3ware 8006-2LP PCI 64-bit SATA 2-port SATA RAID Controller - Kit

Pros: I have ordered these cards for both home and office for low level workstations that need a bit of redundancy. Used in a mirrored RAID array and have had no issues with any of the cards. Take the time to setup the web interface and the card will email you if/when a hard drive fails. Used the card with Windows XP, 2000, 2003, Fedora, and CentOS with no issues on any of these operating systems. A true hardware RAID card that does not require the OS or the system processor to keep data redundant. Highly recommend these cards.

Cons: None

Pros: you can take you storage raid array out of your current computer and stick it in a new one without hassle. If the OS fails and you have a separate storage raid array your safe. Did I mention it's cheap, and whips the on board raid? Actually can do 2TB not the 1TB listed in the specs

Cons: drivers are not official for vista, no sata 2, only 2 drives... but for the price who cares, it works. this isn't a $500 controller

Overall Review: Instalation: 1, hit alt+3, when prompted, right after the bios splash screen. 2, set up your raid according to the directions in the utility. 3 Go to the 3ware website and download the unofficial drivers. 4 Put them on a cd or usb. 5 When loading Vista it will give you the option to "load drivers" before you install the OS. Put that CD or usb in and it will load the raid drivers. 6 When you boot into vista, the array will not appear so... right click "my computer" and specify boot type, then format the raid array as "simple" NTFS. Now it will be recognized in my computer and your good to go.

Comments: Just installed this adapter with a pair of Segate 250GB SATA drives in RAID-1 (Mirroring). Using a 64bit PCI slot, and I am seeing the same performace as I did with just a standalone drive without RAID. So there is no speed degrading when running RAID-1 on this card! True Hardware RAID! I did some test failures by disconnecting a drive, and the system had know idea a failure had occured. Everything continued to fuction as far as the OS was concerned. Only slight problem that I had was getting the card installed in my PowerEdge 750 Rackmount server. If you have a PowerEdge 750 be aware that the card does not seat well in the 64bit slot. It bumps into the onboard SATA/IDE controller card. It fits, but is wedged in and puts a little stress on the 3Ware card. Not a problem, just a very very tight fit. Had I gotten the 4 port version of the 3Ware card it would not have fit! So be aware of that if you are looking at the 4 port version of this card, it won't fit in a PowerEdge 750, but the 2 port version will! Also, should note. I am running this on Fedora Core 4. The card works right out of the box, no drivers are needed! As far as Fedora is concerned it makes the RAID look like a single drive...TRUE HARDWARE RAID! The only way to go! Of course props to NewEgg! Got here 1 day early, and it was well packaged. Thatnks again NewEgg!

Comments: Installed in a Tyan S2460 MP Dual Athlon 1900+ Motherboard without any problems. With two 120Gb Spinpoint harddrives (RAID 0) my performance more than doubled my single PATA WD 80Gb 8Mb Cache (JBRTL model) with Sandra2005 Reinstalled Windows XP only to find my USB drive as C:. Windows will not let you change the drive letter of the install partition, so I had to install once again with all external devices unplugged. Accidentally swapped SATA connectors while I was cleaning up the case for better ventilation. POSTED with a Checksum error. Returned cables to original state and retold bios that the partition was the boot device and I was able to recover without any data loss. Works really well for video editing, but Windows hardly notices the difference while doing basic tasks. Keep in mind that this is a 64 bit PCI card.

Pros: Excellent - it just works. I use this card under Linux. I maintain the Pozix Linux distribution however, the Linux kernel has support built in if you grab kernels from kernel.org. FAST! Blazzing fast! I installed two Western Digital 500GB drives in a RAID-1 config. Performance exceeded expectations.

Cons: I had to download the command line tool (tw_cli) in order to view the RAID's health from within Linux. Not terribly difficult but it wasn't very clear where to get this source code.

Overall Review: People complaining about the card not working should check their PCI ports. This is a PCI 2.2 compliant card! Don't expect the card to work if you don't have correct PCI chip-set on your motherboard.

Pros: Its driver works for Vista, installation is easy, just tell Vista to load driver when it prompt to format hard drive. Works good!

Cons: None so far

Overall Review: I did not try the management utility yet.

Pros: These work great for what I need them for. Whenever I need to use SATA drives in my older PCs with 32-bit PCI and no on-board SATA (or I want to add SATA ports), I grab one of these. Helps me turn some really old workstations into cheap NAS servers.

Cons: Expensive (for what I usually need them for). Often, I don't even need the RAID, just more SATA ports in legacy PCs ... but I keep buying more, so they must be worth it.

Pros: This card is great for linux. Most kernels have built-in support No grub boot-loader issues. With linux hardware-raid is the only hassle-free way to go.

Cons: A bit expensive

Overall Review: It also works with a 32-bit PCI (incase that wasn't obvious to some people). I used it for a server and couldn't be happier. I had no issues with setting it up/getting it working at all.