If you're looking for a big, fast, relatively cheap RAID system I'm
really impressed with the Adaptec 2400A controller.  I'm playing with it
at work, BTW, not home.  The bootable config CD runs Linux and has a
click-thru for the GPL.

You can connect up to 4 IDE drives to it to build a RAID unit.  The
setup I'm using is four WD1000 100GB disks at RAID 0 for approx 376GB. 
The whole deal can be had for somewhere right around $2K and compares
*very* favorably with a Fibre Channel SAN system that costs much, much
more.

I actually like this IDE solution better than any Adaptec scsi RAID I've
used, most notably the 131U2 (which has no Linux support).  Bigger,
cheaper, very fast (100MB/sec). The only challenge is mounting the
drives with enough breathing room; they run hot.

At some point I may be able to load Linux on this but it'll be awhile.

Steve
Guess I'll go clean the garage now :-(