RAID 0 Discussion

[darkmagshin]

I haven't really seen anyone talking about this here. I'm currently waiting on my R4 with a 1TB RAID 0 setup, and I was wondering what the community thinks about it? Maybe some experiences comparing it to other setups? I've never used a RAID setup before, but from what I know of RAID 0, it promises:

approx. 2x data access speed, with the stipulation being that it also provides two times the possibility for the discs to fail, resulting in total data loss.

This doesn't really bug me personally, as my important documents will be backed up either in the cloud or on my main desktop PC.

So, what are everyone's thoughts regarding the RAID 0 setup?

[Tsunade_Hime]

RAID 0 mechanical drives...is really pointless. They still have a high latency, and get smoked by any half decent SSD. Plus you multiply your chance of drive failure, and even if 1 drive fails, you will lose all your data as it is striped between both drives unless you opt for data recovery ($$$$).

[radji]

Depends on the HDDs they use. I currently use a 1.5TB RAID 0 setup with my R2. I only use the RAID volume as a storage drive, but that doesn't mean anything. I was told RAID 0 gets double the read speeds, whereas the write speeds are still the same. It is true if one drive fails, then the data is pretty much lost, but since the data and load are spread across two disks, it's less wear and tear on one disk individually so that helps with hard drive reliability and longevity. The speed will largely depend on the drives Dell installs. I am using two WD 750GB Scorpio Black drives, and boy do they fly. Your R4 should go way better since the SATA controller for it is much newer and is SATA III compatible.

[darkmagshin]

Exciting! I've never used anything more than a single HDD in any of my rigs (all desktop computers. Come to think of it, this will be my first laptop in 7+ years.) so it will be interesting to see how it performs. Here's hoping that "(2x 500GB SATA 3B/s 7,200 RPM)" was an epic typo on Dell's part

[Tsunade_Hime]

Depends on the HDDs they use. I currently use a 1.5TB RAID 0 setup with my R2. I only use the RAID volume as a storage drive, but that doesn't mean anything. I was told RAID 0 gets double the read speeds, whereas the write speeds are still the same. It is true if one drive fails, then the data is pretty much lost, but since the data and load are spread across two disks, it's less wear and tear on one disk individually so that helps with hard drive reliability and longevity. The speed will largely depend on the drives Dell installs. I am using two WD 750GB Scorpio Black drives, and boy do they fly. Your R4 should go way better since the SATA controller for it is much newer and is SATA III compatible.

RAID ignores SATA limitations, hence my R2 with RAID 0 SSDs can surpass SATA 2 theoretical speeds. RAID 0 mechanical drives again doesn't matter if it is SATA 2 or 3, the write speeds will never saturate SATA 2, barely SATA 1. And also most speeds they advertise are for sequential speeds, but normal usage, 4k speeds are more important and mechanical drives are uber slow on those benchmarks.

[darkmagshin]

Of course SSD drives will always trounce mechanical ones. On that note, finding one large enough that doesn't break the bank is impossible, and I like having all of my data on one logical partition (no caching drives, please!). I've always used a single HDD in my other setups, and they work just fine for my needs. I went with the RAID setup because I wanted a little more speed, purely as a luxury, really.

[NA1NSXR]

I wrote a somewhat lengthy response and just deleted it because all I really want to say is that with the mass liquidation of 2281 based SSD's right now there is no reason to be on anything mechanical for your boot drive.

[radji]

Add in the fact that HDDs are still high-priced and in short supply.

RAID 0 mechanical drives...is really pointless. They still have a high latency

Tsunami, do you mean high latency compared to SSDs, or high latency in general? I though RAID arrays on HDDs have deceint latency since the data is striped and defined in a pattern, so fragmentation doesn't occur and seek times stay high, yes?

[goldenic]

hi, i;m new here and am gonna buy an alienware m17x r3 2nd hand with 1,5tb 7200 rpm RAID 0, can i ask how long does going to take to boot with normal hdd and not ssd?

[Mr. Fox]

I haven't really seen anyone talking about this here. I'm currently waiting on my R4 with a 1TB RAID 0 setup, and I was wondering what the community thinks about it? Maybe some experiences comparing it to other setups? I've never used a RAID setup before, but from what I know of RAID 0, it promises:

approx. 2x data access speed, with the stipulation being that it also provides two times the possibility for the discs to fail, resulting in total data loss.

This doesn't really bug me personally, as my important documents will be backed up either in the cloud or on my main desktop PC.

So, what are everyone's thoughts regarding the RAID 0 setup?

Perhaps you did not notice this thread: HOW TO: SATA III-SSD-RAID0-Windows Installation: Questions, Troubleshooting Thread

RAID0 with HDD is a waste of time. You will not really notice an improvement in performance. It's OK for creating a larger volume from 2 HDD, but beyond that it's... meh.

With SSD it's good. Back up your stuff that you don't want to lose, which is the best practice regardless of your drive configuration, and anything else is disposable.