$200-$300 RAID card for early '07 Mac Pro???

[TheLabbit]

I'm converting my Mac Pro into a file server, and want to create a RAID 5 system with 1TB Seagate ES.2 Drives. I would like to use hardware RAID, but Apple's $700 price tag on even the older version of their controller is too much to swallow.

I'm not too familiar with RAID controllers, and I don't know if my price range is reasonable, but I know that many of the newer controllers aren't compatible anyways. I would really appreciate any experience or advice with cards that might be a good solution. Thanks!

 

[snakesqzns]

Maybe you should consider buying the 4-bay Drobo instead?

 

[TheLabbit]

Maybe you should consider buying the 4-bay Drobo instead?

I've only heard bad things about performance and reliability when it comes to the Drobo.

I'm a photographer working with large Lightroom libraries and need a solution that is fairly fast(doesn't need to be the fastest) and very reliable.

 

[alphaod]

From reading other threads I have deduced that what your after is possible, but you might not get the best performance. Have you tried just setting a RAID10 with the built-in RAID? You get about 60% of the space of the RAID5, but you get better security, a little faster write (since there is no parity to calculate).

Maybe you should consider buying the 4-bay Drobo instead?

The Drobo is very slow. Only about 30MB/s maximum over FW800.

 

[TheLabbit]

From reading other threads I have deduced that what your after is possible, but you might not get the best performance. Have you tried just setting a RAID10 with the built-in RAID? You get about 60% of the space of the RAID5, but you get better security, a little faster write (since there is no parity to calculate).

I've tried the software raid, and it seems to do ok - but I've have seen speed comparisons between a dedicated hardware raid and the OSX software raid and the hardware solution always seems to be faster. I'm concerned about the speed primarily because now more than just one user will be accessing the file store at once. Also - I will have a backup set up externally for security.

 

[snakesqzns]

Software raids can be awesome (ZFS raids for example). One disadvantage with HW raids is that if your controller dies, you usually need to replace it with the exact same card. If you're having trouble finding one now, try getting one in three years.

RAID 10 should be good enough I'd think.. how many people will be using this at one time? And how are you sharing the data out? CIFS? iSCSI?

You might also consider building a bare bones opensolaris box and running ZFS, or even and Linux md+lvm setup. It's really too bad apple dropped zfs support

By the way, RAID isn't a backup solution if that's what you're thinking.

Also, is the Drobo too slow? Are you using gig ethernet? 52MB/sec read and 34MB/sec write using FW800. On a 100Mb lan you'll only get 10MB/sec bandwidth.

 

[TheLabbit]

Software raids can be awesome (ZFS raids for example). One disadvantage with HW raids is that if your controller dies, you usually need to replace it with the exact same card. If you're having trouble finding one now, try getting one in three years.

You might also consider building a bare bones opensolaris box and running ZFS, or even and Linux md+lvm setup. It's really too bad apple dropped zfs support

I'm trying to make use of what I have here - the MacPro - without buying an entirely new system. I wouldn't know where to start with Linux

RAID 10 should be good enough I'd think.. how many people will be using this at one time? And how are you sharing the data out? CIFS? iSCSI?

Also, is the Drobo too slow? Are you using gig ethernet? 52MB/sec read and 34MB/sec write using FW800. On a 100Mb lan you'll only get 10MB/sec bandwidth.

We'll be sharing the data through AFP mounted shares.

I'm using a gigabit router and will have up to four people accessing libraries containing large quantities of 10-20mb files at once. When those galleries are loading and when files are being exported from them, it requires a lot of bandwidth to get the job done in good time. I would just like to procure a system that has room for bandwidth rather than something I'm maxing out from the start.

By the way, RAID isn't a backup solution if that's what you're thinking.

Not at all - I will have a separate set up for backup.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Our favorite RAID cards are the HighPoint RocketRAID series.
They have many models, read the descriptions thoroughly to understand which is best for you.

http://www.highpoint-tech.com/

 

[MacUserPeggy]

I'm converting my Mac Pro into a file server, and want to create a RAID 5 system with 1TB Seagate ES.2 Drives. I would like to use hardware RAID, but Apple's $700 price tag on even the older version of their controller is too much to swallow.

I'm not too familiar with RAID controllers, and I don't know if my price range is reasonable, but I know that many of the newer controllers aren't compatible anyways. I would really appreciate any experience or advice with cards that might be a good solution. Thanks!

I suggest you to use Rocket RAID 4310, because this RR4310 only $199.99, this card is really hardware raid card. It will give you unprecedented performance and incapable to describe steady. So I think you need to use Highpoint Rocket RAID 4310 really hardware raid card.

But RR4310 is internal RAID Card, if you want to use RR4310 , you need the third party hard disk rack (Pro Cable kit) to use internal Raid Card.
Link Pro Cable kit ($128.00)

http://www.barefeats.com/hard120.html
http://www.transintl.com/store/category.cfm?Category=2784

Link: RR4310 raid card ($199.99)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115063&cm_re=4310-_-16-115-063-_-Product