I just put together a new system with a Soyo Dragon Ultra MoBo, which includes a high-point IDE raid chip. I put 2 IBM 40Gb drives on it and configured it for Raid 0+1 (striping and mirroring). Mobo, AMD 1800+, 256Mb PC2700, 2 drives, and a desktop case (I hate towers) for $565 at newegg. So far, it's been working great. The MoBo also has 4 USB slots, 6 channel sound, and built in LAN. I was originally looking at the Dragon Plus, but this just came out and seems to solve many of the complaints about the Plus. Mike Hicks wrote: > > I've been thinking about putting together some sort of RAID system for > my home system, just to give myself a little extra layer of protection. > However, I don't really want to figure out how to fit another two or > three drives into my system. Putting drives outside the box has > problems, though, since IDE cables aren't really meant to go there.. > > Going outside the box probably means using SCSI, FireWire, or USB 2.0. > SCSI would be nice, but it's expensive, and I'm sure that any IDE<->SCSI > bridges probably cost quite a bit. USB scares me a bit, so I've been > looking at what can be done with FireWire. > > Anyway, I guess I'll just outline my thoughts and see if anyone thinks > it's a stupid idea or what.. > > I'm thinking of scrounging up an enclosure of some kind (probably an old > SCSI box), ripping out any extra guts, putting in 3 or 4 IDE drives, and > using FireWire<->IDE bridges to connect them to a FireWire bus. > > Optimistically, I think I could pull it off for about $500, but maybe > I'm just deluding myself.. > > Is this a stupid idea? Should I just do SCSI instead, or buy a new > case? > > -- > _ _ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _ ___ _ _ __ The more things change, the > / \/ \(_)| ' // ._\ / - \(_)/ ./| ' /(__ more they stay insane. > \_||_/|_||_|_\\___/ \_-_/|_|\__\|_|_\ __) > [ Mike Hicks | http://umn.edu/~hick0088/ | mailto:hick0088 at tc.umn.edu ] > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Name: signature.asc > signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature > Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Wayne Johnson, | There are two kinds of people: Those 3943 Penn Ave. N. | who say to God, "Thy will be done," Minneapolis, MN 55412-1908 | and those to whom God says, "All right, (612) 522-7003 | then, have it your way." --C.S. Lewis