Software or Hardware RAID for LVM

Well, I've been looking into setting up a RAID for my home server.  I've been trying to decide between a software raid or buying a relatively cheap SATA controller and using it for a hardware RAID.  I'm trying to figure out the pros and cons of buying a cheap hardware card for use rather than simply using a software solution.
Are there any negatives to using LVM with either setup versus the other?  Have software solutions become decent enough to be relied on?
If you recommend a hardware solution, a card suggestion would be appreciated.  Preferably something under $50.. if that's even possible for a semi reliable card.
I'm also curious as to whether there would be an issue with software raid if it is run across multiple SATA controllers.  Can you even run a single hardware RAID using 2 separate controllers?
Appreciate any advice!
EDIT: I'd also appreciate any information on the processor overhead of running a software RAID 5 with 5-6 disks.  The home server is just an old Core2 and doesn't have all that much power to it.
Last edited by nedlinin (2012-01-05 00:35:03)

Anntoin wrote:
Stick with the software RAID, more flexible and probably more reliable. Hardware RAID only - arguably - becomes worth it if you have fancy stuff like a battery backed write cache, etc...
I'd avoid using RAID 5 and go for something like RAID 1+0, look up 'RAID 5 write hole'.
The processor overhead should be quite low even on a Core2.
The wiki has a bunch on info on RAID and LVM:
e.g. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/So … ID_and_LVM
Appreciate the info.  I've actually been reading over the RAID/LVM wiki over the past couple days making sure I get myself aligned to what needs to be done.
As far as avoiding RAID 5, I was specifically choosing it as it allows for some form of backup while giving me a large amount of hard drive space.  I will be using 6x2TB drives in the array and using a RAID1 would end up giving me half of it usable, RAID5 giving me 10TB usable.  Right now each of the drives are on their own so even with the write hole issues I'd assume I'd be better off with the RAID 5 then simply having the drives separate no?
I don't simply want to put all 6 drives into a LV as I'd be worried about one failing and losing more data than each drive on their own.

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