RAID Controller - Should I Get One?

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RienNET

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Should I get a RAID controller, or do I not need one? What are the benefits of a RAID Controller?

SSD's: 2x Samsung 950 Pro (SATA M.2)
HDD's: 3x WD Black 1TB

The HDD's are for storage and backups.
I will be putting the HDD's in RAID 1 and the SSD's in RAID 0.

Any suggestions on how I should set-up the drives, not the best with this kind of stuff.
 
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wildfire707

wildfire707

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RAID 1 only provides protection against drive failure (Actually that is what all types of RAID above RAID 0 do). RAID 0 can provide better throughput, but SSDs change the picture - since they are so fast to start with.

There is also the difference between hardware RAID (a chip that does the RAID) and software RAID. The overhead with software RAID is so high that it usually wipes out any speed improvement with SSDs. Hardware RAID is more expensive and usually causes the RAID controller to do an integrity check every time it starts up to be safe. The article that USAFRet linked to points out many of the factors in trying to RAID SSD drives.
 
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RienNET

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Suppose I didn't state that properly.

From what I've read, setting up Hard Drives in RAID 1 is for redundancy, so if one drive fails, my data is still safe in the second drive, and so on. And, I keep the storage capacity and speed of only one drive.

That's where RAID 0 comes in, increasing read/write speeds, and doubling the chances of drive failure, but I'd have constant back-ups to the RAID 1 array.

But if I were to set-up my SSDs in RAID 10, I'd be able to have the redundancy of RAID 1 and the speed of two drives.

I don't know if that's 100% accurate or not, correct me if I'm wrong.

So, how about the SSD's in RAID 10, and the HDD's in RAID 1?
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Again, RAID 1 is not a backup.
Yes, it provides redundancy across 2 or more drives. It also mirrors whatever happens across 2 or more drives.
Accidental deletion, corruption, virus, whatever....just like having that on one drive.

If the file of your 3 year old in his Halloween costume gets deleted, the RAID 1 has nothing to do with this. That file is gone, gone, gone.
RAID 1 only helps in the case of a physical drive fail, and you need actual 24/7 operation.

RAID 0 with SSD? In regular use, does not increase performance.
If you were doing large file copy to another SSD RAID 0, sure. Blazing fast speed. But that is not what most PC operations are.

Read that link I posted above.
 
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RienNET

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Good to know. I will read the thread you posted. But from what I've learned, I probably should just go with no RAID, and a single SSD.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Multiple SSD's are no problem. My main system has 4.
But no RAID 0. Different drives have different uses. Still just as fast.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Having said that...do NOT neglect a backup solution.
I use Macrium Reflect. Every night at 2AM, create a whole disk image on another drive. Keep 2 weeks worth.
Every Sunday at 3AM, create an image on a whole other PC. Keep for 4 weeks.

In the case of a catastrophic virus or whatever, resurrect the image from the day before that happened. With a RAID 1, too bad, so sad...both drives are screwed exactly the same.
 
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RienNET

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I'll mainly be doing gaming on my system, with a little bit of graphics design, and programming (compiling builds).
So, the extremely fast 950 (by itself) will be fine for what I'm doing, with 2-3 hdds for storing videos, projects, images, and extra games. If I were to do RAID, it would be a lot further down the line...once I get a grasp on it.
 
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