Three questions about SSD on raid configurations, help!

[Neverdyne]

Hey guys, I got three questions about SSDs on raid and would love some help:

- Can I set a Raid 0 configuration with different model of SSDs but same size? I have a c300 and an m4, both 128GB. Would that work?

- Does setting SSDs on a raid configuration increase speeds even though my motherboard is only SATA 3.0 compatible? I'm wondering since you would have two connections after all, no?

- Can I use Intel's RST with the c300 and m4? And does it support TRIM on raids now?



Thanks!

 

[Dereck47]

1.) Yes, you can, but RAID performance will be based upon whichever drive has the slowest Read/Write speeds.
2.) Yes, your read/write speeds will increase.
3.) No, the purpose of Intel RST is to boost the performance of a slow HDD by using a SSD as a cache drive. You won't get any performance benefits using RST with 2 SSDs.
4.) TRIM is not supported on RAID arrays at this point in time. "Log off" overnight a couple of times a week to allow Garbage Collection to maintain drive performance.

 

[WyomingKnott]

Unless you need RAID 0 to address a specific need / shortcoming, my advice is not to use it. Please look at http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=32&post=278576&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0

 

[jitpublisher]

^Agree. If you have ever used an SSD, you will likely see that they are so fast anyway, putting them into RAID is kind of redundant and not going to benefit you in a noticeable way, at least for the majority of people. It's sort of like taking a car that goes 150mph and asking mechanic to make it go 200, really whats the point?
If you just need the additional space and want the speed of an SSD though, that could be 1 simple reason to raid them. But don't do it for the sole reason of eeking out more performance, unless you are doing something really, really big that requires you to move a ton of data fast on a regular basis, which is not a great environment for an SSD to be in, it can shorten the useful life of the drives.

 

[WyomingKnott]

It's sort of like taking a car that goes 150mph and asking mechanic to make it go 200, really whats the point?

See, now that would address a need. If you are driving on a race track, for fun or serious competition, that would make a difference. The fastest I've driven is about 120 MPH on the once-beautiful, now gone, Bridgehampton racetrack.

If you drove the car on the street only, why bother?

 

[Neverdyne]

Well, I was thinking of using RAID on them because of the space. I have a c300 installed already but only has 128 GB, and now I got the m4, and was thinking why not join them into a 256 GB drive. I think the speed would also be beneficial for my main application of use. Anyways, thanks for the replys!

 

[jitpublisher]

See, now that would address a need. If you are driving on a race track, for fun or serious competition, that would make a difference. The fastest I've driven is about 120 MPH on the once-beautiful, now gone, Bridgehampton racetrack.

If you drove the car on the street only, why bother?

Well, that is kinda what I was implying, should have stated the speed limit where you live is 70, and you don't race!