Bus-Based RAID Controllers

Bus-based RAID controllers are computer boards that are installed in a personal computer (PC) or server and connected to the array drives. They take the place of the SCSI host adapter or IDE/ATA controller that would otherwise be required to interface the system with the redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID). Most bus-based RAID controllers are used in lower-end systems, but specialized devices are also available. As their name suggests, bus-based RAID controllers send data to the rest of the PC over the system bus, typically via peripheral component interconnect (PCI). Some motherboards, particularly those designed for server systems, come with some variant of the integrated RAID controller. These bus-based RAID controllers are built into the motherboard, but function in precisely the same manner as an add-in bus-based car. The only difference is that integrated controllers can reduce overall cost, but at the price of flexibility.