>>> On 1/15/2008 at 3:01 PM, in message <Pine.GSO.4.60.0801151457200.21616 at taxa.epi.umn.edu>, Mike Miller <mbmiller at taxa.epi.umn.edu> wrote: > On Tue, 15 Jan 2008, Chad Walstrom wrote: >> My favorite SATA RAID controllers are the 3Ware Escalades. I would stay >> away from Promise controllers if at all possible. I don't know how the >> Adaptec controllers perform, but in all cases you're going to pay an >> exceptional chunk of change to get hardware RAID. You'll easily spend >> between $350-800 depending upon the number of drives you wish to >> support. > > The two 500 GB disks we are using cost only $250 together. It sounds like > hardware RAID controllers are very overpriced. Seriously, with those > prices, if the software RAID was impacting on performance, I might go for > a faster CPU or dual CPU system instead of buying a RAID controller. The more expensive hardware RAID solutions (like many of the 3ware products) usually give you more than enough value for your money. On the other hand, if you don't need the features they offer (like dedicated I/O processing, hotswap, and easy config/monitoring tools) then you probably don't need an expensive hardware RAID solution. *shrug*