RAID: Choosing a RAID card, 2016 edition

[rmp5s1]

Everything I've been able to find on this subject has not only been not quite applicable to what I'm wanting to do, it's also been ancient. If there is info around that is still relevant, please let me know. I'm not sure how much the world of RAID has changed over the years...if any...

Otherwise -

My goal: Consolidate and backup data...obviously. Speed isn't a /huge/ concern as I have SSDs for things I need to load quickly while data redundancy is VERY important. Going for a RAID5 or RAID10 setup, most likely...maybe 2 RAID1 setups, but that'd be super wasteful.

The hardware: Four 3TB Seagate Barricuda 3.5" SATA drives, Asus Z68 mobo
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131923 ), i7-2600K, etc.

The dilemma: What I can't make up my mind about is the path I want to take. I've had bad experiences in the past with on-board, motherboard RAID. On the other hand, looking at raid cards on Newegg makes me think that either the cards are going to be expensive-ish ($200+, which is doable but I'd prefer not to take that deep of a plunge) or they aren't going to inspire the greatest confidence. I've always been one of the "if it ain't got a battery, don't bother" types and all of the little cheap ones don't seem to have one. Is this an issue these days? Does anyone have any experience with any of the cards out there these days?

Any info or feedback is greatly appreciated.

THANK YOU!!

 

[Someone Somewhere]

If it's RAID, make sure you go for NAS-type drives. You need a BER of 1 in 10^15 (not 10^14, which consumer drives usually are) and TLER. Don't go for RAID 5; use a RAID 6 or a RAID 1 (or 10) system. Or RAIDz 2/3. Big drives take ages to rebuild and there's more data so you're more likely to find an error while rebuilding and drop a second drive.

No real advantage to a dedicated RAID card. From what I've heard they're reasonably twitchy about dropping drives and needing the exact same as a replacement, plus if the card dies you've got to get an identical one. I'd do it in software.

Also, as always, RAID is not a backup. You should still have a separate offsite backup - RAID won't help if someone deletes a file, or the building burns down. RAID is to maintain uptime during minor incidents.

 

[rmp5s1]

Yup...RAID is not a backup. Got that, believe me. lol

Anyway, I recently found FlexRAID and I'm thinking about giving it a shot. Going to download the software tonight and start tinkering with it in the morning. Seems like it could work for what I need.

The issue I have with a traditional RAID1 (or any other type of mirroring) is that it wastes space. My 12 TB (-ish) turns into 6 (-ish) under RAID1 while it only drops to 9 (-ish) under RAID5. The time it'd take to rebuild should a drive this big die IS a concern I hadn't thought of, though...and these aren't RAID drives. So there's that, too.

Thanks for the reply, though! For now, I'm going to try out the FlexRAID thing (also looking at SnapRAID and UnRAID) and see how it rolls, more than likely. We'll see how it goes!

Thanks again!

 

[Someone Somewhere]

I think more, smaller drives tends to be preferred if you're going with RAID 5/6 - the capacity loss is less noticeable, and it rebuilds faster. Against that, more power consumption and more SATA ports needed.