good for backup or for high-speed data access like database work. If it won't do RAID 5 (striping with parity - requires 3 or more drives) I'm not listing it. if you really want to get serious about storage, get Sony petasite (10TB-1.5PB: though it looks like this is SAIT tape not disk) or an EMC² or some fibre channel storage arrays or HP StorageWorks. EMC² are rather large disk arrays - they bought up CLARiiON which used to be fridge-sized fibre-channel disk arrays years ago - I think they still are. EMC² has about 5 lines of disk-based storage in addition to archival, VMWare offerings, and other software. HP's StorageWorks looks pretty good. but I haven't lived with any of these solutions - only old Mylex controllers.

4 disks, assuming 1.5TB drives. 7 RAID modes including 0-5. burst xfer rates 200-230MB/s, scalable by stacking (4) to 24TB and 600MB/s transfer rate. eSATA, Firewire 400/800, USB 2.0

RAID 0 (striping). up to 1TB/drive. detachable 80mm ball bearing fan (for maint.). rubber padded soles. shock absorbtion hdd trays.

RAID 0, 0+1, 5, 5+hot spare. eSATA, Firewire 400/800, USB 2.0. 4 disks.

SAS, Rackmount.

4-BAY RAID, USB 2.0, FireWire 400/800, eSATA.

4-BAY RAID, USB 2.0, FireWire 400/800, eSATA.

has active drive cooling. up to 4 SAS/SATA drives. failure indication. 2x4 SAS connectors.

SATA/SAS drive mix, your choice. up to 12 drives. scale from 3.6GB to multiple terabytes (9TB SATA, 3.6TB SAS). 2U enclosure. 2400MB/s bandwidth: makes a good RAID box. I assume the 9TB maximum was derived from 750GB drives. Hitachi 7k1000 1TB drives are out for $380, making the maximum 12TB, but since the 1TB drive has more platters, it is up to Adaptec to make sure they have enough cooling for the drive since it generates more heat.

USB 2.0, SATA, Firewire. for USB 2.0 or firewire don't expect to break any speed records - good for backup maybe. ATA drives being phased out by seagate. SATA - good for anything. 1m SATA cable. since it uses ATA133 drives and ATA drives are in short supply these days, it would be a good idea to purchase a few of these while you can for this RAID box while it is still possible. meanwhile, I'm looking for a better RAID box.

eSATA/firewire/USB2.0, supports 750GB drives. forgetting your password is a breaks warranty, and there is no password reset - you send the board to the factory - $50/RMA. noisy.

these have metal latches, so they are less likely to break. choose your color, length, & angle (straight or 90°). SATA II cables should work fine with SATA 150. just so you know, max. SATA cable length is 1 meter (39") according to standard (ensures data integrity).

uses 1TB drives. trayfree bays. RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 3, 5, 6 & JBOD. available in 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 bay units. iSCSI and Ultra320 available.

must flash the BIOS to do RAID, pref. via the bootable cdrom. must follow instructions first to set up! no display. no alerts if a drive goes bad. not my best choice of RAID, but cheap.

bad documentation. good box. PCIe card. other eSATA cards won't work.

5 bays, 2+TB capacity.

RAID 0, 1, 1E, 5, 10, 50 (10 and 50 have no meaning) --Any combination of these RAID levels can exist at once. Configurable RAID stripe size. fibre channel, uses SATA drives.

14 bays, SCSI Ultra320 (LVD - 68 pin VHDCI), RAID 0,1,5,10,ADG(whatever that means - 10 has no meaning either)

8 bays, SATA drives, Ultra 320 SCSI interface.

PCI-X 64-bit controller. for people who want a lot of drives. but it is a software RAID, so probably doesn't have the performance of a HW RAID. However, it is a nice price for a 16-port controller.

these are just controller cards, PATA and SATA. usually only 2 drives. just need a SATA controller for your old box? these will do.

PATA is going away and being replaced with SATA drives.