






Brand | Adaptec |
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Model | 2240900-R |
Form Factor | Low Profile Ready |
Type | SATA |
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Internal Connectors | 4 x SATA II |
Interface | PCI Express 4-lane 2.5 Gb/s |
Transfer Rate | up to 3 Gb/s per port |
RAID | RAID 0/1/10 JBOD |
Operating Systems Supported | Microsoft Windows Red Hat Linux SuSE Linux Novell NetWare |
Dimensions | 4.7" x 2.5" |
Features | 4 Serial ATA 3Gb/s Ports for support of up to 4 SATA disk drives Native Command Queuing 48-bit LBA support for drives above 137GB Low-profile form factor Bootable array support RoHS compliant |
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Package Contents | 2240900-R Quick Install Guide Driver Disk 4 x SATA Cables |
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Date First Available | April 12, 2007 |
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Pros: I found that Linux kernels have very good support for SATA interfaces commonly available on motherboards, but support for add-on cards is a lot less reliable. This is one of the few cards that is fully supported by the sata_mv driver (PCI id: 9005:0243) in recent versions of the Linux kernel (tested with 2.6.23-rc7). Furthermore, this card uses 4 PCIe lanes (as opposed to just one, which some other entry-level cards do). This means, it has plenty of spare bandwidth to drive four disks concurrently. For setting up RAID arrays under Linux, it is usually preferable to get software RAID controllers, configure the drives as JBOD, and then have Linux's "md" driver do the RAIDing. This gives better performance, better upgradability, and better cost than most hardware RAID controllers. And the Adaptec 2240900-R fits all the necessary requirements.
Cons: Add-on PCIe SATA controllers are still more expensive than controllers with other interfaces, and more expensive than SATA ports on the motherboard. While the cost will eventually come down even more, in the meantime it is often a worthwhile trade-off to buy a more expensive motherboard that already has the required number of SATA ports. Of course, most motherboards top out at about ten SATA ports, so add-on cards are required for anything beyond that.
Overall Review: The controller comes with SATA cables, even though it does not say so in the product description. So, no need to buy extra cables, unless you have special requirements (e.g. color, length, angled-plugs, eSATA, ...). Do note though, that due to the stacked connectors on the controller, angled plugs will not necessarily fit.