Jeff,

I've been very happy with the couple of 3Ware SATA RAID controllers I've
owned.  They are a true hardware RAID controller unlike some of the less
expensive cards out there.

I've been running one in a Gentoo Linux box for 5 years now and another in
a Centos Linux box for almost 4 years with no issues.

--Adam


> Hello,
> Recently, my old home Linux server had a hardware failure
> :-(.  Thankfully the disk is good and I copied the data
> off onto another one temporarily until I get a new
> installation done (it's weird - it boots fine, but the NIC
> and a SCSI card fail to work - I think the adder board
> they plug into has an issue as I replaced the NIC and had
> the same result; it does not see them).
>
> I have the PC for the new one, and my stumbling block is
> the disk configuration - I'm wanting to do a more-safe
> data configuration (e.g. RAID 5) and larger capacity (e.g.
> 4 1 TB drives).  I've also wondered about just getting
> NAS, e.g. ReadyNAS, as "it's all ready", but for
> equivalent storage amount, it's a more expensive.
>
> I'm a software guy by trade, and know only a little
> networking and hardware, so I can really use advice! :-)
>
> What RAID controllers can you recommend particularly known
> to work with Linux (currently using Fedora, and plan to
> for this install)?  With my research, I've become hesitant
> to purchase the RAID
> controller, having been reading on too many problems with
> Linux.  I'm
> hoping someone can recommend one that has worked well. 
> (some of the
> items I've been reading are old, so not sure if the newer
> distros have
> been improved or not)  It's interesting that the older
> Fedora install
> docs have RAID info on issues, but Fedora 11 does not.  It
> makes me
> wonder if most issues have been resolved?  I could use the
> Linux software RAID, but not sure.
>
>
> Has anyone setup with an external enclosure for 4 (or
> more) drives?  What enclosures can you recommend?  (I
> could fit 4 drives in the case if I remove the existing HD
> - which I plan to not use unless for some reason it's
> needed to boot from instead of the RAID)
>
> For both options, I've mainly been reviewing newegg,
> microcenter, general nanosystems, and ebay.  There are a
> lot of options!
>
> Looking for some education - TIA!
>
>
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