[mythtv-users] 8 Port SATA PCIx card

[John Drescher]

> The difference in price will be that the 3ware is a raid card, the marvel is
> a SATA/SAS adapter card.
>
> The 3ware is really worth the extra price.
>
In windows (where software raid has horrible performance) I would say
yes. In linux no. These cards are ridiculously priced when you
consider that they cost as much as a Q9550 CPU + motherboard + 8 GB of
memory + case + powersupply. I would rather just get a motherboard
with 8 or more sata ports.

> You will have a GOOD gui/webpage
> to administer the raid array, rather than needing to do it from within the
> OS.
> The raid is well tested, and the management interface supports sending
> emails/snmp.
>

I am not sure if it is any better tested than mdadm.

>
> It is more of an enterprise solution than the marvels.
> The marvel chip is supported, but you will need to use MD or LVM to produce
> a single volume. YOU will need to deal with failed disks and checking for
> problems, rather than the card alerting you.
>

Its very easy to have the OS email you when a problem happens. mdadm
has this builtin.

John