[K12OSN] Onboard RAID or Software RAID

Petre Scheie petre at maltzen.net
Thu Jan 18 14:16:11 UTC 2007


The advantage of hardware RAID is that the RAID controller takes care of everything for 
you.  There's usually a utility, accessible at bootup, in which you specify which drives 
are to be RAIDed, and what level of RAID to use (striping, mirroring, etc.) and the 
controller does all the setup for you.  Hardware RAID may also have better caching on 
the controller.

The advantage of software RAID is that it doesn't take any special hardware or cost any 
additional money.  Plus, with software RAID, you can take a disk from a RAID system and 
put it into any other system--you aren't tied to the RAID controller.  In most cases, 
you cannot switch RAID controllers--different types, that is, not identical--and have 
the RAID still work.

IOW, hardware RAID works and works well, but then you're tied to that hardware.  I use 
both, largely depending on budget and need, e.g., how expensive is downtime?

Petre

Krsnendu dasa wrote:
> I want to set up sata raid on my main K12LTSP-6 Box. I have 2 120GB Hard 
> Drives and I'm ready to go.
> 
> I am just not sure whether to use the RAID on the motherboard or 
> software RAID.
> I know addon RAID cards (e.g . 3ware) have been recommended, but for now 
> I just want to use what I have.
> 
> I have a motherboard with VIA VT8237 SATA RAID BIOS Ver 2.31
> 
> In addition how do I monitor the disks. Basically, if one disk fails, 
> how will I know?
> 
> What are the pluses and minuses of going with either option.
> 
> Thanks.
> Krsnendu dasa
> 
> 
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