Re: [LUG] ide raid woes

[Steve Crook <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Jun 18, 2003 at 04:36:03PM +0100, Steve Marvell wrote:
> So, I get this box specified with a raid thing going on on the
> motherboard, which comes with linux drivers. 
> 
> This is out of stock, so the supplier supplies an Sil0680 card for the
> machine which needs something like a 2.4.21 kernel to work. 
> 
> Of course, when installing from stable Debian CDs, this is not
> possible.
> 
> So, after a day fo pissing about trying, and failing to make custome
> boot floppies I've come to the conclusion that I've got to give it
> back.
> 
> So, what PCI IDE RAID card am I going to ask for instead?
> 
> Steve

The description of a hardware IDE RAID controller is a little murky these
days.  There are two types:

Those that rely on a software driver to do the work - These are in
effect IDE controllers with some functionality to handle drive
failures.

Those that do all the work on the controller and present the system with
one single disk.

Needless to say, the second type costs considerably more money.  If you
have a real need for RAID, then it's probably money well spent.  The
other type are still usable, providing your OS has support for them.  If
it doesn't, then most likely they will appear to the OS as hde & hdf no
matter what RAID level you try to select.

Promise do some good controllers in both catagories.  Adaptec also have
a good track record for drive controllers.  I think the choice in the
end comes down to compatibility and price.  Doesn't it always?  :)

Attachment: pgp00002.pgp
Description: PGP signature