Question about Raid PCI-E Card

[crankypenguin]

I ordered a raid card named Highpoint Rocket 640L Lite version 4-Port PCI_Express 2.0 x4 SATA 6GB/s Raid controller. I would like to know if I can simply use it to connect more data hard drives ( Not Raid Mode), as all the sata ports on my mobo are used up and I want to put my hard drives into my box.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

If it will work with your system (a few people have reported incompatibility issues), then you can use it for individual non-RAIDed drives. Based on Newegg reviews, even though it advertises it's PCI-e x4, it will run at only x2 speed which means you will not get SATA III's full 6Gbs speed. Still, it should be faster than SATA II and, as long as you are running HDDS on it, you are not likely to be able to tell the difference (SSDs might appear to be slower). Be aware that it has its own BIOS that will be introduced into the boot lineup, making overall boot up time a bit longer (my own HBA, an LSI 9211-8i, does the same thing).

 

[crankypenguin]

I am not worried about full 6gb speed, the hard drives I want to attach are media drives..you know..movies, music, data...I just need a place to store them. Maybe it would be a good idea to build a server..who knows.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

even though it advertises it's PCI-e x4, it will run at only x2 speed which means you will not get SATA III's full 6Gbs speed

The tech skill of people posting in newegg feedback tends to be low.

I'm betting that the guy having speed issues was using that card in a 1.0 slot, that lo and behold, has half the speed of a 2.0.

Maybe it would be a good idea to build a server

If you have an oldish PC collecting dust, you can turn it in a home server or NAS with a linux distro (i.e. on the cheap). This article.
or this, or do some googling on your own.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I wouldn't build a server. Why have an extra box knocking about if there is room in the one machine for the extra drives? That's the way I'm set up. My machine has room for six HDDs in addition to the SSD boot drive. I'm using one HDD for general data and will use the other five for videos (so far, I have only one video drive installed; I'll add the other four as I need them, if I ever need them).

Since the OP's card is going to be running spinners only, it will be fast enough no mater what speed it runs at.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Well, a server can be run 24/7 (kinda) so the main rig can rest.
Fans and PSU (and HDD) age the more they are kept on.
A crappy Pentium 4 or celeron rig without a horribly powerful video card (that you can even remove after setting it up as it will run headless) plus the hard drives does not consume anywhere near the same amount of power that his main rig while being powerful enough to do home server roles.
He has tablets and other mobile devices, having a server to stream stuff to them might be interesting. Or at least worth experimenting with.

Anyway, he threw around the idea, I'm just giving my view of it.

Although the fact that the only way I manage to sell pentium 4 rigs is as home servers does skew my perception a bit.

 

[Britton30]

The card should do well for you. My PC runs 24/7 and it's no server. I have a boatload of media on two external USB drives and sticks.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...My PC runs 24/7 and it's no server...

Same here.

...I have a boatload of media on two external USB drives and sticks.

That's what I want to avoid. It's far more convenient and takes up less space to have it all on one box, especially since I have just the one computer that I use daily (I have a notebook that I use only on trips but I only keep a copy of my books and music and a few data files for quick reference, such as an address "book", a list of my prescription meds, etc.). I just don't have room for a bunch of extra boxes knocking about. I don't even use external drives for my backups. I have bare HDDs that I use for backups. I store them in an antistatic foam "egg crate" in a drawer and plug whichever HDD I'm going to use to back up my computer (I have three backup HDDs for every drive in use, two are kept locally and the third is stored in a safe deposit box at my credit union). This arrangement takes up far less room than a bunch of external HDDs in individual cases and power supplies.

 

[Britton30]

I have a 3.5" drive in an eSATA enclosure for images which needs a power supply, the others are 2.5" and use the USB 5V power.

 

[Dude]

I have three pc's running, and install at least two hard drives in each. I use my network to share them and have never felt the need for a server. I do think I will try it out though

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

As long as all three machines are running, you don't really need a server unless you want to use it to backup data on the three machines (and then, that only will work as long as the machines aren't continuously connected to the server).

 

[bobafetthotmail]

He can turn one of the boxes into a "server" by moving most of the data-only disks into it. So he can shut down one of the PCs when not needed and save power.