SATA and RAID questions

krazynutz · Nov 4, 2003

I might be interested in using the SATA controllers but I'm not SATA savvy, so I have a few questions. Can you use a SATA harddrive setup with two harddrives in a normal fashion (as you would two ide harddrives) or do you have to use them in a RAID 0 configuration? I know nothing about RAID setups. Can you use harddrive partitions with RAID? I have an IDE harddrive and plan on buying a SATA harddrive. The IC7-G comes with a Serillel IDE to SATA converter, so in theory, I'll then have two SATA harddrives. Can anyone PLEASE take a few minutes and help me out? Maybe a link to a site that can help?

:lol: "You ain't leading but two things right now: Jack and sh!t, and
Jack left town." :lol: Edited by krazynutz on 11/06/03 10:55 AM.

krazynutz · Nov 6, 2003

anything?? anything at all?

:lol: "You ain't leading but two things right now: Jack and sh!t, and
Jack left town." :lol:

ChipDeath · Nov 6, 2003

you should be able to set it up as 2 distinct hard drives, yes. Just look in wherever the BIOS for the RAID stuff is. I believe it's usually a different keypress than the normal BIOS one (i.e. not pressing 'DEL' on startup).

I used to use one RAID channel for a hard disk so I could have my 2 optical drives on the two 'normal' IDE channels. That wasn't SATA, but it's the same principle.

There wouldn't be any performance benifit you realise - Although those SATA cables are a hell of a lot neater than stupid ribbon cables.

---
The preceding text is assembled from information stored in an unreliable organic storage medium. As such it may be innacurate, incomplete, or completely wrong

TheMASK · Nov 6, 2003

yep, u can use SATA drives as you wud use a normal IDE drive. i am using 2 SATA drives, NOT in RAID, and 1 IDE drive.

i must say that copying a huge file into the SATA drive is much faster than copying into the IDE drive. may be the SATA's 8MB cache is doing the work (i have no idea), but its fast.

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krazynutz · Nov 7, 2003

hey hey hey....

Thanks guys. A few less worries on this end. Hey wusy (or anyone for that matter) I know that RAID is faster than two single hardrives working as seperate entities. Should RAID only be used when doing something like video editing or something that you would need a HUGE amount of space in one place that's quickly and easily accessable, or can you use it for normal computing with partitions (ie: a partition for gaming, a partition for MP3's, a partition for programs, a partition for windows..etc..)? Correct me if I'm wrong, but using RAID makes the computer write to two harddrives simultaniously, which makes it faster, but that particular file will now be spread over two harddrives, yes?

:lol: "You ain't leading but two things right now: Jack and sh!t, and
Jack left town." :lol:

krazynutz · Nov 9, 2003

Thanks! Just a few more questions:
Ok, so I have an 80 GB Maxtor DiamondMax Plus9 IDE (with a Serillel SATA adapter) and just ordered a 120 GB DiamondMax 9 SATA drive and plan to make about 5-6 partitions in all. I love gaming along with graphics (3DS MAX, Photoshop, After Effects, Director, Premiere) so do you think I should set it up in RAID 0 or set it up normally? How much of a performance gain will I get with RAID? Do harddrives in RAID need to be the same size? Do files get corrupt more easily with RAID? Sorry bout all the questions. That's the end of them. Thanks for taking the time to help a guy out. I'll check out the RAID FAQ thread in the HD forum, but any quick answers to my questions will be greatly appreciated!!

:lol: "You ain't leading but two things right now: Jack and sh!t, and
Jack left town." :lol: Edited by krazynutz on 11/09/03 03:23 AM.

allanon1965 · Nov 9, 2003

you should have gotten another 80 gig because raid will only double the smallest hard drive, in essence, you will only get 160gig in raid, not 200....you will be losing 40 gigs of hd space! bummer.......

Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is no way to go through life Son.

krazynutz · Nov 9, 2003

I wasn't originally planning on using RAID so I chose the 120 GB because it was 40 GB more for only $20 more. $110 for 120 GB vs $90 for 80 GB).
well, I can still cancel my 120 GB order and switch it to 80 GB. My question is: How much of a performance gain will RAID give me? Will it be noticable in common usage or only in benchmarks?

:lol: "You ain't leading but two things right now: Jack and sh!t, and
Jack left town." :lol:

krazynutz · Nov 9, 2003

Well I use 3DS MAX, Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, Director, Premiere, and Painter and various CD/DVD burning programs. Would it help with any of those other programs? Also, with such a small price difference between the 80 and 120 GB drives, where would the better choice be? Volume or Performance? 40 extra gigs for $20 or slightly faster programs?

:lol: "You ain't leading but two things right now: Jack and sh!t, and
Jack left town." :lol:

allanon1965 · Nov 9, 2003

well i never tested my raid setups, but i do know that i could definatley see a big difference in performance of my games and load time of windows(when loading to a new hard drive).

Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is no way to go through life Son.

krazynutz · Nov 9, 2003

well actually what I was implying, was that if I got the 120 GB drive, I wouldn't put it in RAID. I'd just enjoy having an extra 40 GB of room. So I was asking which is better for roughly the same amount of money: 200 GB of space set up normally, or 160 GB set up in RAID? I'll go with as the majority of second opinions as people post. Eventually, I'll get a 3rd HD (either 160 GB or 200 depending on my current decision) for backup. Another concern I have is that one drive will be SATA, while the other is IDE with a SATA converter. could that cause a problem with RAID?

:lol: "You ain't leading but two things right now: Jack and sh!t, and
Jack left town." :lol:

allanon1965 · Nov 9, 2003

160 in raid for sure would be better than 200 non raid.

Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is no way to go through life Son.

krazynutz · Nov 9, 2003

thanks, but does anyone know if there would be a RAID conflict (such as speed differences) with a SATA drive and an IDE drive with a SATA converter?

:lol: "You ain't leading but two things right now: Jack and sh!t, and
Jack left town." :lol:

krazynutz · Nov 10, 2003

I put a post up on the Abit website forums, and asked this same question and was told it's a bad idea to use a SATA 150 drive with a IDE 133 drive with a SATA converter. Anyone disagree?

:lol: "You ain't leading but two things right now: Jack and sh!t, and
Jack left town." :lol:

krazynutz · Nov 11, 2003

I'm sure I could have, but I want to go SATA. I'll probably just sell my 80 GB IDE drive and get another SATA.

:lol: "You ain't leading but two things right now: Jack and sh!t, and
Jack left town." :lol:

krazynutz · Nov 11, 2003

Since I was advised NOT to use a SATA and an IDE (with SATA converter) in RAID, I dropped the extra $20 and got the 120 GB. C'mon - 40GB for $20? Can't beat that! If I can sell my Maxtor DiamondMax 80GB w/8MB buffer for $65, then I'll find a way to scrounge up $55 more for another 120 GB SATA drive. Yeah, two 120 GB SATA's in RAID 0 does sound pretty sweet. Know anybody who'll want that drive I'm willing to sell? Hey, if a MoBo has 4 SATA contollers on it, can you use, say, the 3rd one for a backup harddrive?

:lol: "You ain't leading but two things right now: Jack and sh!t, and
Jack left town." :lol:

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