question about some raid cards

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jtaj

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Jul 13, 2021
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was looking into raid cards in general, some LSI ones where you could just plug cable on either end to drive and raid card and start working.

but then theres also some of these cards, like RES2SV240 raid expander card which mentioned "Adds up to 24 additional ports. It must be paired with a compatible RAID card"

what does this mean and why does this require another raid card when this is already a raid card?

please help!
 

gregsachs

Active Member
Aug 14, 2018
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The RESV is an expander card.
Simplest analogy: A LSI 9201-8i is a card with 8 internal ports. You can connect 8 drives directly to it, just like if you had an 8 port switch.
The RESV acts just like a network switch; plug a cable from the 9201 into it and you get the ability to connect more drives because you have expanded the number of ports.
 
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jtaj

Member
Jul 13, 2021
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The RESV is an expander card.
Simplest analogy: A LSI 9201-8i is a card with 8 internal ports. You can connect 8 drives directly to it, just like if you had an 8 port switch.
The RESV acts just like a network switch; plug a cable from the 9201 into it and you get the ability to connect more drives because you have expanded the number of ports.
I see, so I should be looking for non-expander card (or just raid card) if I simply wish it to plug and play type?
 

kapone

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May 23, 2015
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What you should be looking for is...."What IS a raid card?"

Sorry, no other way to say it.
 

gregsachs

Active Member
Aug 14, 2018
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What you should be looking for is...."What IS a raid card?"

Sorry, no other way to say it.
(Or a HBA, depending on what OS/need they have)
HBA=Host Bus Adapter. Basically lets you connect more drives. Some have a RAID mode available; you will commonly see discussion of IR or IT mode. Some OS requite IT mode.
RAID card: Does hardware raid, a 9286 is one for example.
See this thread for a listing of models, features, etc...

Figure out OS you are using, then determine if you want hardware raid or not, and you can quickly figure out which card you want.
 
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jtaj

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Jul 13, 2021
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(Or a HBA, depending on what OS/need they have)
HBA=Host Bus Adapter. Basically lets you connect more drives. Some have a RAID mode available; you will commonly see discussion of IR or IT mode. Some OS requite IT mode.
RAID card: Does hardware raid, a 9286 is one for example.
See this thread for a listing of models, features, etc...

Figure out OS you are using, then determine if you want hardware raid or not, and you can quickly figure out which card you want.
do you know if most raid card also supports HBA? I'd rather use windows raid than to use raid card because in case of card failure, I won't have access to my data until another card replacement arrives.