M.2 PCIe 3.0 SSD vs. Marvell RAID1 dual SSD

[kd6icz]

So I'm building another system.... After I discovered PLEX I realized the new HTPC I built just this past January wasn't good enough. Well, only the storage layout wasn't good enough.

So I decided to build a full blown server. The new motherboard I'm using is the Supermicro X11SSH-LN4F which is socket 1151 based on the C236 chipset.

I choose it because the chipset supports 8 drives in RAID. I have 8 WD 6TB Reds doing various functions in various different pieces of hardware and decided to put them all together in one box in a RAID5 configuration.

Anyway this still leaves the boot drive. I purchased a Vantec SATA III PCIe x2 controller based on a Marvell chip. The card holds two mSATA drives and also has two additional SATA III connectors for whatever else. I mounted two 250GB SSD's to the card and configured them in RAID1 for protection.

I noticed the motherboard has an M.2 slot that says PCIe 3.0. I didn't give it a second thought because the last Supermicro MB I had with an mSATA slot took away one of the SATA ports of I used it. But after doing some research, apparently this M.2 slot is different and doesn't do that. Its actually just a mini PCIe 3.0x2 slot and I turn must have a M.2 card that has a PCIe 3.0x2 interface.

My question is which do all of you think will be the more reliable solution? Staying with the Vantec / Marvell dual SSD RAID1 card or switching to a single Samsung M.2 SSD?

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