Pros: When I opened the ARC-1222, I was surprised to see an RJ-45 port on the back, which wasn't readily made apparent in the product specs. You can connect it to ethernet for manageability - it has a web-based configuration UI, SNMP and email support. I've seen RAID problems make the host unusable on plenty of other systems, so being able to diagnose storage issues independently is a great feature! The SFF-8087 connectors are great for cable management. If you have an enclosure that supports SGPIO, I think it's worth it to get an ARC-1222 instead of the ARC-1220, even if you're only going to use SATA, just for that feature. Works great in RAID-6 mode. Supports scanning for failures and parity mismatches and fixing them automatically in the background, just like you'd hope a good RAID controller would. Supports arrays larger than 2TB just fine (I'm using it with a 9TB array).

Cons: Cache RAM is not expandable. Optional cache battery backup module (not included) requires the use of an extra slot in back of case (though it need not plug into motherboard). Doesn't seem to light up enclosure's failure light via SGPIO when a drive is declared failed (though I haven't really tried to tackle this one yet). Telnet support via eithernet uses a bizarre terminal emulation that doesn't seem to be VT-100 compatible - which matters because it seems to be a menu-driven (UNIX curses-like) system.

Overall Review: I want to give it five stars, but a few imperfections, like the weird terminal emulation in telnet and the lack of an index in the enclosed printed manual hold me back.

Pros: * Works with inexpensive SATA2 drives * Includes SATA->SAS cables (they're long and had no problems reaching from the front of the rack server to the back where the card was) * Works with ESXi 4.1 (you have to install some drivers from VMWare)

Cons: * Pretty expensive compared to 3Ware and other brands (in my case those brands aren't supported for VMWare so I had no choice) * Have had to clean the fan a couple times - dust had accumulated and it started making noise * Not PCI-e 2.0 (the areca 2.0 equivalent is $150 more) * NewEgg has this card has limited return policy now - maybe it's being discontinued?

Overall Review: Have 2 of these cards purchased from NewEgg (6/2010 and 7/2010): Server 1, in production for 6 months- 1 x ASUS RS500-E6/PS4 1U Barebone Server 8 x Kingston 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ECC Registered Server Memory 2 x Intel Xeon E5520 Nehalem 2.26GHz LGA 1366 80W Quad-Core Server Processor 4 x HITACHI 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive 1 x areca ARC-1222 x8 SATA / SAS RAID Card Server 2, in production for 5 months: 1 x ASUS RS520-E6/RS8 2U Barebone Server 8 x Kingston 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ECC Registered Server Memory 8 x HITACHI 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive 1 x areca ARC-1222 x8 SATA / SAS RAID Card Both servers are running VMWare ESXi 4.1. I opted to install ESXi on a USB stick since it wouldn't recognize the RAID system out of the box. I followed instructions on VMWare's site for installing the areca support drivers afterward and have the RAID 6 as the VM volume. Works fantastic and very solid!

Pros: -Easy to install and configure. -Built in Ethernet allows for easy access directly to the RAID. Plenty of configuration options. -Blazing speed: I am running eight 2TB Samsung F4's in RAID 6, the transfer speeds completely saturate the Gigabit network in my house. -Works wonderfully with the new "Advanced Formatting" A.K.A. 4kb sectors. In fact, there is an option specifically for this when creating the RAID array.

Cons: -Getting a 3rd party SMTP set-up for e-mail alerts is a pain. It only supports basic authentication, while many 3rd party SMTP servers want to use SSL. It also requires an IP, not sure why it can't perform a quick DNS lookup. (Note: If you have an in-house SMTP server, this is no issue)

Overall Review: -People keep complaining about the web interface. It's not the most beautiful thing in the world, but it has all the options you need, and it's not difficult to navigate. After all, it's simply a quick configuration tool, not a full blown website to be seen by thousands of people. Don't let this deter you from buying the card. -This was my first time dealing with a dedicated RAID Controller, I was a bit nervous about how it would play with my BIOS but was pleasantly surprised at just how easy to use it was.

Pros: Great reputation

Cons: I bought this card 45 days ago. last week, it started throwing ECC memory errors and I contacted newegg support. They told me it is beyond 30 days and so I need to contact Areca support. Areca support told me I had to contact the distributor of the product and they responded " newegg is not really a good reseller, i received many assist requests from their customers. they can easily provide the distributor's information but they won't" when i contacted the distributor, i was told that i can send the card in for repair (only option) for repair which will take 2-6 weeks. No way to speed it up. So I'll now be without my data for 2-6 weeks... i bought this card for reliability and reduced down time. Do yourself a favor and buy from another manufacturer with a better support policy.

Pros: This card is great: - It's fast - It's got a pretty decent web interface that lets you set everything up without ever having touch the server console - The cables are nice, though the clips leave a little bit to be desired

Cons: I hate cards that have little tiny fans on them. They always get dust in them and make noise and generally don't work well. I replaced the fan with a large heatsink that is made by zalman which newegg didn't carry.

Overall Review: This card isn't cheap, but it works extremely well. I would have liked to have bumped up to the larger 12 port model with 4gb of cache, but that was a bit rich for my home use. I'm happy with this and the SuperMicro case I got that has 8 drive bays!

Pros: Best value 8x drive raid card. Runs ESXi (see other thoughts). Has own NIC, and very comprehensive web interface.

Cons: None.

Overall Review: Had to modify the driver provided by Areca to work with ESXi version 4.1. Hopefully, they update the driver to install properly for this version.

Pros: I have this card running just fine with RAID 60. Just remember you need LOTS of physical drives to run a RAID 60 configuration, and as another reviewer mentioned, these features aren't available under the quick set menu. All of this is stated clearly in the manual, which although occasionally had a grammatical error, I found to be very descriptive and informative about the differences between the different RAID configurations.

Cons: The web interface could use some CSS or something. Man, it's arcane looking. BUT it works and does everything it's supposed to, and loads really fast. It just looks kinda shoddy.

Overall Review: I also bought the battery (~$150 ±25) so that the write cache is preserved if the power goes out. LOUD BEEPS at startup. I think you can turn them off but I kinda like them. They're just really loud. I own two of these cards and put them in two different Windows Server 2003 boxes. 8x1 TB drives on each card. That's all it will take. It'd be nice if it would accept more drives, but there are other models that do for the money. 8 is all I needed, this is what I bought.

Pros: Great options for the money Stable while it worked Great throughput RJ45/unique controller NIC Easy Setup/maintenance

Cons: After owning this card for ~15 months (actual use ~7months, because it was bought for a backup file server that was a back bench project), I started receiving errors for one of the Hitachi drives in a 6 disk RAID 5 array. Drives go bad, no worries so I popped in a new one and ~5hours later it was rebuilt. During that time the data was accessible as was expected and there were no issues. About a week later the controller indicated an issue with the same drive location. Having thought it was odd, I started by bypassing the swappable drive bay and hooked up the drive directly. That worked for a few minutes and alarmed again. I then swapped the cable itself. Again the card alarm began in a few minutes. With my advanced knowledge of gremlins that can sometimes linger, I disassembled the server into its component pieces and removed any dust. I reassembled with verified other good components (from an almost identical system) and same issue. After copying the data from this system to another (merely as a precaution and to see if the card itself was still functioning without that channel) the card itself began to lock up entirely. The web interface became unresponsive. Any data I hadn't moved is stuck until a replacement arrives.

Overall Review: I have RMA'd the unit and will post the conclusion of this story later. Everything will eventually break down. This is an enterprise card (albeit on the low end) that was never in a hostile physical environment or under heavy load. There are several videos on youtube depicting the same lockup issue I had. If the Areca support is as bad as several people hear have commented, I will no longer be purchasing or endorsing their products.