Best IDE/PATA Raid Card PCI format for XP given info below

[Scouse Steve]

I am building an XP system. I have been given 5 of Seagate ST3750640NA New old stock sealed. Seems a pity to throw them away. So, I am concluding that a Raid 5 using 4 drives should give me the maximum size allowed for XP with one sitting on a shelf as a spare.

I am expecting to be limited to a PCI card. Does anyone definitively know, what is the best PCI card that has fully featured UDMA/PATA/IDE and has RAID 5. I am not interested in going the A-Card route from IDE to SCSI.

Thank you in advance

 

[cleverscreenname]

It's been a long time since I've seen that cat picture, good choice!
I have only ever used one PCI>IDE card and it was unreliable, so I'm not going to recommend it Do you think they will be tough to find? I would think eBay. Perhaps you could use a SATA card and adapters for each drive, but that might throw off RAID timing too much and error out.

I'm really surprised by the ST3750640NA! I've actually never seen an IDE drive larger than 300gb, so this is news to me!

 

[Mr Siamese Cat]

I am building an XP system. I have been given 5 of Seagate ST3750640NA New old stock sealed. Seems a pity to throw them away. So, I am concluding that a Raid 5 using 4 drives should give me the maximum size allowed for XP with one sitting on a shelf as a spare.

I am expecting to be limited to a PCI card. Does anyone definitively know, what is the best PCI card that has fully featured UDMA/PATA/IDE and has RAID 5. I am not interested in going the A-Card route from IDE to SCSI.

Thank you in advance

You need the Adaptec 2400A. Here is one I prepared earlier; it has 128mb memory for fast caching. (Reads/Writes). It has 4 separate channels, so can handle 8 drives. You will use all 4 separate channels, one for each drive. You also need decent cables. Here are 4. I have some solid copper heat sinks and some nice fans that will fit.

This is the industry standard card. It is fully supported by XP professional natively. You will not need any drivers, or software. This is important, because Adaptec went down hill and then off a cliff after the host raid fiasco and the vast number of servers destroyed by Apple and Quick Time greed, even though the 2420SA and 2820SA were good cards.

Here is what is left of the official website:

https://storage.microsemi.com/en-us/support/raid/ata_raid/aar-2400a/

These cards are available on ebay. I was surprised to see people selling these at realistic prices. Usually, I find people that run stores selling old computer equipment, haven’t got the slightest clue about industrial systems, talk non-stop dribble and eventually go bankrupt rather than sell at a reasonable price.

So, you might find it cheaper to order off ebay, than travel all round the M60 then up the M67 to me. You are apparently in Warrington; I am in Glossop. However, if you decide you feel like sitting in traffic for a couple of hours, then you can have all this kit for free.

I will send you my Mobile and Satellite number by private message.

Just one last note. The Only realistic alternative to this card is the LSI Logic IDE MegaRAID i4 Series 511. It is limited to 16mb of memory and is not upgradable.

 

[Scouse Steve]

You need the Adaptec 2400A. Here is one I prepared earlier; it has 128mb memory for fast caching. (Reads/Writes). It has 4 separate channels, so can handle 8 drives. You will use all 4 separate channels, one for each drive. You also need decent cables. Here are 4. I have some solid copper heat sinks and some nice fans that will fit.

This is the industry standard card. It is fully supported by XP professional natively. You will not need any drivers, or software. This is important, because Adaptec went down hill and then off a cliff after the host raid fiasco and the vast number of servers destroyed by Apple and Quick Time greed, even though the 2420SA and 2820SA were good cards.

View attachment 1597



Here is what is left of the official website:

https://storage.microsemi.com/en-us/support/raid/ata_raid/aar-2400a/

These cards are available on ebay. I was surprised to see people selling these at realistic prices. Usually, I find people that run stores selling old computer equipment, haven’t got the slightest clue about industrial systems, talk non-stop dribble and eventually go bankrupt rather than sell at a reasonable price.

So, you might find it cheaper to order off ebay, than travel all round the M60 then up the M67 to me. You are apparently in Warrington; I am in Glossop. However, if you decide you feel like sitting in traffic for a couple of hours, then you can have all this kit for free.

I will send you my Mobile and Satellite number by private message.

Just one last note. The Only realistic alternative to this card is the LSI Logic IDE MegaRAID i4 Series 511. It is limited to 16mb of memory and is not upgradable.

Thanks Mate