RAID Arrays

[bigmjh]

I'm putting together components for my rig ... this thread http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/256156-31-have-base-build. I was set on a RAID0 array with 2 WD 640GB ... but started considering including a mirroring back-up and doing a RAID10 set-up with 4 WD 640's. Anyone familiar with a RAID 10 set-up? Will requirements for the MB change (presently set on an Asus p5Q PRO or P5Q SE/R)? Do I need any kind of add-on controller?

 

[rockbyter]

adding just 1 more drive for a total of 3, you can do a RAID5. This combines striping, with a single parity set. Any 1 drive can fail without losing your data that way. Raid5 is expandable as well for as many drives as you can throw at it, keep a drive on the shelf as a backup, you could have a dozen in service, 1 breaks, take it out, put the new one in, it rebuilds, no down time. As for the controller - having an independent hardware based raid card like one from 3ware (personal preference) is solid. you can put the entire raid set into another system and it will still work because the raid information is stored on the card in case the motherboard goes belly up, with the added benefit of far less load on the cpu.