PCI-X SCSI U320 RAID or PCI-E SATA2 RAID - what to buy?

[SlackerXL]

After my rather unpleasant experience from my two Maxtor atlas 10kV on a crappy perc3/dc controller
(raid 0 performed worst than one single drive with both burst and average speeds topping @ 70Mb/s>>>)

I decided to re-evaluate the whole matter

what all you storage gurus think its the best way to go?

A) sell both maxtor atlas 73gb 10kVs
and get 2 more 36gb raptors (already have two of them in raid 0) for a cheap quad onboard array on my
Ich7r

B) Get a good scsi u320 controller (pci-x or pci-e x8) like the Intel INT-SRCU42E (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16816117005)
and try to make the best out of the two scsi drives
(currently collecting dust on my desk)

C) sell both maxtor atlas 73gb 10kVs and the 2x36gb raptors

and get myself a good pci-e sata2 raid controller
like the areca ARC-1220 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16816131004)
and three 74gb Raptors



a few things that must be taken under consideration before replying:

i currently have a motherboard that features 2x 64bit pci-x slots (ASUS P5WDG2-WS)
but since i upgrade my system twice a year
i don't think i will easilly find another mainstream board with such features

so i kinda think pci-x is a limiting factor ( considering that the prementioned controller costs about 700$!)

could an 8port sata2 hardware raid controller like the Areca host
both my OS array and a datastorage raid5 array?

thanks in advance
and i really look forward to see what you guys think about it...

[nn_step]

option C like you want it bad..
Best choice you can do unless you want to go PCIe SCSI.. but I doubt you would be willing to do that..

[SlackerXL]

option C like you want it bad..
Best choice you can do unless you want to go PCIe SCSI.. but I doubt you would be willing to do that..

i really don't mind going scsi pci-e
as the random access time of the Atlas are much better than any raptors i've tested (36, 74, 150)
besides you can always get some small 15k drives to get the best out of it

as for the pci-e sata option:
do you know if a pci-e sata2 controller like the areca
can host 2 different arrays simultaneously
(3hdds on a raid 0 for OS & Apps
and 3 more on a raid 5 array for data storage)

would this have an impact on the performance?

[nn_step]

well if it supports JBOD.. it should support multible raids.. and it shouldn't have too much performance effect..

[SlackerXL]

well if it supports JBOD.. it should support multible raids.. and it shouldn't have too much performance effect..

ohhhhh
in that case
i should prolly start dreaming of 3x500gb hitachis raid 5 array for data storage
and 3x74gb raptors on raid 0 for OS & Apps
although 4x36gb raptors is my cheapest alternative since i already got two of these

(i just have to sell my highpoint 1640 rocketraid, 4x200gb barracudas
and all the scsi stuff)

[nn_step]

well since it supports 8 SATA II connectors Quad Raid0 Raptors :D and Quad Raid5 500GB drives :D
and with volume level migration and Raid level migration and strip size migration..
you can just start with 2 Raptors in Raid0 and then just add 2 more raptors later with out needing to reinstall anything..:D

[SlackerXL]

i don't suppose anyone here has the prementioned areca controller
(or any other equivalent alternative pci-e solution)
to share his opinion and show us some benchmarks....

(i'd be glad if someone did though :p: )