Using RAID chipsets in the motherboard.

[Ramasubramanian Ramesh <rramesh@ti.com>]

Hi,

  It is been a while since I did active stuff with linux. Thus my knowledge of what is current in
the OS is outdated. I tried to get newer info with HOWTOs and other stuff. But still I am not sure
at all. Here are my questions.

1) All most all of the newer motherboards come with SATA RAID. Is this usable 
   as is without any additional kernel drivers. I ask this because I read in 
   many knowledge base resources that  a HW controller looks just like an IDE 
   controller.

2) What about additional on board RAID controllers? Like the VIA/PROMISE 
   Chipsets built into some of the ASUS mother boards? Do they require 
   additional drivers or can I use them just like any other IDE controller?

3) My need for using these controllers is to have the ability to add extra disk
   and I do not need their RAID features. But if RAID can be had without much 
   trouble I definitely would like to give it a try. The bottom line is I like     to get beyond the
4 drive limit with the standard primary and secondary 
   controller on the Mobo with the use of these additional builtin controllers.

Thanks for the time. If it is not too much trouble please also CC me your response.

Thanks and Regards
Ramesh