Raid 0 with backup? Or Raid 5

[xelis]

Hello, I am fairly new to setting up a raid and I was hoping some may have suggestions for me. I recently bought 2 f3 samsung spinpoints 500 gb single platter hard drives. I want to increase performance by running them in raid configuration. Would you recommend having the two f3 samsungs in raid 0 configuration and my older maxtor (slower) 500gb harddrive just as a back up drive? (perhaps holding things such as windows or things I don't need to access very often)

Or should I run it as raid 5 and use the maxtor as a parity drive? I am unsure if I will lose performance for using an older drive as the parity or not, so was hoping someone could clear that up for me. Thanks

 

[pat]

Set a RAID0 array and install the OS on. Use the Maxtor as a backup drive with software like puresync that allow you to mirror folder. this way, any file saved/modified in a folder on the array will have the same mirrored folder on the maxtor. in the unlikely event that the RAID fail, you still have a copy of your importany folder on the maxtor. but remember that important file should be on a backup somewhere else than on your computer.

I'm setted up this way, never have a lost file... thou I never had an array fail on me..

 

[sub mesa]

I do not recommend FakeRAID5 on Windows platforms; a lot of people lost their data even with no disk crashes; steer clear of these crappy drivers!

However, RAID0 is pretty simple and straightforward. Not too much that can go wrong. And since you have a backup you won't be getting any surprises. So i would recommend this option over the RAID5 option; where you have no backup and a high chance of losing your data.

 

[gtvr]

Even better is put the 3rd drive in an external enclosure, run backups to it, and then disconnect when not in use. If something really bad happens to the PC then your data is separate.

 

[xelis]

Set a RAID0 array and install the OS on. Use the Maxtor as a backup drive with software like puresync that allow you to mirror folder. this way, any file saved/modified in a folder on the array will have the same mirrored folder on the maxtor. in the unlikely event that the RAID fail, you still have a copy of your importany folder on the maxtor. but remember that important file should be on a backup somewhere else than on your computer.

I'm setted up this way, never have a lost file... thou I never had an array fail on me..

Sorry, I'm still learning a bit about raid 5. I thought with the parity drive, even though there is no back up, it would require 2 of the 3 drives to fail with raid 5? Is this true?

As for the general consensus, it seems like people are suggesting to do raid 0 and just have a back up of my data, either just as a third internal hard drive or more recommended, externally. (I do not have an external enclosure atm, but I will probably just pick up an external drive sometime for backup.) So I plan on using the third drive as a back up of files internally.

Also regarding parity, I know involving individual drives you can split up the drive in partitions. Is this not possible with things such as Raid 0? Could I do raid 0 and have my third drive partitioned? (perhaps have a clean install of windows in one partition of my third drive, and rest of data in the other part of that drive?)

Thanks again for the input

 

[pat]

Sorry, I'm still learning a bit about raid 5. I thought with the parity drive, even though there is no back up, it would require 2 of the 3 drives to fail with raid 5? Is this true?

As for the general consensus, it seems like people are suggesting to do raid 0 and just have a back up of my data, either just as a third internal hard drive or more recommended, externally. (I do not have an external enclosure atm, but I will probably just pick up an external drive sometime for backup.) So I plan on using the third drive as a back up of files internally.

Also regarding parity, I know involving individual drives you can split up the drive in partitions. Is this not possible with things such as Raid 0? Could I do raid 0 and have my third drive partitioned? (perhaps have a clean install of windows in one partition of my third drive, and rest of data in the other part of that drive?)

Thanks again for the input

problem is, if the RAID controller fail or develop a fault and corrupt all the data, then even RAID 5 won't help.. unless you want to recover corrupt data.

keeping stuff separated is stil the best option for personal use. What RAID 5 allow, is if a drive fail, and you cannot really stop the computer, then hotswapping the drive and rebuilding the array is possible. But, I won't really recommend that unless you have an expensive hardware raid controller card, not software like motherboard raid.
PureSync is still the best option. RAID5 will kill performance due to the extensive parity calculation. RAID0 on my system average 170MB/s with peak near 200MB/s. You could achieve maybe better performance or less depending of the hardware. But those samsung are really fast..