>> So these cards are just plug n play? Just plug them in, no software or >> drivers required, >> all mirroring is managed by firmware built into the card RAID card itself? > > Drivers are required for all storage adapters(RAID or not). 3Ware > handles raid in hardware, not in software, it has a bios which > you'd typically use to configure the array, you can boot off of > the array, etc. > > 3Ware also offers a management tool for linux (CLI and/or web > based) which allows for monitoring, and controlling the adapter's > configuration settings. > > 3Ware has had their linux drivers in the kernel for at least... > 8 years now? maybe longer. So any linux distro should have no > trouble detecting the card. The latest 9650 cards are pretty > new and use a new driver, which may or may not be supported, > CentOS 5.1 should work with it fine though(support for CentOS 4 > was added almost a year ago, I think with v4.5) > > They also support hot swap, provided the interface to the disk > supports it(typically a hot swap backplane). Great thanks for that info Nate, I just checked out their web site, looks like the 9500S-4LP would suit my needs for a desktop machine. I've been leary about desktop RAID cards because a few years ago, I bought an adaptec 1210SA RAID card which supposedly does RAID 1 I never could get the darn thing to work in my old windows machine and years later found out it is really a fake raid card. It's been collecting dust ever since may as well throw it out. The drivers it required never worked with W2K. But the Centos server I use has adaptec SCSI RAID controller in it, I guess on the high end for SCSI RAID, adaptec is known for good raid cards, but the one I bought sure did nothing for me for my desktop. _________________________________________________________________ Need to know the score, the latest news, or you need your Hotmail®-get your "fix". http://www.msnmobilefix.com/Default.aspx