I set up a shared folder on a PC on our network (in the office) and we are currently using it as a network drive for all the PCs. Since our needs have changed I want to set up a raid server. I purchased several identical 500GB hard 7200 RPM drives and started looking online at what to buy. There seems to be a very big difference in prices, you can buy an adaptec card for $450 or you can find sellers on ebay selling chinese cards for $15. What is the difference, and is it worth it to buy a high end card? I'd like to get away with spending less, should I be setting up a software raid instead? Any input is appreciated.

SATA or PATA? PCI or PCI-express? Plenty of motherboards have RAID controllers built-in...is that an option? If not, there are numerous controller cards to choose from. You'll have to determine which features you need & then do a little research. Seek out some cards based on that particular chipset, then see if you can google up some reviews. Here's one chart I found: http://www.addonics.com/products/ho... "If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction

Well the idea is to build a fast server and not spend a lot of money. Are these $15 boards actually raid controllers or are they just SATA controllers and the raid is actually a software raid? Am I better off just using the SATA controllers onboard and setting up a software raid in that case? Regards

The cheap cards are sometimes termed "soft" raid. They really are not true "hardware" raid. They actually do OK for limited uses. Business's may need the actual hardware raid. They normally come in servers from top name companies for not much more than a cheap computer. See them online before you spend to upgrade. Many, many other features of servers improve the entire typical users needs. Things like server grade NIC's make a very good improvement. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, antivirus, anti-spyware, Live CD's, backups, are in my top 10