WEI needs improvement Cheap!

[casualbuilder]

Will running Raid Spec on 1.5Tb 7200 Sata 6.0Gb/s HDD's greatly improve my WEI? I would like to get in the 7's with it, as that is the only part of my build sorely lacking. Money is always an issue, which is why i did not go with the multi hundred dollar SSD's.

 

[geekapproved]

Who cares about WEI??

Why not try and actual benchmark?

 

[casualbuilder]

true...however, more storage will be needed in the next few years. My performance is perfectly fine, and quite frankly, am just asking if the WEI will go up, and by how much if people have experience. Thanks

 

[Branden]

is WEI the only reason you have to believe your HDD isn't fast enough? if it weren't for WEI would you have noticed/cared that your HDD is "sorely lacking"?

but, yes, going RAID0 will likely improve your HDD's WEI score, probably not up to 7.0 (don't quote me on it, but i seem to recall hearing/reading WEI will not give mechanical HDD's a WEI in the 7's, you have to go SSD for that).
also keep in mind that RAID0 doubles your chance of drive failure, it is never smart to use RAID0 for storage.

EDIT: 1 vs 0, wasn't thinking.

 

[3xch4ng3]

is WEI the only reason you have to believe your HDD isn't fast enough? if it weren't for WEI would you have noticed/cared that your HDD is "sorely lacking"?

but, yes, going RAID1 will likely improve your HDD's WEI score, probably not up to 7.0 (don't quote me on it, but i seem to recall hearing/reading WEI will not give mechanical HDD's a WEI in the 7's, you have to go SSD for that).
also keep in mind that RAID1 doubles your chance of drive failure, it is never smart to use RAID1 for storage.

RAID 1 is exactly what you use for storage as it is a clone setup; RAID 0 is what is used for speed as it's stripped across multiple drives.

RAID setup will increase your WEI as personally I had 2 x 74GB WD 10K Raptor drives in RAID 0 with a WEI of 6.9. When one of them died I dropped down to a single drive and it dropped my WEI score down to 6.1. WEI test read/write, access time and throughput so anytime you increase this performance your WEI score will go up.

 

[casualbuilder]

So then, what RAID type would you recommend for solid storage and drive stability? Speed is not really an issue, but later on in the future could be. I am obviously not as versed in RAID technology as i would like to be.

 

[casualbuilder]

Also, would running 2 max out, or would running 3, 4, 5 hdd's increase my score the more i installed.

 

[Branden]

RAID for you, with size and stability and cost being priority, i'd suggest RAID5.
for RAID5 you'll need a minimum of three HDD's of ideally the same size, and the amount of storage you'll have is one less the sum storage of the drives.
ie. buy two more 1.5TB drives (~$140) and in conjunction with your current 1.5TB drive (total of three) you'll get 3.0TB drive space.

RAID5 gives you single drive fault tolerance, one of the three HDD's can fail and you still won't lose your data.
with every drive you add to a RAID5 you increase space and read speeds.
RAID5 will improve read speeds compared to single HDD, but write speeds depends on the RAID controller. a dedicated hardware RAID controller card is usually better than the RAID capabilities built into your mobo and will provide you with superior write speeds, but that's where it gets expensive as those cards start at hundreds of dollars.
also keep in mind to run an OS off a >2TB partition you'll need a EUFI mobo and 64bit OS (more $$ if you don't have those already).

if you feel RAID is beyond your comfort zone or knowledge level but you still want speed and space and data security, then id's suggest what many people do these days:
get a 60-120GB SSD for the operating system, a 2-3TB drive for file storage, and an external drive of equal size for backup. you'll have to put up with 2 partitions (not including backup) but you'll get a system drive WEI in the 7's and no worries about maintaining or possibly rebuilding a RAID.

 

[casualbuilder]

RAID for you, with size and stability and cost being priority, i'd suggest RAID5.
for RAID5 you'll need a minimum of three HDD's of ideally the same size, and the amount of storage you'll have is one less the sum storage of the drives.
ie. buy two more 1.5TB drives (~$140) and in conjunction with your current 1.5TB drive (total of three) you'll get 3.0TB drive space.

RAID5 gives you single drive fault tolerance, one of the three HDD's can fail and you still won't lose your data.
with every drive you add to a RAID5 you increase space and read speeds.
RAID5 will improve read speeds compared to single HDD, but write speeds depends on the RAID controller. a dedicated hardware RAID controller card is usually better than the RAID capabilities built into your mobo and will provide you with superior write speeds, but that's where it gets expensive as those cards start at hundreds of dollars.
also keep in mind to run an OS off a >2TB partition you'll need a EUFI mobo and 64bit OS (more $$ if you don't have those already).

if you feel RAID is beyond your comfort zone or knowledge level but you still want speed and space and data security, then id's suggest what many people do these days:
get a 60-120GB SSD for the operating system, a 2-3TB drive for file storage, and an external drive of equal size for backup. you'll have to put up with 2 partitions (not including backup) but you'll get a system drive WEI in the 7's and no worries about maintaining or possibly rebuilding a RAID.

So, RAID5 is the best deal, and at that amount, i can deal with the price. If i were to back everything up on an external drive, i would take all my worries away for "saved" data, as that being a back-up. Most of my storage on my computer IS for gaming, so i can always download/install programs over, not really a huge deal in my opinion, and back up my saved profiles on my external. Again, RAID doesn't scare me, im just not educated in it, and the WEI is just for bragging rights, so if i were to do it cheaply, its just something personal for me. Thank you for all your input branden!

 

[WyomingKnott]

WARNING: RAID is not a substitute for backups. Backups should be done to removable media (or over the network) and not stored inside the machine. RAID will protect your data and configuration from a single drive failure, but is still vulnerable to fires, power-supply surges, tea or rainwater frying the machine, malware scrambling everything and demanding a thousand dollar ransom to return your data to you, and other ills the flesh is heir to.

If you look through threads in this forum, you will see this point repeated. Your case may be a little different, since you sound like you don't care if you have to rebuild from scratch.

 

[3xch4ng3]

So, RAID5 is the best deal, and at that amount, i can deal with the price. If i were to back everything up on an external drive, i would take all my worries away for "saved" data, as that being a back-up. Most of my storage on my computer IS for gaming, so i can always download/install programs over, not really a huge deal in my opinion, and back up my saved profiles on my external. Again, RAID doesn't scare me, im just not educated in it, and the WEI is just for bragging rights, so if i were to do it cheaply, its just something personal for me. Thank you for all your input branden!

A side note to consider, make sure your motherboard support RAID without having to add a RAID controller if you decide to go this route. Most boards do come with a software-based RAID option on-board but it's usually limited to RAID 0 or 1. RAID 5 is typically reserved for higher priced boards or dedicated controllers.

 

[casualbuilder]

running a 990fx Sabertooth...heh. I built a power house for gaming, some things were way more than i needed, but well worth the money since it will save me money later when i only need to make small upgrades. I am getting some slack for my OC. I havent ran Prime95 yet, however, i am running my PHII 555BE at 4.33GHz (1.428v) no lie, and idle temp is at 23c. I am using SpeedFan for my monitoring app. Is this app reliable or should i switch to something different?

 

[Branden]

casualbuilder, your 990FX has EUFI and it supports RAID5. just install a 64bit OS and you've got what you need. good luck RAIDing.

WARNING: RAID is not a substitute for backups. Backups should be done to removable media (or over the network) and not stored inside the machine. RAID will protect your data and configuration from a single drive failure, but is still vulnerable to fires, power-supply surges, tea or rainwater frying the machine, malware scrambling everything and demanding a thousand dollar ransom to return your data to you, and other ills the flesh is heir to.

no one is claiming RAID is a substitute for backups, this thread isn't about backups. but with RAID5 he's got more data protection than 90% of the people out there. besides, that's a topic for another thread.

 

[casualbuilder]

Best answer selected by casualbuilder.