Newb Education 101

Swiftspear

<div class="IPBDescription">Hmmm....</div> I was browsing computer parts on my local comp shop's website and I came across the title '<a href='http://www.anitec.ca/?mode=maincategory&mcid=10' target='_blank'>controllers</a>' for one of the hardware types they stock. Never having heard of them before, I decided to check out what the heck these things are. Not having my question answered on the webside, I desided to ask if anyone knew what the heck <a href='http://www.anitec.ca/?mode=category&catid=79' target='_blank'>these</a> are?

Rellix

I presume these cards allow you to connect SATA HD to them, usefull if your MOBO doesnt have SATA connections.

Shockeh

As it's 1am, so I can't be bothered typing out my own explanation, <a href='http://www6.tomshardware.com/storage/20030204/serial_ata-01.html' target='_blank'>Enjoy</a>.

Wheeee

*edit for clarification* controller cards are just cards that you stick in your pci/isa slots and they add hardware support for things that aren't integrated into the motherboard (e.g. raid or serial ata drives)

raid = redundant array of (inexpensive/independent) disks, basically a RAID controller is hardware that automatically backs up several different copies of data to different HDDs at the same time. The most common types are raid-0, raid-1, and raid0+1.

RAID 0: Non-redundant striped disks
RAID 1: Mirrored disks (multiple whole copies)
RAID 2: Parallel array with ECC
RAID 3: Parallel array with parity
RAID 4: Striped array with parity
RAID 5: Striped array with rotating parity