RAID 0 questions

[cburke82]

So im thinking of setting up raid for a little performance boost and had some questions.

First as I understand setting up raid 0 if I use 2 500GB drives I would have a total of 1TB storage correct?

I read the FAQ in the forums and it talks about raid drivers. Would those come with the motherboard or HDD? I have a newer BIOSTAR mobo and dont recall seeing any raid drivers in the box. The CD just had mobo/audi/video drivers.

Then how hard it this to do the first time? I just finished my first build and I had no issues but there seems like there is more room for error here.

Basically im looking for a little boost in boot and load times and dont wan to drop the cash for SSD's. Any help/tips would be greatly appreciated

 

[WyomingKnott]

1) Please keep in mind that RAID 0 is more than two times as vulnerable to the loss of your data than having single drives. Do backups if you go this route.

2) Please read the RAID FAQ: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/259807-32-raid

3) The motherboard can set up the RAID array; the OS must have a RAID driver. If you set up the RAID before doing the OS install, which is always the better option, the WinXP or later install procedure will install the RAID driver.

The RAID is set up at the BIOS level by setting the controller to RAID mode and doing some mysterious things that I don't know anything about to set up the RAID volume.

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In my personal opinion, the little boost in boot and load times is not worth the potential aggravation of losing your OS and your data. So if you do go this route, be sure to backup early and backup often.

 

[cburke82]

1) Please keep in mind that RAID 0 is more than two times as vulnerable to the loss of your data than having single drives. Do backups if you go this route.

2) Please read the RAID FAQ: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/259807-32-raid

3) The motherboard can set up the RAID array; the OS must have a RAID driver. If you set up the RAID before doing the OS install, which is always the better option, the WinXP or later install procedure will install the RAID driver.

The RAID is set up at the BIOS level by setting the controller to RAID mode and doing some mysterious things that I don't know anything about to set up the RAID volume.

---------------------------------

In my personal opinion, the little boost in boot and load times is not worth the potential aggravation of losing your OS and your data. So if you do go this route, be sure to backup early and backup often.

So you would then sugest 0+1 set up so its auto backup?

 

[WyomingKnott]

So you would then sugest 0+1 set up so its auto backup?

First, I suggest searching the forum for related topics. The question that you just asked has been the subject of quite a few impassioned posts in the past.

Yes, I personally would use 1+0 if I chose to build a RAID set for speed. However, RAID 1 is NOT a form of backup. It protects your data against a single drive failure. It does not protect your data against accidental erasure, controller failure, sudden power outages, malware, or any of the eleventy-seven other things that you can catch from a one-eyed... Whoops, excuse me, Mr. Heinlein. That is still in copyright.

RAID 1+0 will make your system more robust than RAID 0 alone. It is not a substitute for backups that are on media separate from your system, preferably in another room, another building, or another state.

Edit: Despite that last sentence, my removable backup drives are stored about eight feet from my computer. I made the decision that if something took out that entire part of my house, I'd have bigger worries than restoring my computer stuff. The drives are, however, in a hard-sided case with individual pockets cut into anti-static foam.

 

[sminlal]

So you would then sugest 0+1 set up so its auto backup?

WK is right on the money when he talks about backups. If your data is at all important to you then you really need to have recent backups of it no matter what RAID organization you use. If you've got that in place, then the biggest downside to RAID 0 is that you have a higher chance of being out of commission for a few days if a drive fails and you're forced to buy a new one and restore your data from the backups.

If you can live with that, then go right ahead and use RAID 0. If not, RAID 0+1 will pretty much eliminate drive failure as a cause of an outage - but it won't eliminate accidental deletion of files, corruption due to viruses, theft of your system, etc. etc.

 

[cburke82]

WK is right on the money when he talks about backups. If your data is at all important to you then you really need to have recent backups of it no matter what RAID organization you use. If you've got that in place, then the biggest downside to RAID 0 is that you have a higher chance of being out of commission for a few days if a drive fails and you're forced to buy a new one and restore your data from the backups.

If you can live with that, then go right ahead and use RAID 0. If not, RAID 0+1 will pretty much eliminate drive failure as a cause of an outage - but it won't eliminate accidental deletion of files, corruption due to viruses, theft of your system, etc. etc.

So if I mostly have games and pirated music files and dont mind reinstalling/downloading lol im good thanks for the help.

 

[cburke82]

Best answer selected by cburke82.