4tb HDD or 2x2tb raid 0?

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Gdourado

Gdourado

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Aug 7, 2014
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Hello,
How are you?
I need to add internal storage to my rig.
The purpose is to have my music library and my photo library.
Both are currently around 1.8tb and growing. I shoot raw, so photo library gets big.
I am wondering if I should go for a single 4tb drive or get two 2tb and do a raid0 setup.
I have external backups, two of them, so redundancy is assured.
For the photo library access by Lightroom, would the raid do a big difference?
Also, I would do hardware raid in the bios. The board is a z87.
If I later switch boards and configure the raid again, would the data still be there?

Thanks.
Cheers!
 
Solution
photonboy
RAID0 is less reliable, will cause more noise and isn't even as fast as most people think.

RAID0 and speed:
While people think it "doubles" the speed which is roughly true compared to a single 2TB drive, most people don't understand that the higher the capacity a drive the faster it is on AVERAGE.

For example, let's say a 2TB drive was up to 100MB/second on the outer edge; it will be about 50MB/second on the inner edge.

Now let's take a 4TB HDD at 100MB/second on the outer edge, once filled to 2TB it will be closer to 75MB/second since access speed is proportional to the angular velocity. At the 2TB point on the RAID0 setup we're halfway through both drives so the speed at this point is almost IDENTICAL.

So it DEPENDS where the...
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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RAID0 is less reliable, will cause more noise and isn't even as fast as most people think.

RAID0 and speed:
While people think it "doubles" the speed which is roughly true compared to a single 2TB drive, most people don't understand that the higher the capacity a drive the faster it is on AVERAGE.

For example, let's say a 2TB drive was up to 100MB/second on the outer edge; it will be about 50MB/second on the inner edge.

Now let's take a 4TB HDD at 100MB/second on the outer edge, once filled to 2TB it will be closer to 75MB/second since access speed is proportional to the angular velocity. At the 2TB point on the RAID0 setup we're halfway through both drives so the speed at this point is almost IDENTICAL.

So it DEPENDS where the files are on either setup whether they'll be accessed but price aside I'd much rather go with a single drive.

(The SEAGATE 3TB is an excellent drive)
 
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Solution
J

jitpublisher

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May 16, 2006
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Switching boards can be tricky. Unless the new board has the same exact RAID controller, it is likely you will have to build a new array. Redundancy is the ability to keep a system up and running in case of a drive failure. You are using a RAID array for storage, you need a failsafe backup, which it sounds like you have. If you have to break the array to move it to a new board, and you have a failsafe backup in place, you should have no worries. Just make sure that backup solution is working!
 
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aerocool

aerocool

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Nov 8, 2013
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Years ago I have a RAID0, and first time configuration in BIOS, the HDDs must be formatted. In new motherboard, probably they will be formatted.
Better a 4TB or 2+2TB (without RAID). For storing data, I think speed is not necessary.
 
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Gdourado

Gdourado

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Aug 7, 2014
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Thank you all for you answers.
I guess raid0 is not worth it.
More important than read and write speeds, for photo libraries is access times to index pictures, create thumbnails and read metadata. As such, I don't think raid would impact performance that much. In regard to 4tb drives, what is the best out there regarding performance?

Cheers and thanks!
 
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Gdourado

Gdourado

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How about an Hitachi Deskstar IDK - 4TB 7200rpm 64MB SATA600 3.5?
It is 50 euros cheaper than an HGST Ultrastar 7K4000 - 4TB 7200rpm 64MB 3.5 SATA600.
Is it good? And relatively fast?

Cheers!
 
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T

TyrOd

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Aug 16, 2013
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What you're describing(read/access time acceleration) can best be accomplished with SSD caching.

So I would go with a cheap 3 or 4TB HDD + a small SSD as write-through cache.
 
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