Question on HDD array setup ~

bh4mr1ck

Sir Lurksalot
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I am building a new machine and have the following HDD's:

1x OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX50G 2.5" 50GB SSD
3x Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"

My main purpose for this PC will be photo editing in Photoshop 5 and LightRoom 3. Some video editing, some gaming, and creating presentations in Pro Presenter.

I have a separate, external, HDD that I use for backups and imaging so none of the internal space needs to be saved for backup. I am thinking of putting Win 7 Ult and my other programs on the SSD, and RAID 0 the 3 WD's, to hold my data, and for increased load times for the photo and video data. I have not run a RAID array before, but from my understanding this setup will give me better performance than mirroring or running each drive as its own separate partition.

If I am misunderstood about this please correct me. If there is something you would do differently, please also let me know!!

Thanks!
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom Home Build
OS
Win 7 Ult x64, Win 8.1 Blue
CPU
Intel Core i7
Motherboard
Abit NF7-S
Memory
8Gb
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Radeon 9600
Sound Card
None
Monitor(s) Displays
Cheapo Dell 17" LCD
Case
Antec 1200
Cooling
5 fans
Keyboard
Microsoft 5500 Series
Mouse
Microsoft 5500 Series
Antivirus
MSE
Browser
Google Chrome as Primary. Also use Firefox, IE, and Chromium
Other Info
Built this PC in 2003, and it has served me very well since then. I feel its time to build a new system, so that is what brought me here.
Problem is if you lose any one of the 3 WD's then you've lost everything. Does that make it worth it for a slight performance increase which might not materialize?

You landed in the Install forum where all we see with RAID on Win7 installs is problems, so I doubt if you'll get much encouragement here.

BUt if you're ready to try it then I'd repost in Hardware forum as they will know how to hook it up fine. Just be aware that Win7 is somewhat allergic to RAID installs.
 
Last edited:
I did not realize there had been issues with W7 and RAID. Thank you for pointing that out. I will look into it more closely and if I have more questions I'll post them to the hardware forum. Thanks gregrocker!
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom Home Build
OS
Win 7 Ult x64, Win 8.1 Blue
CPU
Intel Core i7
Motherboard
Abit NF7-S
Memory
8Gb
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Radeon 9600
Sound Card
None
Monitor(s) Displays
Cheapo Dell 17" LCD
Case
Antec 1200
Cooling
5 fans
Keyboard
Microsoft 5500 Series
Mouse
Microsoft 5500 Series
Antivirus
MSE
Browser
Google Chrome as Primary. Also use Firefox, IE, and Chromium
Other Info
Built this PC in 2003, and it has served me very well since then. I feel its time to build a new system, so that is what brought me here.

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom
OS
Win7 HP (x64)/Win7 Ultimate (x64)
CPU
Core i7 920
Motherboard
Intel X58
Memory
6 x 2GB Corsair XMS3
Graphics Card(s)
CF HD4890
Sound Card
Asus Xonar
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell 2408WFP
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1200
Hard Drives
2 x 150GB WDC Velociraptors (Raid 0)
1 x 1TB Seagate
1 x 1.5TB Seagate
PSU
Corsair HX1000W
Case
Antec 1200
Keyboard
Razer Lycosa/N52te
Mouse
Razer Lachesis
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