Raid

[rycar_m]

I am searching for a good pci-e based raid system in the $500. range

I am interested in the call digit but there is also a g- raid and a lacie raid at about the same price.

does anyone have experince with any of these raids

thanks

ric

[BeniToaster]

Hola
I saw at NAB a new Caldigit raid that uses pci for interface with the drives, this is much faster than e sata and fiber.
Also the motherboards that have nvidia chipset they have abuilt in RAID controller for SATA2 drives, (that is what I have and it works well).

[animlab]

I recomded 3ware 9650SE-12. The budget is about USD$700-750.
They are really fast. I use their 9559SX-12 (for PCI-X) a lot. With 12 SATA-II drive, RAID 5, they can reach about 250MB/sec write and 350-450 MB/sec read. (The officeal data said theyare delivering over 700MB/s RAID 6 reads
and 600MB/s RAID 6 writes, and more faster on RAID 5) I have build at least 5PCI-X RAID 5 raids (1.5TB-3TB) for my customers and they are happy.

9650SE come with 2/4/8/12/16/24 ports. I suggest to use at least 12 ports board with 12 drives. I have been use 9550SX-12 with 8 drives and the result was bad, only about 80-120MB/sec read/write rate. Maybe 9650SE will be better in using less then 12 drives. I don't know. I don't have a chance to try it yet. (9650SE-8 is at $495 and that is in you budget.)