RAID 5 on SSD - Should I even be considering this?

[cmgillilan]

I really like the organization of two separate drives (IDE setup) or a partitioned single drive while navigating my files in Windows.

I'd like to upgrade to SSD on my new build, however the higher likelihood of data loss frightens me. So, I've finally decided RAID 3 is the way to go.

I don't want to lose my C: and D: setup for personal file organization. Is it possible to purchase four drives, set one for the OS and applications as C: and array the other three via RAID for my D: full of important data in a setup?

Should I even be considering this?

 

[cmgillilan]

Or, perhaps I should get three total drives (rather than the four mentioned in the last post) and use one drive for C: and RAID 1 the other two as D:. ...Is that even possible?

 

[tokencode]

I would not do that if I were you, just get the largest single SSD you can buy. If you really want C: and D: you can either partition the larger SSD into 2 drive letters or get 2 SSDs but I would not both running them in RAID3 or 5. RAID is not a backup method, you're far better off just getting an external HDD and imaging your drives to that periodically.

 

[cmgillilan]

Thanks for the reply, tokencode. I decided to go with two SSD drives in IDE fashion, and an external drive to backup installation files and other sensitive data. Current projects will be stored on a USB until complete, filed on the SSD (D and mirrored to the external drive.

As ingenious as RAID is, it has never worked for me. Else, I can't intuitively utilize it.

 

[cmgillilan]

Best answer selected by cmgillilan.