RAID 1 - Whats the best sub system?

Raid 1 - Adaptec 1210sa -w2k
RAID 1 - ADAPTEC SERIAL CONTROLLER 1210SA on W2K Workstation (copied over from W2k forum)

I've installed this two port controller with two 120 GB Seagate SATA drives, named drive 00 and drive01.

The devices came up and ran ok for a few days and then drive 01 reported "Degraded" during boot, but the rest of workstation still ran ok.

I haven't been able to find a definition of "degraded" for this sub system. I took it to mean, the mirroring of drive 00 was faulty, that is, I'd lost RAID redundancy. Is this true?.

Drive 00 is running OK

Both drives check ok, and I've given the drives some thorough testing.

Whatever produces the "degraded" message lies in the RAID configuration, I think controller firmware, not the drives.

The documentation for the 1210SA is poor. ADAPTEC cover so many different drives in the document, I think its impossible to determine which controller any part of the documentation refers to.

What I would like know is others experience with this RAID system.

Can I repair the RAID 1 sub system. By this I mean, can I get drive 01 mirroring drive 00 with a rebuild that does not mean loosing the data on drive 00.

This should all be pretty straight forward.

Before I throw what might be a perfectly good controller in the rubbish bin, has anyone had good experiences with this device. Any advice on the best way to go is much appreciated. I found the SATA Seagate drives terrific.

But how do you monitor if the mirroring is working OK?

Any suggestions on other controllers or motherboards with onboard RAID controllers.