To RAID or not RAID

Romeo21779 · 04-July-05, 04:07 PM

I trying to decide whether to get one 250GB SATA maxtor or 2x 120 GB SATA maxtors and run them in RAID(1 or 0) Should I go with one big drive or 2 smaller drives? If I go with the 2 smaller drives which RAID array should I use 1 or 0?

All help is greatly aprecated. Thanks in advance.

$SOLID$ Necro · 04-July-05, 04:31 PM

Here are a few articles to read

Raid for the desktop: is it worth it?
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2101

NCQ Articles
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2094
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2396

Sata 2 Performance
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2454

For the Desktop today, it looks like NCQ is the way to go in "Best bang for the buck"

mrcracker · 04-July-05, 05:07 PM

From personal experience, I've never regretted installing a raid system, particularly with the drop in storage prices currently. Disk failures become a worry of the past. In going raid, a piece of advice, buy the drives from different sources. Drive failure times tend to be consistent within a manufacturing run, therefore, if you purchase from different sources, you're more likely to get separate production runs, and will stagger any drive failures. Nothing would suck more than to have both drives fail before you get a replacement for the first one.

M.D.K. · 04-July-05, 05:30 PM

Ive never noticed a huge perfomance gain with raid. I'd say go for the single drive. less cables, power consumption, noise, and you can get a second one later and not be out of room.

Romeo21779 · 04-July-05, 05:49 PM

Which RAID do you suggest? Well mainly 0 or 1. I know the pluses and minuses of each but I need to know what people prefer.

TYCOON · 04-July-05, 06:05 PM

If you have very important data, if your job uses your computer and you cant afford to lose anything. Raid 1...if you want fastness, and are willing to put thingsa on the line for it, go 0.

The computer im building has 4x80GB Sata harddrives in raid 0

Romeo21779 · 04-July-05, 06:30 PM

Right now one big down side is the fact that I only have 2 sata ports on my mobo. I will have all of my important files on my other pc and on an external hard drive. RAID 0? or Should I just get one 74 gig raptor and down the line get one more.

04-July-05, 04:07 PM		#1 (permalink)
Romeo21779 Apex Master Tech	To RAID or not RAID I trying to decide whether to get one 250GB SATA maxtor or 2x 120 GB SATA maxtors and run them in RAID(1 or 0) Should I go with one big drive or 2 smaller drives? If I go with the 2 smaller drives which RAID array should I use 1 or 0? All help is greatly aprecated. Thanks in advance.

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04-July-05, 04:31 PM		#2 (permalink)
$SOLID$ Necro Mastah Overclocker	Here are a few articles to read Raid for the desktop: is it worth it? http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2101 NCQ Articles http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2094 http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2396 Sata 2 Performance http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2454 For the Desktop today, it looks like NCQ is the way to go in "Best bang for the buck"

04-July-05, 05:07 PM		#3 (permalink)
mrcracker Apex Master Tech Apprentice	From personal experience, I've never regretted installing a raid system, particularly with the drop in storage prices currently. Disk failures become a worry of the past. In going raid, a piece of advice, buy the drives from different sources. Drive failure times tend to be consistent within a manufacturing run, therefore, if you purchase from different sources, you're more likely to get separate production runs, and will stagger any drive failures. Nothing would suck more than to have both drives fail before you get a replacement for the first one.

04-July-05, 05:30 PM		#4 (permalink)
M.D.K. Apex Tech Maniac Supreme	Ive never noticed a huge perfomance gain with raid. I'd say go for the single drive. less cables, power consumption, noise, and you can get a second one later and not be out of room.

04-July-05, 05:49 PM		#5 (permalink)
Romeo21779 Apex Master Tech	Which RAID do you suggest? Well mainly 0 or 1. I know the pluses and minuses of each but I need to know what people prefer.

04-July-05, 06:05 PM		#6 (permalink)
TYCOON Apex Tech God	If you have very important data, if your job uses your computer and you cant afford to lose anything. Raid 1...if you want fastness, and are willing to put thingsa on the line for it, go 0. The computer im building has 4x80GB Sata harddrives in raid 0

04-July-05, 06:30 PM		#7 (permalink)
Romeo21779 Apex Master Tech	Right now one big down side is the fact that I only have 2 sata ports on my mobo. I will have all of my important files on my other pc and on an external hard drive. RAID 0? or Should I just get one 74 gig raptor and down the line get one more.