RocketRAID 2840C

Pros: Easy to use web based management software Supports sata too Supports larger capacity hard drives Alert you when a drive is failing and the management software tells you which drive is failing where it’s connected (the alert states it based on the corresponding connected connection and the fact my cables are labeled and my drives are also labeled doesn’t hurt either) it automatically rebuilds raid 1 arrays You can mute the really loud shrill noise it makes when you have a failing drive It’s not too slow (then again I had a raid controller that was pretty old and slow and was a pcie 2.0 pulled from a retired r710 server after i upgraded the r710 so really anything was better than that Dino) Drivers support windows 11 Easy and painless to install and use Physically durable and well built. Doesn’t feel cheap Supports multiple large capacity drives on multiple arrays Compatible with multiple operating systems including windows 10 and 11. Definitely has windows 11 compatibility. This includes drivers. Functions well hasn’t crashed or froze up my computer It costs less than $200 for me it was about $150 plus tax Well packed. Drivers are easy to find on the manufacturer website. Works in desktop PCs Includes low profile bracket if you need one Is a true one slot card not a 1.5 slot with tall heatsink It’s pcie 3.0 not some stupid halfarsed pcie 2.1 or something older Doesn’t overheat and thermal shutdown or BSOD due to overheating Good for 24/7 use (so far) so it’s good for home labs and NAS RAID setups that are used as primary centralized data and application software. You can run and access multiple arrays at once with minimal slowdown And best of all it absolutely totally DOES NOT SUCK!!!!! Definitely worth picking up especially if you’re a Windows 11 centralized data and application server user There’s also a similar controller by the same manufacturer here on Amazon for $100 if the extra $50 plus tax scared you off. If so I recommend that one as well it also supports windows 11 and 16 sata drives across the same type of cables and is also a 4 port card. So keep that one in mind too if you want. These are great controllers with great compatibility and easy to install and easy to use so DEFINITELY pick one up! Cons: Doesn’t include cables but you can get some cheap third party ones here on Amazon. I got a 2 pack of relabeled mini sas to sata ones for less than $30 including tax on Amazon. This controller supports 4 cables and 16 drives total It states it supports Linux but I’m a Windows user not a Linux user (I can’t Linux even if my life depended on it) so I can’t really speak on that myself No support for Mac according to what I see Sorry rich 1% people and major conglomerates who are so filthy rich they can afford a Mac without using their mortgage money entire life savings work five 9 to 5 jobs not eat for a year and go into massive debt to afford a Mac like everyone else in Main Street America would have to do to afford a Mac. This is not the card for you!

While the card was great and all the drives showed up in the boot utility, the controller was not supported in Unraid, so it had to be sent back sadly. I did touch base with HighPoint tech support and they were responsive to my questions, but just didn't have an answer for me. If you want to use this in a supported OS, it's probably a great card for you.

I'm using RAID-5 on a custom Windows 10 pc for a home media server used both as a LAN server for home streaming and as a Plex server so friends can stream my collection remotely. I originally started out using Windows 10 software RAID for a couple drives, but that was terrible and I quickly outgrew it, upgrading to a HighPoint RocketRaid 640L which worked great but maxed out at 4 HDDs. Since I run 4tb drives, this meant it topped out at 12tb in RAID-5 which I once again outgrew. I figured out that it was going to be a lot more expensive and a much bigger pain to replace all the drives with bigger ones than to just get a different RAID controller that could hold more drives, plus staying with 4tb drives is cheaper each time I need a little more storage space. So that's where this RocketRaid 2840C comes in. It can hold up to 16 drives via two of their SAS to SAS or SATA breakout cables (don't get the cheap 3rd party ones, suck it up and overpay for the HighPoint ones). For my purposes with the 4tb drives, that mean's I'll have up to 60tb in RAID-5 which should last a good long while even with a 4k UHD bluray collecting habit lol! This card and the HighPoint online RAID management also supports running multiple controllers withing the same RocketRaid family, so I have no concerns about running out of storage space (at that point, the bigger problem will be the physical space the HDDs would take up lol). As an additional note, hardware-wise the controller card doesn't draw huge amounts of power from the PSU, it's low-profile, and has heat sinks. I really can't say enough good for the HighPoint online RAID management, this is an absolutely brilliant solution for users like me. The interface may be clunky, but there are clear walkthroughs available for how to use it and the online management makes maintenance, adding storage space, and changing controllers just sooo easy--and you do not need to be a computer wizard to use it. If you posses some basic to intermediate knowledge of computers and the ability to know what to google to do your research in setting up the right RAID array for your needs, you can use this brand's controllers no problem. When I upgraded from the 640L to the 2840C, I was staggered at how smoothly it went. It literally involved pulling the old card out of my pc, installing the new card, running the new SAS to SATA breakout cables to my drives, booting back up, installing the driver for the 2840C, and my entire RAID array was just...back. Like nothing ever changed. No new configurations, no problems, no bs. At the same time I also added a new drive to expand my total array storage capacity by another 4tb; this is very easy too, you install your new drive to your case, run the cable, initialize it in Windows and then go through the couple of steps to run Online Capacity Expansion in the online HighPoint management. This will rebuild the array with the space of the new drive added, which takes a while (doing 16tb with 5 drives took about 34 hours for me, but the array was accessible during that time--the wait is just for the additional capacity). I haven't had a need to change RAID levels, but I understand that it's similarly doable with the online management. This is just suuuuper smooth and simple and maximized the uptime of your array. I'm giving the old chef's kiss to this entire setup and I'm totally sold on the RocketRaid products with online management concept, it's absolutely brilliant and a great choice for the many of us who are increasingly getting fed up with fickle, greedy streaming services and/or are digitizing our hard copy collections for centralized home or remote streaming and finding the all-in-one box NAS setups too limiting. If you possess the ability to set up something like that, you can certainly use these controllers with a basic, familiar pc and have something way more flexible and upgradable. Highly recommended!

Very good controller card, RAS for the moment

I had a particular use case for this card. I wanted the ability to raid together 8x 3.5" hdd's in a RAID 6 config while still being able to use windows (the system was my main desktop / gaming system at the time) and not having to install vm. Because this card has a built in onboard cache and controller, I was able to install the card, connect the drives, and configure the RAID 6 level with ease. The array can also be recognized again after a windows reinstall or boot drive wipe and resinstall (I did it twice without data loss). while still maintaining the performance capabilities of the system for other gaming, desktop, and video encoding purposes. So if you want to add raid capabilities (JBOD, 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, & 50) but don't want to dedicate a whole system to its functionality or mess around with VMs, this is the card for you. 10/10 I would buy it again. HighPoint makes some great hardware raid / system devices and I will be returning again

This is an absolute nightmare to get working on any modern Linux system. The money you save on the card turns into time spent getting it to work. Stay away if you use Linux and aren't well versed in makefiles and kernel compiling. They did not follow standards very well and as a result, this card needs special treatment to work. Now that I have it working, it seems fine, so far.

The crashing if windows 11 and the alarm that screams all the time are wonderful features!!!!

I didn't even want to use the RAID features. I just needed a high speed bus for my zfs filesystem. But that seemed like too much of an ask for this card. Drives do not show up in Linux without installing drivers from their meritorious .bin file. And from what I am reading the drivers run in user space, they're not even integrated into the kernel. I see now why this card is easy to find. No one wants to buy it.