Christer Edwards wonders how to compare software and hardware RAID.

I was pleasanlty surprised to read the comments being so positive on software RAID, especially on performance.

Let me repeat what I posted:

Over all, I prefer software RAID (on Linux that is) because
– more control
– easy to migrate disks
– no problems with replacing controllers
– no controllers which might ruin your whole array when replacing a disk (happened to me on a Dell box)
– most hosts have enough cpu power to handle the average loads I need in most of my environments

Downside of software raid:
– I wouldn’t use it when your apss need big iron (e.g. heavily used and optimised database environment)
– Bad support from most installers to easily boot from second mirror drive when the first failed; also not so easy to configure Grub to handle all possible failures (e.g. bad FS vs. bad disk)

What are your opinions on this?