Curious about a configuration

[roryadam84]

now i dont understand RAID as much as i would like. my question is can i run 2x250gb drives in a RAID 0 and then have a 3rd disk(500gb) for a backup. basically what i would like to know is what RAID configuration this would be called or if it even exists or if its possible

 

[ahthurungnone]

Yes, you can. You simply turn on the RAID in the BIOS and then only assign the two 250GB drives to the RAID LD "logical disk". The other will remain separate and after you install your OS, you will only see two drives (the RAID LD and the BAckup drive).

 

[hang-the-9]

Raid 5 does this, it uses 2 drives for stripping (Raid 0) and a 3rd drive for parrity data so if you loose one of the drives you can recover. But, it's not a true backup for the data really, more of a disaster recovery, which maybe what you are looking for.

People often use "backup" and "disaster/data recovery" as the same thing. Backup is when you have a file and you need to find an older version, or you deleted a single file or a directory. Disaster recovery is what RAID is used for, when a hard drive craps out on you and you need to restore it fully.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

So if you want a "backup drive" you need to setup RAID 0 on the 2 drives, and run a backup software to save to the 3rd drive. If you are looking for "disaster recovery" in case one of your disks fail, use RAID 5.

 

[roryadam84]

awesome thank you this is very helpful information for me ................. one more thing though. is the likelyhood of a drive failing increased if i use
RAID 0 or does it stay the same i ask this because ive never had a drive fail on me i once had a WD drive that i accidentally shorted out and also went through 2 or 3 surges and it was tottally fine.....again thank you for the info have a great day

cheers

 

[hang-the-9]

Raid 0 will not decrease drive reliability, but since it's not trully RAID (Redundant part is missing) you are doubling your chances at lost data since you have 2 drives that can fail. RAID 0 is really the least safe way of running your computer. RAID is like a second engine on a jet, one fails, the other can be used to fly. RAID 0 however is like having 2 engines linked together, so if EITHER of the engines fail, they both go out.

Drive reliability stays the same, but your data reliability is down by half.

 

[roryadam84]

alright but say performance wise RAID 0 is pretty good right what other RAID would compare

 

[hang-the-9]

Raid 5 will be fast if you have a raid controller. There is nothing that will be as fast as RAID 0 because they all need extra processing for the extra data copy.