Adaptec RAID 3805 8-port SATA and SAS Controller Review

Volume Space

We have created several array configurations for testing.For most users volume space and raid type is the most important. Primarily focusing on Raid0, Raid10 and Raid5. First, lets take a look at hard drive space across the various configurations:

Using 8 raptors gets us close and over 1T in a couple cases. However there is a big difference how how they accomplish that. Its very unusual to see more than 3-4 drives in raid0. In this case we tested a raid0 configuration with 8. Sounds like pretty sweet setup! But, if a single drive fails the entire array is lost. In this case you basically have 8x the probability of losing the array over a single drive yikes. Getting drives with a 5 year warranty is highly recommended if you like raid0. Even then make backups and/or pray.

While comparing configurations, its a good idea to think about how much money you have to spend. Since this controller costs a pretty penny for consumer use, you might think about how many drives you would normally purchase. Four is probably a good starting point. Since hard drives are relatively so large to our application uses these days, few consumers will have the need for more than that. Even for Video editing.

Whats important to notice in these test cases is simply the numbers in relation to each other. Every application, file system and operating system has its own unique attributes which can skew results.