anubis said:
what kind of controllers are there next to RAID
thanks
1. Standard IDE (dual-fifo) controllers, rated usually at ATA100 or 133
(theoretical maximum throughput in MB/second, irrelevant really, the drive
itself isn't capable of 100MB/sustained). Each controller can take two
devices, being either HDDs or optical drives (CDROMs etc) or a combination
of the two.
This type of controller is now often refered to as 'PATA' for 'Parallel ATA'
because:
2. There is also the relatively new SATA controller, Serial ATA. These
controllers don't use the big, wide ribbon cable of old, they use a thin
cable. Both the drive and the controller have to be SATA (Although I hear
you can get adapaters but I don't know which way they go). SATA has a
theoretical maximum throughput of 150MB/s in it's current iteration but is
emerging technology and the throughput will go up soon. The whole throughput
thing is pretty much irrelevant with mechanical HDDs though, 100MB/s is
about as fast as they go at the moment and, as it's a mature technology,
don't be expecting any radical jumps in speed anytime. SATA controllers will
only take one drive per cable.
Hope that helps.
