Windows Dynamic Disks vs BIOS FakeRAID

Question

I have two 3TB disks in a Windows 7 Dynamic Disk Mirror array (effectively, software RAID1).

Apart from being tied to the O/S (I can't mount the array in Linux, for example) - is there any difference in performance or reliability of Windows' software RAID offering vs my motherboard's BIOS RAID?

I can't use the motherboard RAID so I'm not asking "Which should I use?", more "What are the up/down-sides to my (forced) choice?"

---

Addendum: The reasons for going with Dynamic Disks is that my motherboard's controller (Intel ICH9) doesn't see any devices greater than 746GB when in RAID mode, and no matter which combination of Intel Rapid Storage Technology software or motherboard BIOS version I tried, I couldn't get a RAID1 array of 3TB, so I've used AHCI mode on the controller and gone with Software RAID.

Answer 1

Software RAID is usually considered better than fake RAID. It's hardware-independent, so if your MoBo/fake RAID card fails you can just reattach both disks to a new MoBo and you'll be able to recover your data easily. Hardware-based solutions usually use proprietary data storage methods and in case of RAID controller failure, you have to look for hardware that's compatible with your RAID flavor. Linux users have the ability to configure much more advanced SW RAID setups than any controller would let them (like for example RAID 50).

Downsides of software RAID are: no ability to boot from the RAIDed volume and lack of portability - if you're dual booting Windows and Linux, then not only both OSes won't recognize each other's RAID, they will also be able to break RAID's integrity.

In this test (in Polish) performance of fake RAID was comparable with Windows software RAID.