1 SSD + 2 HD in Raid 0 and 2 HD in Raid 1

[Sirorko]

I currently have 1- 256 SSD, and 2 WD green 1 TB- in Raid 1- But I'm out of space-

I like the redundancy for important files (my music & Documents) but I dont really care so much for certain things (like steam) where performance is more important then having a backup.

With that said

I would like to add 2 - 1 TB WD Black in Raid array to my computer, but striped, for performance.

My motherboard is a Z77 Sabertooth, and If im not mistaken has 2 different controllers. My question is:

Is it advisable to utilize the method I'm attempting? Does anyone have experience of running two separate Raid arrays with two separate controllers on the same MOBO? I wouldn't mind experimenting, but that's alot of time re-downloading/backing up/ transferring data, in case there is a snag.

Space wouldn't be an issue if steam sales & FLAC didn't exist.


Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Dereck47]

My question is:

Is it advisable to utilize the method I'm attempting? Does anyone have experience of running two separate Raid arrays with two separate controllers on the same MOBO?

Yes, you can run separate RAID arrays on separate controllers with no problems.

What you can't do is have an array with members of the array on separate controllers.
So you can't have 1 drive on an Intel port and another drive on an ASMedia port and create an array with the 2 drives.

Connect your SSD to one of the 2 Intel 6Gb/s ports (SATA6G_1 or SATA6G_2) in AHCI mode.
Connect your WD Green drives to 2 of the Intel 3Gb/s ports (SATA3G_3 & SATA3G_4).
Connect your WD Black drives to the 2 remaining Intel 3Gb/s ports (SATA3G_5 & SATA3G_6).
Connect any optical drives you may have to the remaining ASMedia ports (SATA6G_E1 & SATA6G_E2).

Also, it doesn't matter if your HDDs are labeled "SATA 3 (6Gb/s)". No hard drive can spin fast enough to saturate a SATA 2 port, let alone a SATA 3 port. So your array's performance will be the same with the HDDs on Intel's SATA 2 (3Gb/s) ports.

 

[quilciri]

Dereck's right on the money. Don't really have anything to contribute, but I wanted to comment.

Space wouldn't be an issue if steam sales & FLAC didn't exist.

^+1. I've spent more on storage than on My PC mostly because of that. Why haven't raid controllers gotten any cheaper over the years?...and as long as I'm whining, someone tell Thailand to stop flooding.

 

[Sirorko]

Best answer selected by Sirorko.

 

[Sirorko]

Thank you sir.

+1 on Thailand's flooding. Was supposed to buy the WD Blacks well over a year ago.

On the bright side, if it wasn't for the flooding I wouldn't own an SSD in every computer I use. At least it brought SSD prices down.

 

[Sirorko]

Now that I'm down to it, I have another quick questions:

You think I could also install a small (32-64 GB) SSD in addition to the 4 WDs, and the OS 256GB SSD, to act as a Caching Disk with intel smart response to speed up the RAID(s)?

Would it benefit the system enough to justify installing it?

Do you think it would work on both RAID arrays (assuming I would be able to partition the Cache SSD in two and match a partition to each RAID setup?

 

[Dereck47]

Sorry, I don't know if it can be done. As far as I know Intel SRT only caches the O/S drive.

Maybe other Forum members will know of a way to get it to cache a secondary drive.