Can I boot off of a RAID 0 + 1 Array???

[SnakeVI]

I am considering building a Desktop PC, and was playing with the Idea of RAID. I have Assembled a few PCs before but never touched RAID.

My question,

If I make a RAID 0+1 Array with 4 x 80GB hard disks, Will I be able to Install the OS on it? or would I need another Disk to do that?

I am planning on using an XFX 780i motherboard (MB-N780-ISH9) to control my my RAID.

pros & cons? any comments and insight will be most welcome.

thanks!

 

[PraxGTI]

Yea, I am running RAID 0+1 with 4 500GB drives. Very happy with it.

Some people would prefer RAID5 or Raid 1+0...but honestly there are so many things it depends on (controller, drives, etc) that just go with what you want and stick with it

I don't have any data to back up pros or cons, but most on-board chipsets don't do RAID5 as well as an actual separate RAID controller, leaving you best off with RAID0+1 or 1+0 if you still want redundancy and performance.

You are probably going to need the latest RAID drivers for your motherboard on a CD for the vista installation, and on *gasp* floppy if you intend on XP.

 

[4745454b]

Is there a reason why you WOULDN'T be able to? You will need to be able to load the RAID drivers (from a floppy unless you have vista.) so make sure you got them handy.

The only con I can really mention is that its usually a bad idea to have your OS on an array, unless its a RAID1. If/when an array gets corrupted, there goes all of your stuff. RAID1 is ok because the contents are all on one disk, so recovery is simple. If you really need speed, put your OS on a single disk, and move the swap file over to your array. This way if your array/drivers crash, you don't need to reinstall windows or all your programs.

The only other real con I can think of is 160GBs isn't a lot of space. Spending ~$200 isn't so great either, as you can get a fast 500-750GB drive for that less then that. Even if you threw all four 80GB drives into an AID0 array, you'd still have only 320GB of space.

 

[stoner133]

Unlike what 4745454b has told you about RAID 1. RAID 1 is a mirrored array; if the operating system or any information for that matter on the primary half of the array becomes corrupted it will also be corrupted on the redundant half of the array as well. Thats why its called a mirrored array. RAID-0 will give you speed in loading or storing large files. May increase your operating system when loading but will also lenghten the boot up speed since it has to now detect the array. RAID-0 arrays also increase your posibilitys of drive failure, because now your talking about two drives instead of one. If one of the drives in a RAID-0 array has a hickup or complete failure all information is usually lost.

 

[4745454b]

???

I followed what you said for most of your post, other then the first part. If the AID0 driver gets corrupted, recovery is a b!tch. If a RAID1 driver gets corrupted, whats the worry? All of the info in on each drive, recovery is pretty simple. (plug drive into working computer as a data driver, copy over any files you want.)

I think you thought that I meant RAID1 is ok for a backup solution, which its not. If you make a change to one drive, it will be made in real time to the second. I didn't say that however, I talking from the stand point of corrupted drivers.

 

[SnakeVI]

thanks for the replies guys!
Looks like i got a bit of thinking to do....