Alienware Area 51 with x58 motherboard SSD/Raid config

I have an area 51 with an MS-7543 motherboard. It has fakeRAID but I would like to install a raid controller to go with 3xSSD 120GB disks I have. I am going to install Ubuntu on this system.

I was considering this RAID card https://www.adaptec.com/en-gb/products/controllers/hard...

I have a graphic card taking up one PCI Express x16 Slot, I appear to have two of these slots free.

I would like to ask you guys if this is going to be compatible?

The other thing about my setup is there is the PC has a panel of hard drive slots on one side, see this:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=alienware+area+51&client=ubuntu&hs=L1c&channel=fs&gl=uk&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=L9JiUv2-LcTX0QWTxoCIAw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1301&bih=678&dpr=1#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=ztK08GxoV2FAKM%3A%3BAaKp3Cy3k3kWsM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.computershopper.com%252Fvar%252Fezwebin_site%252Fstorage%252Fimages%252Fmedia%252Fimages%252Falienware-area-51-inside-2%252F566772-1-eng-US%252Falienware-area-51-inside-2_maxwidth.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.computershopper.com%252Fdesktops%252Freviews%252Falienware-area-51%3B550%3B441

The sata cables feed back into the main case and connect to the motherboard. This means I can't change the sata cables very easily. Has anyone come across a SAS breakoff cable that would allow me to connect this raid card to my existing cables rather than a cable that breaks off and connects to the motherboard.

Find more posts tagged with

Save $250 on 2025 certification boot camps from Infosec!

Book now with code EOY2025

Button

Comments

SteveLord

Why RAID three SSDs?

aueddonline

SteveLord wrote: »

Why RAID three SSDs?

I am not sure I understand your question but my thinking was to put them in RAID 5 so that the system was able to cope with a single disk failure and also get some read gain (x2).

ratbuddy

Busted link in the OP, which Adaptec card you looking at?

devils_haircut

There's a good review of SSD RAID performance, albeit testing only one particular drive, over at Tom's Hardware. Putting SSDs into RAID really depends on what you use it for, because in some instances, a single SSD drive is actually faster.

One SSD Vs. Two In RAID: Which Is Better? - Are Two SSDs Any Better Than One?

For example, sequential read/write speeds running striped SSDs is exactly what you would expect: twice as fast as a single drive. But random read/write speeds were actually SLOWER, and access times for a single drive were faster as well. Just something worth considering.

MeatCatalogue

Kinda pointless. A single high performance SSD is good enough for a C or OS drive. Make backups reguarly and know how to restore from backup.

Are you going to be running MySQL on this os drive or something that demands ultra high IOPS?

SteveLord

Ding.......

aueddonline

MeatCatalogue wrote: »

Kinda pointless. A single high performance SSD is good enough for a C or OS drive. Make backups reguarly and know how to restore from backup.

Are you going to be running MySQL on this os drive or something that demands ultra high IOPS?

As well as performance I would I the redundancy of RAID. I am developing in java and android and making good use of mysql. I wrote some stock maket stuff a couple years back which I was going to get running again on this install. Iterating through millons of rows at a time etc. Also running apache to serve the android apps.

The link above was to a Adaptec RAID 5445.

aueddonline

Looking at Adaptec RAID 5445

N2IT

I recently striped both of my 256 GB SSD's in my Dev laptop and it was noticeably faster running some heavy macros in Access and Excel. These macros require saving to a local drive over and over via a loop. The run time for some of these macros can take up to 2 hours. On the new machine around 1:20 minutes.

MrAgent

N2IT wrote: »

I recently striped both of my 256 GB SSD's in my Dev laptop and it was noticeably faster running some heavy macros in Access and Excel. These macros require saving to a local drive over and over via a loop. The run time for some of these macros can take up to 2 hours. On the new machine around 1:20 minutes.

Sounds like someone needs a Fusion-io drive

N2IT

MrAgent I have to be honest I'm not sure what you are talking about but I will be "Googling" it right now.

Thanks