Thinking about RAID0

[sfrj]

Hello,

I have windows 7 professional.

At this moment, running Q9550 OC to 3.7Ghz with ASUS P5E MB.

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

It has RAID on board.

Would you recommend using it? Will i really notice any performance with lets say 2x500GB SATA2 HDD's?

I am a lot into gaming, so, thought this matters?

Please, tell me what would you recommend, which hdd's etc?

Any help is very much appreciated

Thank you!
sfrj

 

[pparks1]

Personally, I wouldn't suggest doing a RAID0 as this setup splits the data between the 2 discs and if either disc fails, you lose all of the data.

If budget allows, your biggest bang for the buck would be an SSD drive. Use this as your OS drive and load games to it, put everything else on a standard mechanical hard drive. Not only so SSD's provide more speed than a RAID0 stripe with 2 drives, but it's almost instantaenous access. Not to mention, no noise and vibrations within the case.

 

[sfrj]

Hi,
Thanks for reply.

Which SSD drive you guys recommend for OS?

As for RAID0, i was thinking RAID only for OS, not data.

I have 3TB HDDs for my storage.

Thank you
sfrj

 

[pparks1]

Without a doubt, the Intel X25-M Gen 2 is one of the fastest out there for running your OS. While others drives post much faster sequential write speeds, the Intel usually wins hand down in random I/O writes...which is what your machine does far more than anything else.

If I didn't have the Intel drive, I would probably do Patriot (for 10 year warranty) and then OCZ.

 

[sfrj]

What about WD Raptor 10k? They'r cheaper.

What is the speed difference between SSD and Raptor?

SSD r pricey :\\

Thanks

 

[Dragonfly]

Here's a YouTube demo with Vista that will give you some idea:

WD Raptor vs Intel X25-M, programs

 

[Desslok]

You mention gaming. SSD would be the better choice, although make sure to get a good video card so that doesn't become your gaming bottleneck. And I would second Pparks opinions on the types. I have read some good reviews of the latest OCZs if you are worried about the high cost.

 

[pparks1]

What is the speed difference between SSD and Raptor?

A raptor is a 10,000 RPM version of a standard hard drive. They will provide a speed boost, no doubt over a 7,200 RPM hard drive. There is very good reason that these drives were the choice of gamers before SSD's were available. These drives can provide transfer rates of about 120MB/s during reads depending upon where on the drive the data is at. Usually the access times for these drives is around the 7-8ms mark....so this is how long it takes to find the chunk of data you are looking for.

Pros: cheaper and larger capacity
Cons: louder, more virbration in the case

SSD's are flash memory based devices. There are no moving parts and no spinning platters. These drives can provide transfer ranges of 200-275MB/s during reads across the entire disk. Their access times are in the .1 to .3ms range...so signficantly faster. So, this more instantaneous access time coupled with faster read rates provides the performance.

Pros: very low power, extremely fast access time, no need to defrag, no moving parts, very fast performance

Cons: cost, low disk space, a limited number of writes. (drives may only work for around 7-10 years)

Here is a slightly more realistic view of the difference you would see between a Raptor and an SSD

 

[sfrj]

Thank you all, looks like i ll go with SSD.

Thanks again!

 

[BugMeister]

if you want to experience terrifying speed - go for 2xSSD's in RAID0
- it's a MONSTER..!!

 

[pparks1]

if you want to experience terrifying speed - go for 2xSSD's in RAID0
- it's a MONSTER..!!

Is there really a noticeable gain to be had here? I agree it sounds great on paper, but I'm not sure how big of a gain it would really be like in real world usage.

 

[sfrj]

My B-DAY is coming soon, any1 willing to 'donate' one SSD so i can do RAID0 as recommended?

 

[sfrj]

actually i got a question ...

I am thinking about getting this:
Canada Computers - Hard Drives > Solid State Drives : Intel X25-M Mainstream 80GB 2.5" SATA2 Solid State Drive (SSDSA2MH080G2C1).

My question is, for some reason my C:\ Partition says i am using around 70GB right now.

My Windows folder is 11.9GB
My Program files (x86) is around 13GB
My Program files is 320MB

What is taking rest 'used' memory? 80 not gonna be enough for me then for couple of games\programs + Windows 7 Pro? ://

 

[BugMeister]

if you want to experience terrifying speed - go for 2xSSD's in RAID0
- it's a MONSTER..!!

Is there really a noticeable gain to be had here? I agree it sounds great on paper, but I'm not sure how big of a gain it would really be like in real world usage.

I'm still waiting on OCZ to replace a duff SSD, when it arrives I'll reformat the system with the OS (plus a few other necessities..) running via the two SSD's in RAID0 - I'll let you know the real-world effects then..

- personally, I'm not one to go for the clocking stuff..!!

 

[sfrj]

actually i got a question ...

I am thinking about getting this:
Canada Computers - Hard Drives > Solid State Drives : Intel X25-M Mainstream 80GB 2.5" SATA2 Solid State Drive (SSDSA2MH080G2C1).

My question is, for some reason my C:\ Partition says i am using around 70GB right now.

My Windows folder is 11.9GB
My Program files (x86) is around 13GB
My Program files is 320MB

What is taking rest 'used' memory? 80 not gonna be enough for me then for couple of games\programs + Windows 7 Pro? ://

Any1?

 

[Desslok]

actually i got a question ...

I am thinking about getting this:
Canada Computers - Hard Drives > Solid State Drives : Intel X25-M Mainstream 80GB 2.5" SATA2 Solid State Drive (SSDSA2MH080G2C1).

My question is, for some reason my C:\ Partition says i am using around 70GB right now.

My Windows folder is 11.9GB
My Program files (x86) is around 13GB
My Program files is 320MB

What is taking rest 'used' memory? 80 not gonna be enough for me then for couple of games\programs + Windows 7 Pro? ://

Any1?

Usually when you run into this type of thing, it's permissions, it may skip files that are hidden, and any files/folders that you don't have access to.

 

[sfrj]

... but, but i just set option to see hidden files and folders, still, don't see anything unusual ... that is taking the space.

Any Windows guru here? i need to know what is happening, before i order SSD.

This is 'fresh' installed Windows, with only Call of duty Modern Warfare 2 installed and new BattleField Bad Company 2.

Please advise,
sfrj

 

[roadtrip]

Quote: Originally Posted by BugMeister
if you want to experience terrifying speed - go for 2xSSD's in RAID0
- it's a MONSTER..!!

Is there really a noticeable gain to be had here? I agree it sounds great on paper, but I'm not sure how big of a gain it would really be like in real world usage.

I haven't quantified real world usage, but here's the read speed of my X25-Ms in RAID0:



I've enabled write caching and disabled buffer flushing so I just write to RAM and move on. That speeds things up when writing (not shown).

roadtrip

 

[Dragonfly]

actually i got a question ...

I am thinking about getting this:
Canada Computers - Hard Drives > Solid State Drives : Intel X25-M Mainstream 80GB 2.5" SATA2 Solid State Drive (SSDSA2MH080G2C1).

My question is, for some reason my C:\ Partition says i am using around 70GB right now.

My Windows folder is 11.9GB
My Program files (x86) is around 13GB
My Program files is 320MB

What is taking rest 'used' memory? 80 not gonna be enough for me then for couple of games\programs + Windows 7 Pro? ://

Any1?

I use TreeSize to drill down and check what's using my hard drive space. There's a free version HERE.

 

[sfrj]

Very nice application, that explains everything.

Thank you so much.
sfrj