OT: Torn between SCSI and SATA for RAID

[Nikolas Britton]

On 5/10/06, cknipe at savage.za.org <cknipe at savage.za.org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've been spending the last couple of days extensively looking at various
> options for RAID and getting some storage system in place.  Performance is not
> really a BIG issue, but I also don't want to have things hecticly slow either.
> This will be a NAS type of implementation so speed would be bound by relatively
> speaking slow network connections in any case...
>
> Now first things first as well, I did look at Fiber Channels too - and the
> tecnology is just to expensive and complex for a home type implementation that
> I want this for.
>
> Ideally, I'd like to start at 2TB of storage (yes, those movies must go
> somewhere!), but I'd like to be able to grow this as times go by... I also
> definately want redundancy on the data, as I just lost 80GB of precious data
> when ironically, a 160GB SATA Seagate went out under me.
>
> Now SCSI I know, is more expensive than SATA.  Whether it provides beter
> performance than SATA I'm still uncertain off, but gut would tell me that due
> to the cost factor, SCSI *should* run away as far as speed is concerned.  But
> also as I said previously, speed and performance is not a priority for my
> implementation and therefore it has very little weight.  This makes me look at
> SATA then therefore.
>
> My problem with SATA, is the whole 1 Port, 1 Drive scenario.  I've looked at the
> Adaptec 16 Port SATA Controller.  The reviews I managed to get on that card on
> the Internet, paints a very grim picture.  Buggered Firmware, the controller
> destroys drives, and general sluggish performance.  Is anyone using this card
> that can perhaps give me a better picture?

You want the Areca ARC-1160-ML (ML for Multi-Lane) card:
http://www.areca.com.tw/products/html/pcix-sata.htm
http://www.rackmountpro.com/productpage.php?prodid=2350

http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=arcmsr&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=FreeBSD+6.1-RELEASE&format=html



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