RAID Controller Overview
The market offers multiple, powerful solutions for Unified Serial storage requirements. The following table lists all available options, including the new Adaptec Series 5. Please also have a look at the following articles for more details:
Unified Serial Controllers Do SAS and SATA SAS and SATA RAID, Powered by Unified Serial Controllers
| Manufacturer | Adaptec | Adaptec | AMCC | ARECA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | RAID 5805 | RAID 3805 | 3Ware 9690SA-8I | ARC-1680 |
| Internal connectors | 2x SFF 8087 | 2x SFF 8087 | 2xSFF-8087 | 2xSFF-8087 |
| External connectors | na | na | na | 1xSFF-8088 |
| Cache | 512MB DDR2-400 ECC | 128 MB DDR2 ECC | 512MB DDR2-533 ECC | 512 MB DDR2-667 ECC |
| Profile | Low Profile | Low Profile | Low Profile | Full Height |
| Interface | PCI Express x8 | PCI Express x4 | PCI Express x8 | PCI Express x8 |
| RAID Level Migration | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Online Capacity Expansion | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Multiple RAID Arrays | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Hot Spare Support | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Battery Backup Unit | optional | optional | optional | optional |
| RAID 5 init | 30 min | 1h 12min | 1h 6min | 18min |
| RAID 6 init | 44 min | 1h 02min | 1h 16min | 18min |
| FAN | no | no | no | yes |
| Supported OS | Windows XP, Server 2003/2008, Vista, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), SCO OpenServer, UnixWare, Sun Solaris 10 x86, FreeBSD | Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) Novell NetWare 6.5 SCO OpenServer UnixWare Sun Solaris 10 x86 FreeBSD |
Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, RedHat EL 5, OpenSuSE 10.2, SuSE Enterprise (SLES) 10, Fedora Core 6 | Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Linux, FreeBSD, Novell Netware 6.5, Solaris 10x86/x86_64, SCO Unixware 7.x.x, Mac OS x(not bootable) |
| Other Features | Copyback Hotspare | Copyback Hotspare | ||
| Warranty | 3 years | 3 years | 3 years | 3 years |
| Price | $650 | $575 | $700 | $1,000 |
| Manufacturer | Atto | ICP | LSI | Raidcore/Ciprico |
| Model | ExpressSAS R348 | ICP 5085BL | MegaRAID SAS 8888ELP | RC5252-8 |
| Internal connectors | 2x SFF 8087 | 2x SFF 8087 | 2xSFF-8087 | 2x SFF 8087 |
| External connectors | 1x SFF 8088 | n/a | 2xSFF-8088 | n/a |
| Cache | 256 MB DDR2 ECC | 256 MB DDR2 ECC | 256 MB DDR2-667 ECC | - |
| Profile | Low Profile | Low Profile | Low Profile | Low Profile |
| Interface | PCI Express x8 | PCI Express x4 | PCI Express x8 | PCI Express x4 |
| XOR Engine | IOP 348
800 MHz |
Intel 80333
800 MHz |
PowerPC
500 MHz LSISAS1078 |
software |
| RAID Level Migration | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Online Capacity Expansion | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Multiple RAID Arrays | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Hot Spare Support | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Battery Backup Unit | optional | optional | optional | not required |
| RAID 5 init | 23min | 57min | 17min | 2h 42min |
| RAID 6 init | n/a | 57min | 17min | n/a |
| FAN | no | no | no | no |
| Supported OS | Windows® Vista, Server 2003, XP, 2000
Mac® OS X (10.4.x) Linux (Fedora, Red Hat and SuSE) |
Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) Novell NetWare 6.5 SCO OpenServer UnixWare Sun Solaris 10 x86 FreeBSD |
Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4,5 SuSE® 9.3, 10.1, 10.2 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) Solaris 10 SCO Unix |
Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4,5 SuSE® 9.3, 10.1, 10.2 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) FedoraTM Core 5,6 |
| Other Features | DVRAID | Copyback Hotspare | Controller Spanning | |
| Warranty | 2 years | 3 years | 3 years | 3 years |
| Price | $1,095 | $650 | $850 | n/a |
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