Raid 0-Partitions??

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As I understand it, raid 0 "stripes" 2 HD's together in a kind of linear format. If this is the case, I'm to understand that there is no way to partition off either HD. Since I want to use two 7200 rpm 20gb hd's (not necessarily the largest available, just what I have on hand), and I want to manage my own virtual memory,by placing it completely on the second physical drive,and I want to use the tips on the memory tweaks from the site toejam posted, is there any advantage for me to set up raid 0? This will not be a hard core gaming pc, but much more of a steady use, all around home unit, suitable for programs like Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop, Protools audio, MS Office 2000, and online college courses. I've been deliberate and slow about collecting the hardware for this one, using a tight budget, and new, quality parts from a mixture of sources. The Antec case houses an Athlon 700 slot A, on an AMD 751 chipset,which, according to THG, smoked PIII 850's, video is nVidia TnT2 M64 32mb agp 2x, audio is TBSC, memory is 512mb's of pny pc 133, hd's are 20gb maxtor diamond max 7200's. This is an attempt to get the most bang for the buck, using proven parts that are no longer "cutting edge", and, as a result, are relatively inexpensive when compared to the new stuff. The procesor alone, when it first became available, was $319, as per THG archives.The unit would have retailed for about $1500 if released in late '99.Total outlay so far is about $400, including optical and floppy drives. Given the above setup, and my intended use for it, is there anything to be said for raid 0? Or am I better off to partition off the 1st of the two drives into a small (4gb) OS partition,with the remainder about a 16gb partition, and the 2nd drive into two comparable partitions, say 51%, and 49%.Still being slow and deliberate. Some of you fellas will probably chuckle at this whole thing, but I've want to retire this old 233 for a couple of years now, and since prices have fallen off quite a bit of late, I've decided to spend now.I just picked up Norton System Works for $30, including Ghost and go-back, so I have a little more latitude in playing around. Thanks in advance.

A man is just about as happy as he makes up his mind to be. Abe Lincoln
 

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Pulled from the original wordy monologue."Given the above setup, and my intended use for it, is there anything to be said for raid 0? Or am I better off to partition off the 1st of the two drives into a small (4gb) OS partition,with the remainder about a 16gb partition, and the 2nd drive into two comparable partitions, say 51%, and 49%"?

A man is just about as happy as he makes up his mind to be. Abe Lincoln
 

jlanka

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Personally, I see a significant performance boost when using RAID 0. I always try to use it. One thing: Make sure to backup on a regular basis, as the chance of failure is increased.

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
You set up your RAID array. Then you can partition the entire array with whatever partioning software as one drive. For example, Fdisk would see ONE drive at twice the size, and would treat that one drive as it would any other one drive.

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