Re: Highpoint RAID cards..

[dpaton]

Jeff-

I believe that Highpoint’s line is broken down like this:
1xxx series: Host based parity (software RAID5), unknown management function for RAID 0 and 1, but probably firmware.
2xxx series: IOP based parity (firmware RAID5), unknown management function for RAID 0 and 1, but probably hardware.
3xxx series: IOC based parity (hardware RAID5), hardwar ebased RAID 0 and 1.

I’m not positive, but after a weekend of reading between the lines on their datasheets, I’m fairly confident of my assessment. In the server I’m scrounging parts for now, I’m probably going with a RR2220, because the price difference between that ($250) and the 3220 ($450) pays for another drive or two in the array.

That said, if Highpoint tells me that the 3220 really does support the 33MHz 64 bit PCI slots in the Gigabit G4 I’m turning into a backup server, I may change my mind and plunk down the extra money for the 3220 and make it a RAID6 box. The old G4 isn’t a fast machine under Leopard, and I need all the hardware help I can get for drives.