What is the best 1TB hard drive for RAID?

[grinder]

inciteful post rpgurd!

I would suspect he is having an issue with one of his 4 hard drives (TLER issue or not). I would run a full scan on each hard drive individually before dropping cash on a RAID card for troubleshooting purposes.

I run 4 WD Blacks in RAID 0 on an Adaptec 1430 controller and have not had an issue yet.

[Empty_Quarter]

If you are looking for RE3s, I might be selling mine soon. Nothing wrong with them, its just that I need more space, I have two 1TB drives. PM if interested.

[TheGregster76]

Sorry, I'm not looking to buy any Western Digital RE3 1TB hard drive. Thank you for the offer. Actually I am leaning towards taking up on the deal that I got at a computer shop in London, ON for 4 Seagate hard drives.

I am still keeping my options open for a RAID card that I can use with my motherboard. I still have not found one that will fit in the top PCI-e x1 slot. I am not even sure if a PCI-e x1 slot can handle a 4-port RAID card?

[Empty_Quarter]

Originally Posted by TheGregster76

I am still keeping my options open for a RAID card that I can use with my motherboard. I still have not found one that will fit in the top PCI-e x1 slot. I am not even sure if a PCI-e x1 slot can handle a 4-port RAID card?

Back when I was looking for a hardware RAID solution, I ended up with the same thought. I haven't come across any 4-port RAID cards that fit into an x1 slot, leading me to believe that a x1 slot simply can not handle a 4-port hardware raid card. I have come across fake raid cards w/ 4-ports on an x1 slot though, I think, or was that PCI?

[crazyhorsejohnny]

Originally Posted by TheGregster76

Sorry, I'm not looking to buy any Western Digital RE3 1TB hard drive. Thank you for the offer. Actually I am leaning towards taking up on the deal that I got at a computer shop in London, ON for 4 Seagate hard drives.

I am still keeping my options open for a RAID card that I can use with my motherboard. I still have not found one that will fit in the top PCI-e x1 slot. I am not even sure if a PCI-e x1 slot can handle a 4-port RAID card?

Careful with Seagate drives, have a friend that went with Seagate to save a few $$$ and 2 of the 6 he purchased were DOA. And 2 others are loud.

[grinder]

Originally Posted by TheGregster76

I am not even sure if a PCI-e x1 slot can handle a 4-port RAID card?

PCI-e x1 will not support the bandwidth of 4 hard drives. a x4 is the bare minimum, and even then it chokes a RAID 0 using 4 drives (for example).

PCIe-x4 <--- minimum requirement
PCIe-x8 <--- nice to have, but not needed

Hence my recommendation to stick with your onboard RAID controller, because it is not bandwidth limited compared to your available x1 slot.

[TheGregster76]

I hate to say it, but I saved money buying the Western Digital WD1001FALS ($80 a piece at Canada Computers last fall). I have had nothing but problems with them. I am not saving money here.

If I return the bad drive back to Western Digital, I'll get a TLER locked replacement back. I can't afford 4 of the Western Digital RE3 1TB hard drives. The main problem here is that Western Digital does not recommend RAIDing Caviar Black 1TB WD1001FALS hard drives.

I just had a thought. Do you have to put second graphics card in the PCI Express x16_2 slot on the ASUS Rampage II Extreme Motherboard? Can I place the second graphics card in the PCI Express X16_3 slot? This could lead to a cooler 2nd graphics card, then I have two slots available for my X-Fi sound card and a RAID controller. The only problem that I have is that the second graphics card in the PCI Express x16_3 slot could interfere with the SATA_E1 connection that I have (which is hooked up to the front panel on my computer case).

[TheGregster76]

Here's an update.

Instead of getting 4 Seagate 1TB harddrives, I spent some extra money and got 4 Western Digital 1TB RE3 harddrives. After 3 weeks, I have no issues to speak of (knock on wood!!!). I am very happy now!

[TheGregster76]

Well, it did it again!

I am getting really frustrated. One of the RE3 drives that I put into my case has the dreaded "ERROR OCCURED (0)" message along with the DEGRADED RAID warning when I start up my computer. I have made sure that I flashed the most up to date RAID BIOS from ASUS for my Rampage II Extreme motherboard. Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this?

I am just about to my wits end. I don't think that the problem is with the hard drives. I am thinking it's my motherboard. I am starting to lean towards upgrading my motherboard to the new Rampage III Extreme motherboard due to it's better slot layout (for later when I get my second GTX 480) and getting a proper RAID card. Either that or just getting rid of this computer.

Any thoughts?

[technix]

Use the WD as a backup drive...

Check these drives out on newegg. Lots of reports of these Samsung drives being used in RAID setups, RAID 0, 1, 5 etc.:

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB