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SATA II and SAS RAID CARD ROUNDUP

Areca ARC-1261ML


The Areca ARC-1261ML is a monster of a SATA-II RAID CARD.  It is beautifully packaged, and is the only controller we reviewed which comes with SLEEVED cables.  Its interface is a PCI Express x8, and has four mini-SAS fan-out connectors going to the sixteen hard drives connectors.  Keep in mind though that this is a SATA-II RAID card, not SAS.    Other great features include a socket for 256MB of DDR2-533 cache memory, and an integrated LAN connector for out-of-band network communications.  In the event that a catastrophic disk and primary network failure occurs, the controller can send messages to the necessary personnel using the secondary network. 

Click on the photos below for a much larger image:

Manufacturer's specifications:

 
ARECA PCI-Express RAID Card
Model Name
ARC-1261ML
RAID Processor
IOP341
Host Bus Type
PCI-Express X8
RAID 6 Support
YES
Cache Memory
One 256MB DDR2 DIMM upgradable to 2GB
Drive Support
16*SATA ll
Connector Type

4x Mini SAS 4i

 

Adapter Architecture
Intel(R) 800MHz IOP341 I/O processor
PCI-Express X8 bus
One DIMM socket with default 256MB of DDR2-533 SDRAM with ECC protection, Upgrade to 2GB. An ECC or non-ECC SDRAM module using X8 or X16 chip organization
Write-through or write-back cache support
Support up to 16 SATA II drives
Multi-adapter support for large storage requirements
BIOS boot support for greater fault tolerance
BIOS PnP (plug and play) and BBS (BIOS boot specification) support
Intel RAID 6 Engine to support extreme performance
NVRAM for RAID event & transaction log
Redundant flash image for adapter availability
Battery Backup Module (BBM) ready
ARC-6120BA-T1xx, xx means version no.
RoHS Compliant
 
RAID Features
RAID level 0, 1, 1E, 3, 5, 6 (if RAID 6 engine supported) and JBOD
Multiple RAID selection
Array roaming
Online RAID level/stripe size migration
Online RAID capacity expansion and RAID level migration simultaneously
Online volume set growth
Instant availability and background initialization
Automatic drive insertion/removal detection and rebuild
Greater than 2TB per volume set
Support S.M.A.R.T, NCQ and OOB Staggered Spin-up capable drives
Support spin down drivers when not in use to extend service life (MAID)
Support NTP protocol to synchronize RAID controller clock over on-board Ethernet port
 
Monitors/Indicators
System status indication through HDD activity/fault connector, LCD Connector and alarm buzzer
SMTP support email notification
SNMP support for remote notification
I2C Enclosure management ready
Server chassis features the 36-ckt Mini-SAS connector (SFF-8087) on its SAS backplanes
 
RAID Management
Field-upgradeable firmware in flash ROM
  In-Band Manager
Hot key boot-up McBIOS RAID manager via BIOS
Support controller's API library for customer to write its own AP
Support Command Line Interface (CLI)
Browser-based management utility via ArcHttp Proxy Server
Single Admin Portal (SAP) monitor utility
  Out-of-Band Manager
Firmware-embedded Browser-based RAID manager, SMTP manager, SNMP agent, and Telnet function via on-controller Ethernet port
Support controller's API library for customer to write its own monitor utility
Push Button and LCD display panel
   
Software Drivers
Windows 2000/XP (Scsiport Driver)
Windows Server 2003 (Scsiport Driver and Storport Driver)
Linux (RedHat, SuSE, Debian, Mandrake, TurboLinux, CentOS, etc.)
FreeBSD
Solaris 10x86/ x86_64
SCO UnixWare 7.x.x
Novell Netware 6.5
Mac OS X (no_bootable)
Dimension: 98.4(H) x 237.5(L) mm
 

        Environmental Specifications  

Operating: Temperature:+5°c to +50°c
  Humidity: 15-80%
  non-condensing
 
Storage Temperature: Temperature:-40°c to 70°c
  Humidity: 5-90%
  non-condensing
        Electrical  
Power Requirements: 4.95W max. on 3.3v
  6.22W max. on 12v
     

 

 

Here are the benchmark results:

Hardware RAID-0, 4k Stripe, HD Tach 3.0 8MB Zones

 

Hardware RAID-0, 4k Stripe, HD Tach 3.0 32MB Zones

 

Hardware RAID-0, 4k Stripe, ATTO Mark

 

Hardware RAID-0, 128k Stripe, HD Tach 3.0 8MB Zones

 

Hardware RAID-0, 128k Stripe, HD Tach 3.0 32MB Zones

 

Hardware RAID-0, 128k Stripe, ATTO Mark

 

Hardware RAID-1,  HD Tach 3.0 8MB Zones

 

Hardware RAID-1,  HD Tach 3.0 32MB Zones

 

Hardware RAID-1, ATTO Mark

 

Hardware RAID-3, HD Tach 3.0 8MB Zones

 

Hardware RAID-3, HD Tach 3.0 32MB Zones

 

Hardware RAID-3, ATTO Mark

 

Hardware RAID-5, 4k Stripe, HD Tach 3.0 8MB Zones

 

Hardware RAID-5, 4k Stripe, HD Tach 3.0 32MB Zones

 

Hardware RAID-5, 4k Stripe, ATTO Mark

 

Hardware RAID-5, 128k Stripe, HD Tach 3.0 8MB Zones

 

Hardware RAID-5, 128k Stripe, HD Tach 3.0 32MB Zones

 

Hardware RAID-5, 128k Stripe, ATTO Mark

 

Hardware RAID-6, 4k Stripe, HD Tach 3.0 8MB Zones

 

Hardware RAID-6, 4k Stripe, HD Tach 3.0 32MB Zones

 

Hardware RAID-6, 4k Stripe, ATTO Mark

 

Hardware RAID-6, 128k Stripe, HD Tach 3.0 8MB Zones

 

Hardware RAID-6, 128k Stripe, HD Tach 3.0 32MB Zones

 

Hardware RAID-6, 128k Stripe, ATTO Mark

 

Software RAID-0, ATTO Mark

 

 

 


     
  Table Of Contents Next:  Areca ARC-1680
       1.  Introduction  
       2.  Adaptec 31605  
       3.  Areca ARC-1220  
       4.  Areca ARC-1261ML  
       5.  Areca ARC-1680  
       6.  Highpoint 1820A  
       7.  LSI 8708ELP  
       8.  LSI 8888ELP  
       9.  Promise EX16300  
       10.  RAID-0 Summary  
       11.  RAID-1 Summary  
       12.  RAID-5 Summary  
       13.  RAID-6 Summary  
       14.  Other tests  
       15.  Conclusion  

 

 

 

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