Sata raid 0+1 and Linux
 

Gday all,

Just wondering which distros of Linux support Sata Raid 0+1 and if I need anything special to get it all to work, I have just started shopping for a version of Linux and am amazed at the flavours available. I intend to use the computer(not built yet) to do video editing and I don't wanna use Micro$lop anymore!

Thanx for your time!

You don't tell us what exact SATA RAID chip or card you intend to use. A few SATA RAID offerings are indeed true RAID setups but most use on-chip RAID software to emulate a hardware RAID. Examples of the latter include the very common sil3112 and Intel CHR-5 chips (often included on the motherboard on current motherboards).

Three links you probably want to read before purchasing a sil3112 or intel CHR-5 based board:
http://www.grepninja.com/sil3112a-md-raid0.html
http://www.hailfinger.org/carldani/l...es/raiddetect/
http://www.infowares.com/linux/

Using software RAID in Linux can often get as good performance results as when using these quasi-RAID chips, so I think you should consider that. Also, there are no hard drives that can single-handedly saturate a UATA-133 channel at this time, so going with software RAID and a well supported ATA controller is often more easy and provides equal or even better performance. Also consider getting an external ATA RAID card - several card manufacturers provide documentation so the drivers are available in the Linux kernel already.


Håkan

The advantage of using Software RAID is that you can spread your Data across multiple
ATA or SATA Controller. This wil give you best availability and performance.

Keep in mind that also PCI Bus bandwith can be a bolltleneck.

So if you want spent some more Money, consider a System with at least two PCI Busses,
two ATA or SATA Controllers and FAST disk drives. When it comes down to performance
nothing can replace the performance of the spindle (so rpm is very important) exept
you are using large external cached storage subsystems.

Thanks Guys, I plan to run 4 74Gb Raptors(10,000 Rpm) on a Asus P4C800 E Deluxe Mobo if that helps clarify the question!

Unless some one else can offer a better solution!