $40 on the motherboard each time).

I toute Promise's solutions. Adaptec makes some nice IDE raid cards as well. Higher end, you have like the 3ware Escalade, which will cost you more but might be worth it if you have critical data.

[BigBen]

Hi,
All I want is the basic Raid 0 as I always keep an image for any disasters awaiting me ...... All I want is speeeeed :D and as you said player I can then get my money back by buying mobos without Raid ...... I was looking around but there are so many to choose from I thought it best to get advice

Regards

[Player0]

Promise FastTrack100 TX2, about $80-$90 US

Adaptec 1200a $60-$70

HighPoint does make a cheap one which works okay. But, HighPoint drivers have always been pretty shady. I wouldnt use it for any RAID1 applications.

[sptw]

For use only with Raid0, desktop usage and to fit it on 32bits/33Mhz slot, software raid cards will be the best and cheap solution.Try to buy the cheapest one that you can from promise or Highpoint.Even a old Ide Raid fast Track 100 card can do the job in the right way.The difference in performance is little.Almost imperceptible.For Add-on card i prefer Promise instead Highpoint.I could to see a few months ago on Neweggs a fast track 100 ide raid card for only $20, but unfortunatelly it's not in sotck anymore.It's a phase out product, but maybe with a little luck you can find one.I have one Fast track 100 ide raid card running 2 X 80GB D750X from maxtor on raid0 configuration and a nforce1 plataform in a fast, fast way.Don't spend much money on this card Big Ben.Don't buy a expensive card.Why?Well, i could see that you are going to intent to use those 2 IBM hard drive in your signature.I bet that they are 75GXP or 60GXP line.You know, i know and a lot of people know that they are unreliable.One nice day and it POW, goodbye.You will have to buy another one.Which one to choose?A IDE Hard Disk or a Serial Hard disk?Serial HDs are cheap today, then imagine one year later.Your mobo already have a serial raid controller, and most of the mobo manufacturers are going to implement it on their products.
Well, this is my humble contribution.Good luck m8!

[mdzcpa]

I bought an inexpensive Highpoint ATA 133 Rocket RAID card to use with my A7N8X...and it worked awesome. It offers 2 channels each supporting 2 drives for a max of 4 drives, RAID 0, 1, 0+1, and JBOD. Even better, it handles high FSB speeds really well (something you may not need to worry about with you PCI bus speed locked NF2 board).

Although I sold the Asus to a buddy afew weeks back, I went ahead and put it in my KD7-E where it is still working without a hitch.

I cannot comment whether it is better or worse than any other card mentioned in this thread as it is the only one I've used. But it really has been absolutely trouble free for me. Seems to work way better than the "on mobo" chips too.

I highly recommend it.

[NorthernYankee]

I have the Highpoint RR133 also...I got it a few months back with some Maxtors and it has purred along great for me at 200FSB.

--NY

[mdzcpa]

Hey NY...I just noticed we are running the same drives too:) We both have a pair of Maxtor 40g drives (same model) in RAID 0, on Abit boards, on the RR card. I just didn't notice that before:D

I also love the set up too.

[NorthernYankee]

Yes tis a nice setup...with drives and card its only like $200.

--NY

[BigBen]

would this (http://web6.scan.co.uk/Products/Info.asp?WPID=17433) do the job?

Regards

[mdzcpa]

That is the exact card I'm using....works a charm for me:)

[BigBen]

That will do for me :D I will order it :)

thx chaps

[Snowman]

Big ben, LOOK at the card before you order, the one you link to does not support RAID LN3563

this one does LN3567 Highpoint Rocket Raid 133RE 2Ch ATA133 Raid Host Adaptor 56.00 65.80

[mdzcpa]

Originally posted by billg2911
Big ben, LOOK at the card before you order, the one you link to does not support RAID LN3563

this one does LN3567 Highpoint Rocket Raid 133RE 2Ch ATA133 Raid Host Adaptor 56.00 65.80

:eek: :eek: :eek: Oh CRAP! I didn't even notice that...it looks exactly like my highpoint RAID card. I cannot beleive I didn't notice that.

Thanks for the correction billg2911!

Gosh, i hope you didn't order this yet BigBen Sorry about that :(

[Player0]

I guess Im the only one who doesn't think much of HighPoint ;)

[BigBen]

Originally posted by billg2911
Big ben, LOOK at the card before you order, the one you link to does not support RAID LN3563

this one does LN3567 Highpoint Rocket Raid 133RE 2Ch ATA133 Raid Host Adaptor 56.00 65.80

Oh shiiiiiiiiit :eek: I have ordered it :( ... I just sent em two emails to ask to cancel the order so that I can get the right one ... I will not know to tomorrow if this is ok, at least they have not sent it yet.

Regards

[mdzcpa]

Originally posted by BigBen


Oh shiiiiiiiiit :eek: I have ordered it :( ... I just sent em two emails to ask to cancel the order so that I can get the right one ... I will not know to tomorrow if this is ok, at least they have not sent it yet.

Regards


I am sooooo sorry about that:( I just did not look hard enough at the link you posted. It looked like my card and said ATA 1333 and I thought that was it for sure.

My sincere apologies Big Ben.

[Snowman]

It is very hard to tell to two apart, one is a Disk Accelerator, the other is a Raid Host Adaptor

Even on the description for the Disk Accelerator it says something about RAID, Quote "RAID controller IC
HighPoint HPT302 UDMA ATA133 Controller" A little misleading :2guns:

Hope ya can get it change shod if they did not ship it yet
good luck :)

[BigBen]

Originally posted by mdzcpa



I am sooooo sorry about that:( I just did not look hard enough at the link you posted. It looked like my card and said ATA 1333 and I thought that was it for sure.

My sincere apologies Big Ben.

No problem mdzcpa it was a simple mistake :) they should change the order I would think as the item I want is more expensive

Regards

[BigBen]

OK chaps panic over I managed to phone and cancel my order and order the correct item (thanks billg2911) ........ mdzcpa for your punishment :utrocket: can you give a quick overview about fitting the card and will I have to reinstall XP or will I be able to install the card and just add the drivers when/if XP boots up ...... I am running Raid at the moment from my Asus A7V333R

Regards

[Farabomb]

I don't think you'll be able to switch arrays without re-formating.

If I remember correctly the ASUS has a promise chip and you're getting a highpoint controler. I don't think it will work but feel free to prove me wrong :)

[Player0]

Fara is right. The A7V uses Promise raid. You'll have to create a new array with the Highpoint, so you'll need to back up all your data.

[sptw]

Agree Fara and Player0 here.There's no way.You should to do a fresh install.

[mdzcpa]

Late to the party here, but everyone above is right on the money...you'll need to fresh install.

BTW, glad you worked it out and were able ato change the order. For punishment I've decided to bannish myslef to my computer lab for hours of tweaking, benching, and gaming. It's gonna be rough...

[BigBen]

oh well more hours wasted in my life :D

Regards

[BigBen]

Hi Chaps,
Is it possible to change the block size without having to re-install all over again?

Regards

[Player0]

Nup.

[Drake]

A program from PowerQuest called PartitionMagic lets you do so. I changed a partition from NTFS to FAT32 and it worked without me having to reinstall anything. I spotted the option to change block size off to the size, so I reckon you can do that too.

[BigBen]

Good point drake I have that program :D ....... I set my block size at 16k but when I read the manual (should have done it first) it said a larger block size ie 64k gives better performance

Regards

[Player0]

BigBen, you definitely want to change the stripe-size to 64k.

Unfortunately, RAID stripe-size is different from drive block-size. Although Partition Magic and similar programs can change the format type and block size, the RAID Stripe Size is only adjustable from the raid controllers BIOS, and it WILL destroy the drive's data. There arent any applications that let you do this change without loosing it, since each RAID card hardware is different.

[BigBen]

OMG!! Not another install :( ... how much difference does it make? I have it set at 16k :( ...... by the way is it better to go with FAT32 as it does seem quicker or am I imagining it?

Regards

[sptw]

I second Player0 here.There's no way BigBen.You'll have to reinstall all over again if mind to change the Block size.Partition Magic can only change the cluster size (for ntfs only the latest 8.0 version).
Well about which is better 16K or 64K, it's an old dilema.There's a thread on icrontic named "Raid Stripping (64K or 16K)What is the best" that started on 10/23/2001, has now 1381 replys and still running :D
To not be different, let's start it again : I would stay with 16K/16K(Block size/Cluster size).In case a lot of video edition go for 64K.

[Player0]

Well, yeah...there has been a huge debate over 16k vs 64k. However, I've found that using 64k actually does work best for me, after lots of trial and error. Many files these days are quite large, and really benefit from larger strip sizes. Definitely video editing or 3d games benefit from a large stripe size, as they both work with files megs and megs in size.

Its not going to make THAT much difference though, Id be surprised if you actually noticed the difference outside of benchmarks. Maybe you should wait a few months and plan to change the size on your next reinstall, which will help keep your system clean and running well anyway. But if doing it over, i would definitely recommend 64k. But, not everyone agrees. What works best for me and my usage may be different than you.

[BigBen]

I found a way to change my block size from 16k to 64k without the need for a reinstall ....... I deleted my array and rebuilt it with a 64k block .... I then reimaged the drve with the Image I keep on my backup drive using Drive Image 2002 .... Drive Image made the needed changes for me :D ..... I checked by going into the highpoint bios hit F1 to see the details about the array and it said 64k :D

Regards

[lechumbl]

Hi Ben,

Yes, PQDI does not care of block size, only file system (FAT32, FAT, or NTFS.)

Glad it is sorted out for you.

Take care.........