From: Lee W centos-list@unassemble.co.uk
Has anyone had any experience of using the Promise FastTrak SX4000 or SuperTrak SX6000 IDE RAID Controllers under Centos (if it matters I'm using version 4). I've seen it listed on linuxcompatible.org as working but would prefer to find out any first-hand experince before I buy.
Avoid the FastTraks. Most are FRAID (Fake/Free RAID), 100% software with 0% GPL drivers.
The SuperTraks are a "true hardware" microcontroller+DRAM solution with GPL drivers. Unfortunately, they use mega-yesteryear i960 microcontrollers not able to keep up with today's drives.
When you want ATA and RAID-5, I recommend the LSI Logic with "x" in the product model to indicate XScale (superscalar StrongARM) microcontrollers.
If not, can anyone suggest another make of RAID Controller that will support upto 4 IDE RAIDS (preferably with support for RAID 5). And is also available in the UK.
Is there any consideration driving RAID-5? For a majority of applications, RAID-0+1 tends to be better.
I prefer 3Ware Escalade 7506/8506 series cards for RAID-0+1. They use a 64-bit ASIC and SRAM (static RAM).
The 9500S series is still maturing, although they should eventually show outstanding performance. They add a large amount of DRAM to the existing ASIC+SRAM approach of the earlier Escalades.
-- Bryan J. Smith mailto:b.j.smith@ieee.org