RAID or not to RAID

G

GregH

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Planning to reformat my PC due to some issues and install Win 7 64bit.

What would be best - RAID0 using 2 x SATAII HDD or one larger HDD. (price is not an issue as 250 - 500 GB HDD are not expensive. I am after performance but not at the expense of stability and reliability. Only game I have is Flight Sim X which has some fairly demanding add ons. My current system's "Windows Experience" index shows my HDD as the slowest part - a score of 5.8, while the rest of my system is up at 6.9 for memory and CPU and 7.2 for graphics.

Apart for the inherent issue of HDD failure increasing due to 2 units and not one, any other pitfalls? What setup do other use here?
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom
OS
Windows 7 - x64 Professional
CPU
Core i7 4770K @4.2 GHz
Motherboard
Asus Maximus Hero V1
Memory
Corsair DDR3-2400 16 GB
Graphics Card(s)
GTX 780 Ti Superclocked EVGA
Sound Card
Onboard Realtek
Monitor(s) Displays
Asus 27 inch
Screen Resolution
2560 x 1480
Hard Drives
Samsung EVO 840 500 GB SSD
Sandisk Extreme 250 GB SSD
Samsung 1.5TB HDD
PSU
Corsair 1150W
Case
A big one :-)
Cooling
Corsair H100i closed loop water cooler
Keyboard
Logitech G110 Gaming
Mouse
R.A.T 5
Internet Speed
1 GB ADSL
Antivirus
Bit Defender
Browser
I.E. 11
An SSD will get you performance and they are dropping in price. I would at least give this some thought. You would get the performance without RAID (and if you get another one later you can REALLY see performance with 2 SSDs in RAID)
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Keeps changing - (Custom)
OS
Windows 7 Professional x64
CPU
Intel Core i7 860
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4P
Memory
4GB DDR3 Mushkin 1600Mhz @ 7-8-7-20
Graphics Card(s)
MSI GTS250 1GB DDR3 Twin Frozr
Sound Card
Onboard realtek
Monitor(s) Displays
Samsung SyncMaster 24" P2450 + Samsung 20" 2033
Screen Resolution
1920 X 1080 and 1600 X 900 (#2 system 1440 X 900)
Hard Drives
Patriot Inferno 120GB SSD + 3 WD Blue 640GB drives
PSU
Corsair 750 HX Modular
Case
Lancool PC-K62
Cooling
Cooler Master TX3 CPU cooler and 4-140mm and 1-120mm case
Keyboard
Gigabyte USB keyboard
Mouse
Microsoft wireless laser mouse 5000
Internet Speed
7 Mb down 1.5 up
Other Info
System #2: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T (Freezer 7 Pro cooler) - Gigabyte 880GMA-UD2H - WD 500GB Black - 9500GT (1GB) 500W OCZ modular PSU - Antec 200 case. System #3 (LapTop) Core 2 Duo T6670 - 320GB 7200RPM HD - 4GB DDR3 RAM.
RAID0 would obviously compromise resilience, but that's no different to having a single disk anyway. However if you want to compromise and should it be an option available to you then go for RAID5, although you will need 3 disks at a minimum for this.
 

My Computer

OS
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
CPU
2x AMD FX-74 @ 3GHz
Motherboard
ASUS L1N64-SLI WS
Memory
4GB
Graphics Card(s)
2x BFG 8800GTX OC
Sound Card
Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty
Monitor(s) Displays
HP L2045w
Hard Drives
2x Samsung Spinpoint
PSU
Enermax 1000W
Case
Armor Extreme ATX
Cooling
Air

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba - 4 laptops and 2 desktops
OS
Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
CPU
from 1.6GHz Duo to i7
Monitor(s) Displays
2x HP w2207
Hard Drives
5x HDD, 7x SSD, 12x Externals
Keyboard
with trackball - no mices
Mouse
Trackball mice
Internet Speed
DSL 6000

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Self Build
OS
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU
AMD ADA5600CZBOX Dual-Core 2.8GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-MA77
Memory
8 Gig OCZ
Graphics Card(s)
Asus Geforce 8600GT PCIe
Sound Card
Onboard & MIA
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell 19"
Screen Resolution
1440 x 900
Hard Drives
3 160 Gig Western Digital (2 SATA/1 IDE)
PSU
Corsair CMPSU-550VX
Case
Antec (Server Case)
Cooling
Thermaltake on the CPU, Cooler Master case fans
Keyboard
MS Comfort Curve 2000
Mouse
Logitech LX3
Internet Speed
6-meg (if I'm lucky)
Other Info
AT&T ADSL - Westell 6100 modem, MSE, Defender, MS Office 2003, Paintshop Pro 11, Browsers: IE8, Opera, Safari
Thanks! I have decided to install to a single disk. Raid 5 is too complicated for me. SSD to me is an excellent technology but it is still in it;s infancy. I think we are going to see significant developments in SSD and prices will come tumbling down at the same time. Perhaps my next upgrade will make use of this.... but for now i am sticking to tried and tested....
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom
OS
Windows 7 - x64 Professional
CPU
Core i7 4770K @4.2 GHz
Motherboard
Asus Maximus Hero V1
Memory
Corsair DDR3-2400 16 GB
Graphics Card(s)
GTX 780 Ti Superclocked EVGA
Sound Card
Onboard Realtek
Monitor(s) Displays
Asus 27 inch
Screen Resolution
2560 x 1480
Hard Drives
Samsung EVO 840 500 GB SSD
Sandisk Extreme 250 GB SSD
Samsung 1.5TB HDD
PSU
Corsair 1150W
Case
A big one :-)
Cooling
Corsair H100i closed loop water cooler
Keyboard
Logitech G110 Gaming
Mouse
R.A.T 5
Internet Speed
1 GB ADSL
Antivirus
Bit Defender
Browser
I.E. 11
Yep - my dream too. My OS on an SSD drive! Woo Hoo! :D
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Self Build
OS
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU
AMD ADA5600CZBOX Dual-Core 2.8GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-MA77
Memory
8 Gig OCZ
Graphics Card(s)
Asus Geforce 8600GT PCIe
Sound Card
Onboard & MIA
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell 19"
Screen Resolution
1440 x 900
Hard Drives
3 160 Gig Western Digital (2 SATA/1 IDE)
PSU
Corsair CMPSU-550VX
Case
Antec (Server Case)
Cooling
Thermaltake on the CPU, Cooler Master case fans
Keyboard
MS Comfort Curve 2000
Mouse
Logitech LX3
Internet Speed
6-meg (if I'm lucky)
Other Info
AT&T ADSL - Westell 6100 modem, MSE, Defender, MS Office 2003, Paintshop Pro 11, Browsers: IE8, Opera, Safari
RadioJoe said:
Yep - my dream too. My OS on an SSD drive! Woo Hoo! :D
Click to expand...

How about an SSD Raid0 with 4 SSDs. One guy got over 600MBs/sec sequential read.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba - 4 laptops and 2 desktops
OS
Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
CPU
from 1.6GHz Duo to i7
Monitor(s) Displays
2x HP w2207
Hard Drives
5x HDD, 7x SSD, 12x Externals
Keyboard
with trackball - no mices
Mouse
Trackball mice
Internet Speed
DSL 6000

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Self Build
OS
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU
AMD ADA5600CZBOX Dual-Core 2.8GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-MA77
Memory
8 Gig OCZ
Graphics Card(s)
Asus Geforce 8600GT PCIe
Sound Card
Onboard & MIA
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell 19"
Screen Resolution
1440 x 900
Hard Drives
3 160 Gig Western Digital (2 SATA/1 IDE)
PSU
Corsair CMPSU-550VX
Case
Antec (Server Case)
Cooling
Thermaltake on the CPU, Cooler Master case fans
Keyboard
MS Comfort Curve 2000
Mouse
Logitech LX3
Internet Speed
6-meg (if I'm lucky)
Other Info
AT&T ADSL - Westell 6100 modem, MSE, Defender, MS Office 2003, Paintshop Pro 11, Browsers: IE8, Opera, Safari
Raid Works in Win7

RADIOJOE, whatever article you read or what tried I dont know, But Raid Zero Works fine with Windows 7.

I use Win7 Ultimate 64Bit and I have used Raid0 with Twoo 300 GB VelociRaptors.

It worked great , then I found out it was not as fast as Two 64GB WD SiliconEdge SSD's in Raid0.

My O/S boots (the stupid splash screen slows it about 27 seconds) after the login prompt it instantaneously loads my desktop and like 15 things in the system tray.

Maybe you have a MoBo that does not have built in Raid ?
If not you can buy a cheap RAID card and plug into your MoBo.
If your Mobo is old enough that it doesnt have Raid Support Most new buget MoBo should support raid.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
homemade
OS
win 7 ultimate 64 bit
CPU
core i7 920 overclocked to 3.8GHZ w/Hyper threading
Motherboard
EVGA E758 TR1 x58 3way SLI MoBo
Memory
a whopping 12GB triple channel ddr3 1600MHZ 8-8-8-19 1T
Graphics Card(s)
2x GTX260 super OC Black Ed. in SLI
Sound Card
onboard
Monitor(s) Displays
24.7" wide LCD
Hard Drives
2x siliconEdge blue 64GB in raid Zero for a 119GB usable capacity (it is Very Fast)
300GB 10,000RPM Velociraptor
2TB WD Green
1.5 TB WD Black
1TB WD Green
PSU
Corsair 1000 Watt
Case
ZALMAN PRO GS1000
Cooling
ZALMAN cnps 9900
whs said:
RadioJoe said:
Yep - my dream too. My OS on an SSD drive! Woo Hoo! :D
Click to expand...

How about an SSD Raid0 with 4 SSDs. One guy got over 600MBs/sec sequential read.
Click to expand...

But what's the point?? This fast of sequential read is great for storage...but not terribly helpful when your OS is almost all random reads and writes. It's the ultra low access time that makes SSD's shine...not their raw throughput.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Self-Built in July 2009
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
CPU
Intel Q9550 2.83Ghz OC'd to 3.40Ghz
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R rev. 1.1, F12 BIOS
Memory
8GB G.Skill PI DDR2-800, 4-4-4-12 timings
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA 1280MB Nvidia GeForce GTX570
Sound Card
Realtek ALC899A 8 channel onboard audio
Monitor(s) Displays
23" Acer x233H
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
Intel X25-M 80GB Gen 2 SSD
Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black, 32MB cache. WD1001FALS
PSU
Corsair 620HX modular
Case
Antec P182
Cooling
stock
Keyboard
ABS M1 Mechanical
Mouse
Logitech G9 Laser Mouse
Internet Speed
15/2 cable modem
Other Info
Windows and Linux enthusiast. Logitech G35 Headset.
I have RAID 0 b/c my pc is backed up nightly and I just wanted the striping. On the hospital servers we have RAID 5 so we can hot swap the drives and they rebuild themselves. Not necessary for a workstation.

For two drives, RAID 0 gives you striping and RAID 1 mirroring. RAID 5 needs a minimum of three drives. People in this forum have mentioned trouble with RAID and Windows 7, so you really need to know what you're doing.

As far as HDD failure, you are safe with RAID 1 and 5 due to fault tolerance. RAID 0 and you're toast.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell and Custom
OS
Systems 1 and 2: Windows 7 Enterprise x64, Win 8 Developer
CPU
System 1: i7 [email protected], System 2: AMD FX-4100 Zambezi 3.6G
Motherboard
System 1:Dell 06NWYK System 2: ASUS M5A97 AM3+
Memory
System 1: 8GB System 2: 8GB
Graphics Card(s)
System 1: ATI FirePro V4800 System 2: Radeon HD 6850
Sound Card
System 1: onboard System 2: onboard
Monitor(s) Displays
System1: Viewsonic HDMI 24"
Screen Resolution
System 1: 1920x1080 System 2: 1920x1080
Hard Drives
System 1: Mirrored .5B drives System 2: Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
Case
System 1: Dell System 2: Cooler Master
Internet Speed
10 MBPS
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