What do I need Install 4 drives

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gnfb

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#196753 11-Jun-2016 14:26

I have a requirement to do one of two things

1. Install 4 x 2gb sata drives in a pc to access them in a normal "extra drive " fashion speed is unimportant they are mainly for storage.

2. Install 4 x 2 gb drives in a pc and setup a "raid" situation with them.

I assume I need a card to connect the drives too? am i heading in the wrong direction ?

The second option as you may well be able to tell I know very little about. There is quite a bit of information online. There seems to be cheap cards $15 usd and more expensive for $200 both say sata both say 4 port.

I presume in my layman s fashion the more expensive one is better faster ? Other than that can they both furfill the same function?

Cheap card

Product Description

Specification:

Condition: brand new

Quantity:1

Silicon Image SATALink 3114A chipset

True 32-bit PCI-Bus IDE card. It supports the following I/O features:

Supports ATA 150 Rates of up to 1.5Gb/sec

Supports Hard Drivers over 1000GB

PCI Plug and Play compatibility

Serial ATA Specifications 1.0 compatible

Provides 2 x dual Serial ATA channels (up to 4 drives)

Co-resides with motherboard IDE devices

1.5GB/second maximum burst rate

Integrated PCI DMA engines

Supports Spread Spectrum in receiver

Support co-exist RAID set and Non-RAID HDD

Support RAID functions 0 and 1

Allow HDDs with different sizes to be configured in a RAID set

Support Windows 98SE/ME/NT4.0/2000/XP/7/Vista and Linux

Package:

1 x PCI 4-SATA card(without retail box, packed safely in bubble bag)

1 x Driver CD

2 x SATA Cable

and expensive card

Chipset: Marvell 88SE9230

Compliant with PCI-Express Specification V2.0 and Backward Compatible with PCI-Express 1.x

PCI-Express x4 Interface is Compatible with PCI-Express x4, x8, and x16 slots

Supports Communication Speeds of 6.0 Gbps, 3.0 Gbps, and 1.5 Gbps

Hot Plug and Hot Swap

Supports Native Command Queue (NCQ)

Supports Port Multiplier FIS Based Switching or Command Based Switching

Compatible with SATA 6G, 3G and 1.5G Hard Drives

Support RAID function: RAID 0, RAID 1,RAID10,and HyperDuo

OS Support:

WindowsXP/Vista/7/8/Server 2008 R2 / 8,Linux 2.6.x and above

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#1569997 11-Jun-2016 14:35

What's the computer you'll be installing drives into? The motherboard may have enough SATA ports already.

What is the purpose of the storage? Would a pair of 4Gb drives be simpler than four 2Gb drives? Do you need the redundancy of RAID or are you happy to restore the files from backup if a drive fails?

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Jase2985

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#1569998 11-Jun-2016 14:42

what are you trying to achieve?

as above 2x 4Gb drives would do the same as 4x 2Gb drives

also as mentioned above what current hardware do you have?

gzt

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#1570000 11-Jun-2016 14:43

You can spend a lot more on raid cards. $200 is not an expensive one. ; )

Depends on the purpose and reasons for wanting raid.

Maybe you only want four more sata drives?

gnfb

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#1570003 11-Jun-2016 14:48

What's the computer you'll be installing drives into?

lets see... Intel Pentium(R) D Cpu 3.4ghz

8gb 64bit

The motherboard may have enough SATA ports already.

Duh ! Didnt think of that let me have a look......

On the MB it has 4 sockets for sata 3 are used as i have two drives and a cd rom

What is the purpose of the storage?

Movies Images tv programs...

Would a pair of 4Gb drives be simpler than four 2Gb drives?

I already have the 2gb drives

Do you need the redundancy of RAID or are you happy to restore the files from backup if a drive fails?

I think I understand the principle of raid If on e drive fails the others pick up the slack till you replace the failed drive?

In which case if it cost and extra $50 to install no problem I might as well have it

If it cost $300-$400

I can do without

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Brumfondl

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#1570006 11-Jun-2016 14:55

Might want to check what free slots your motherboard has. The first card you linked is PCE whereas the second is PCI-E. What your board can take will limit your choices.

Jase2985

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#1570009 11-Jun-2016 15:00

maybe post up your motherboard model number?

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gnfb

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#1570010 11-Jun-2016 15:02

Brumfondl:

Might want to check what free slots your motherboard has. The first card you linked is PCE whereas the second is PCI-E. What your board can take will limit your choices.

The M/b is a

lga775

The two white slots on the left are free they are pce ?.... I think can you tell from the image?

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PSlover14

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#1570016 11-Jun-2016 15:18

the small white socket is PCI-E x1, like the second raid card you showed

the 2 big ones on the far left are PCI, so like the first raid card you showed

if that small one is free i'd use that simply because that socket is faster then regular PCI so there will be less of a bottleneck

gnfb

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#1570019 11-Jun-2016 15:23

PSlover14:

the small white socket is PCI-E x1, like the second raid card you showed

the 2 big ones on the far left are PCI, so like the first raid card you showed

if that small one is free i'd use that simply because that socket is faster then regular PCI so there will be less of a bottleneck

It has a fire wire card in the 1st one on the left which i do not use so could be removed

There is a graphics acrd in the 3rd slot form the left and the fins of the graphics card block usage of the 2nd one in from the left

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gnfb

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#1570021 11-Jun-2016 15:28

So if i get a 4 port PCI card plug it in then plug the four 2gb drives in. All be it slow I should have functionality?

To access all four drives?

That is the main objective

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Brumfondl

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#1570030 11-Jun-2016 15:41

That PCI card should do the trick assuming you are using Windows 7 or previous OS. If you are using Windows 8.x or 10 then you may have issues finding drivers for it. The PCI_E card would only have worked in the slot you have the video card in as it requires 4x, not 1x, so it was never going to be usable.

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Gordy7

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#1570072 11-Jun-2016 16:51

Just trying to follow the hard drive installation.

2GB drives seem quite small.

Guess you must have them lying around and want to make use of them.

However, do the 2GB drives even have SATA interface?

Maybe you would have to use an IDE cable (flat ribbon) on the larger MB socket (blue socket) and daisy chain the drives.

Gordy

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gzt

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#1570073 11-Jun-2016 17:00

2TB for sure. Alternatively just buy one 8TB or two 4TB, skip the card and use the old 2TB's for a shelf archive.

SATTV

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#1570174 11-Jun-2016 20:31

Am I correct that you want to see a single 8TB HDD space?

If you are using windows 7 / 8 / 10 you can do this.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/36504/how-to-create-a-software-raid-array-in-windows-7/

When installing windows on the first HDD, partition off 100GB for OS and other stuff, they rest you can use for a single storage space.

There is no redundancy using raid 0 so if one drive dies you will loose all your data.

Hopefully I am not on the wrong wavelength.

regards

John

I know enough to be dangerous

richms

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#1570186 11-Jun-2016 20:54

Messing around with old small drives just gets you a louder less reliable hotter more power using storage solution than buying a current model drive of the size you need.

Richard rich.ms

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