What Hardware Do I Need for RAID 0

[unbiasedfanboy]

I want to set up a system that uses RAID0; however, I have no experience with this. I have 2xSAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive and am using this motherboard: ASUS M4A87TD Are there any other parts I need to setup a RAID0 system for a personal computer?

Also if anyone could direct me to some good guides on setting up a RAID0 that would be very helpful. Thanks.

 

[mgrzTX]

I want to set up a system that uses RAID0; however, I have no experience with thttp://www.facebook.com/his. I have 2xSAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive and am using this motherboard: ASUS M4A87TD Are there any other parts I need to setup a RAID0 system for a personal computer?

Also if anyone could direct me to some good guides on setting up a RAID0 that would be very helpful. Thanks.

Really for a personal computer you should be set w/ the Mobo, 2 SATA cables and the 2 drives. The board has a build in Raid controller that should be just fine for your purposes, and it's pretty simple really assuming your starting from a blank slate.

Just plug the 2 power HDDs in, turn on your computer and enter the BIOS utility (by pressing Del when prompted on startup). Then go into the drives area/page and find something along the lines of "drive configuration" which should have 3 options; IDE, AHCI and of coarse RAID. Choose RAID of coarse.

Reboot, then press "Ctrl+I" to enter configuration utility. At least it should be ctrl+I for your Mobo. But there will be on screen instructions again. Once in the utility it should be pretty self explanatory. There will be an option to create a Raid array, it will ask what kind of RAID (striping or 0) in your case, and which HDDs you wish to use. Then when your finished "save and restart".

I don't really know of any up to date guide's, but your motherboard manual should have an exact explanation. I believe you can download it here...

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=j02KziJq95KbCQNm&content=download

 

[photonboy]

To be more specific:
1) Install the two drives (HDD or SSD)
2) setup in the BIOS (*now the RAID0 setup appears to Windows as one single drive)
3) Install Windows

Alternatively (to copy existing Windows):
1) hook up the two new drives and UNHOOK the Windows drive
2) setup RAID0 in the BIOS
3) hook Windows drive backup
4) boot into BIOS again to make sure the Windows drive is first (if it's not you'd just hang up on the RAID0 anyway with nothing on it)
5) Use software to CLONE from the existing Windows drive to the RAID0 setup (remember RAID0 looks like one drive)
6) remove the old drive until you are happy things are working fine, then
7) Format the old drive and use as a secondary drive or whatever

My recommendation for gamers:
1) 60GB SSD (for Windows; OCZ Vertex 2 or similar)
2) 1TB or 2TB HDD (i.e. Western Digital)

My setup:
1) 2x60GB OCZ Vertex 2 (RAID0 *didn't get top speed until I used Intel ICH0 for RAID. Marvell SATA3 was bad.)
2) 2x2TB WD

Summary:
SSD RAID0 mostly doesn't have TRIM support yet so I'd stay away. Also, it's so fast I don't think you'd notice a difference (that's based on comparing 60GB to 2x60GB or 280MB/sec to 500MB/sec.

Ideal performance and price:
1) 60GB SSD (Windows)
2) 2TB HDD

***You MUST install your games to the second hard drive for space reasons. The SSD should be reserved for Windows and other programs.

 

[photonboy]

Velociraptor vs 2TB

Whether you use RAID0 with these or not, it's interesting to note something often overlooked:

Gamers usually get drives based on the average read speed. A hard drive is fastest on the outer edge (first programs installed) and about HALF the speed on the inner edge (programs installed when it's almost FULL).

Here's the interesting thing:

The Velociraptor 300GB is something like 130MB/sec (can't remember) and drops to about 65MB/second. However, even though the 2TB Green is much slower on its outer edge it also DROPS MUCH SLOWER.

So the Velociraptor might only lead for the first 100GB or less!!

RAID0:
If you purchase 2x2TB it's still about the same price, or slightly cheaper than a 300GB Velociraptor. However, the average Read Speed (for game loading) is going to beat the Velociraptor in ALL cases (starting at about 200MB/sec and dropping SLOWLY to "only" 100MB/second. You'll also have 4TB of space which is about 13x the space for roughly the same price.

That's why I think the following setup is ideal for many:
1) 60GB SSD (or 2x60GB RAID) for Windows 7 x64 Premium
2) 2x1TB or 2x2TB RAID0 (games, media, and backup)

*My second drive (soon to be RAID0) is my "E" drive. When I install games I usually just change the "C" to "E" in the recommended file path name.

 

[photonboy]

I should have added this option:

2x1TB RAID0 (Windows and games)

 

[unbiasedfanboy]

Best answer selected by unbiasedfanboy.