Raid Card and Reinstall?

[tb582]

Hi guys, I need a reliable raid card. I have 2 WD 74GB Raptors in RAID 0 and now I want to add some more storage. I'm probably going to end up getting a 500GB wd Sata drive, what do you guys think about this one: WD Caviar® SE16 7200 RPM

So my Iwill dh800 only had 2 built in Sata ports, which are currently being used by my raptors. So I need a sata card to expand my ports. I was thinking about this one ( [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115023] but after reading the reviews I don't know. What do you guys think? I'm not going to be using the card for a RAID just the Sata ports, I will continue to use my onboard sata ports for my raptors. So format my raptors now and then reinstall still using my onboard sata ports, when the new drive and raid card comes I can just install them...no need to reinstall my OS, right?

Edited June 14, 2007 by tb582

[tb582]

Sorry updated link it raid card

[_Erik]

Maybe I don't understand fully what you are trying to accomplish here, but wouldn't an external 500GB drive be a more simple solution for you?

[LiquidSage]

You really need to explain what you are trying to accomplish as _Erik suggested.

• You want to add a new HD on a add-on SATA card for more storage.
  
• Then you want to wipe your Raptors before you even get the add-on card or drive.
  
• You end by wanting to connect your new drive and worry about the OS being able to detect the new drive. (Your OS at this point would have been wiped BTW)
  

If you are simply adding the new HD, you will first need to install the drivers for the add on SATA card before the OS will be able to detect the new HD. Very simple and will not require an OS reinstall.

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You can find way cheaper add-on SATA cards if you don't ever plan on using the card for the RAID aspect now or in the future. Based on your choice however, I assume you would like RAID to be an option for your card.

Though I don't care much for HighPoint out of personal preference ...from a quick glance I would strongly suggest that you do not buy the HighPoint RocketRAID 1810A.

For the same price at newegg you can buy the newer HighPoint RocketRAID 2210 PCI-X SATA II Controller Card.

This has support for SATA and SATA II and the latest and greatest features like SATA II's theoretic 3GB transfer rate, support for NCQ, hot swap and hot spare, a much quicker initialization than the 1810A card, Online Capacity Expansion, Online RAID Level Migration... blah blah blah....

Here is the link...

HighPoint RocketRAID 2210 PCI-X SATA II Controller Card RAID 0/1/5/10 JBOD

[nmX.Memnoch]

I've been using 3ware's controllers for a few years now. They're feature rich, easy to setup, fast and reliable. They're a little pricier, but WELL worth the additional cost. I don't know what your budget for the card is so I'll just paste a link to all of the PCI-X 3ware controllers on NewEgg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList....&name=PCI-X

The Dell Precision 650 I'm typing this on now has the 9550SX-4LP in it with four Seagate 7200.10 400GB drives attached to it.

[_Erik]

That's a pretty sweet computer nmX.Memnoch.