Should I use hardware or software RAID for my file server?

English Hardware
1

Hello,

I want to build a server that people can store their data on, as a backup server. With this project, I hope to learn more about GNU/Linux, networking, and computers in general. I’ve been using GNU/Linux (I’m using Suse 11.0 right now) for a couple of years, but I want to learn more.

My questions are: should I use hardware or software raid? I read that motherboards’ on-board raid is called “fake raid” and is not a good thing to use. Is this true?

Also, if I did get this server up and running (probably with a Samba share), would anyone be interested in storing anything on it (for free)? The server would be up 24/7 and would be behind a Monowall hardware firewall. It would have about 1 TB of storage in a raid array, and an additional hard disk for the operating system.

2

Between the two types it is best to use hardware RAID for the sake of taking the load off of the operating system. Through my experiences with RAID, I also have heard the phrase “Poor Mans Raid” in regards to plug in PCI raid cards. The best of all the RAID’s available are the stand alone RAID boxes such as EMC or SymBIOS. I am sure there are other manufacturers, but they are all cost prohibitive ( unless money is no object ). I am currently running the Software RAID available on SuSE-11 and have had good success with it. I have had a drive go bad on me and it rebuilt the RAID when I replaced the drive.