Hardware RAID controller questions - 3Ware vs RocketRaid

[Andy Wodfer]

Hi,
We're setting up two backup servers where each server will have about 4TB of
harddrives (for now) connected (4x1TB and 8x500GB drives). Last night we ran
into trouble with the 3ware controllers we have (9650SE-8LPML) because we
couldn't create a larger RAID5 than 1.99TB.

We are going to use FreeBSD 8.0 and Bacula, but first we obviously need to
create a working RAID.

My questions are:

- Are HighPoint RocketRaid controllers a good alternative to 3ware
controllers? Are RocketRaid controllers true hardware RAID?

- What should we look for in a RAID controller spec to see that it has
support for larger than 2TB RAIDs?

I've been looking at these:
http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series_rr2300.htm
http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series_rr3500.htm

Any FreeBSD recommendations? Or perhaps for another 3ware controller?

We're using SATAII drives.

Thanks for your help!

Best regards,
Andreas