IDE Raid install

Is the ArcoIDE solution not true hardware RAID? www.arcoide.com It was
driverless last time I installed it in a Debian server. The card setup was
about $250 + drives, but I'd go with the RAIDcase if I had to do it again.

Tony Wasson
www.desertcomputing.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Buettner" <kev@illusions.com>
To: <plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 10:51 AM
Subject: Re: IDE Raid install


> On Mar 22, 9:02am, Joseph Gledhill wrote:
>
> > I am having trouble installing Mandrake 8.2 on a promise fastrack 100
> > raid (for mirror).
> [...]
> > Also what is the performance hit with switching to software raid (for
> > mirrors)?
>
> It is my understanding that the Promise RAID controllers are not
> really hardware RAID. In fact, Tom's Hardware had an article quite
> a while back on how to convert one of their Ultra cards to a Fastrak
> by soldering a jumper wire to the card.
>
> So, given that the Promise RAID technology amounts to little more than
> software RAID, there's really no reason to prefer it over the software
> RAID built into the Linux kernel.
>
> FWIW, I've been using software RAID for quite a while now and have been
> very happy with the results. I use mirroring and have been saved on
> more than one occassion from the consequences of a drive failure.
>
> If you want true IDE hardware RAID on Linux, I think the only option is
> to use the 3ware Escalade. Or at least it was the last time I checked.
> These cards are quite a bit more expensive though.
>
> Kevin
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