setting RAID to 0.. what does it do?

[BOBSONATOR025]

Re: setting RAID to 0.. what does it do?

caseman thanks! it was loud and clear!
too bad i cant go for raid 0
I have important data in my PC and if i lose it I will hung myself

Just place all your stuff on DVD's and then reformat.

[Kaishi]

Re: setting RAID to 0.. what does it do?

Having been an avid fan of RAID technology in the past, and a previous user of said technology, I'd like to explain some misconceptions.

RAID 0 does not improve read, write, or load times to such a degree that it is truly useful for a casual home gamer. Even serious, competitive gamers do not require this technology. Using a single, faster, better-made harddrive is a better investment than a pair of drives set to striping.

The risk of having either drive fail is considerably higher than having both drives fail, if you look at the situation from a statistical point of view. Basically, you're doubling your change of having your data lost to a drive failure when you use a Striping RAID (Mode 0). Do modern drives fail often ? No, normally high quality drives do not fail frequently.

Similarly to Dual-Channel technology, to achieve maximum benefit from a RAID 0 setup, the user must provide a matched pair of harddrives. Same rotational speeds, same size cache, same number of platters, same capacity, same *everything*. This is because RAID 0 will provide for you, at most, the performance of the slowest drive multiplied by the number of drives. In a real-world environment, unless the user is manipulating MASSIVE amounts of raw data (Digital Video Editing), the supposed performance increase will go largely unnoticed.

More importantly, RAID is a business solution. No Digital Video Editing machine, Linux Webserver, or Win2k3 fileserver would be set up to use RAID Mode 0 by *any* IT professional. The only RAID solution that is used in the professional environment today is RAID 5.

RAID 5 requires at least 5 Disks. Two of them are Striped, the other two Mirror the Stripe, and the fifth is used as a repair solution (to help rebuild the array in the event of any other disk failing). This solution provides the performance increase of RAID Mode 0 with the Reliability of RAID Mode 1, with the cost of maximum disk space. Suppose you used 5x 320 GB SATA drives. You would only have available to you 640 GB of Space prior to formatting (and that pesky 1000 versus 1024 bit labeling). 640 instead of 1600 GB (1.6 TB).

Basically, for the home user, RAID is not worth the time, energy, or money required to set it up. The backup function of RAID Modes 1 or 5 isn't as useful to a home user because the home desktop is not pushed nearly as hard as a Server that is used 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and cannot afford hardware failures.

Get a faster drive if you want better loading speeds. That and more RAM.

[eliteguard]

Re: setting RAID to 0.. what does it do?

I'm about to format my PC (many viruses,spyware)

lay off the porno:thatsbad: / warz/cracking sites. j/k
a good amount if not al come from them or email. being a tech i found that to be true.

[Holle]

Re: setting RAID to 0.. what does it do?

RAID 0 does not improve read, write, or load times to such a degree that it is truly useful for a casual home gamer. Even serious, competitive gamers do not require this technology. Using a single, faster, better-made harddrive is a better investment than a pair of drives set to striping.

The risk of having either drive fail is considerably higher than having both drives fail, if you look at the situation from a statistical point of view. Basically, you're doubling your change of having your data lost to a drive failure when you use a Striping RAID (Mode 0). Do modern drives fail often ? No, normally high quality drives do not fail frequently.

Similarly to Dual-Channel technology, to achieve maximum benefit from a RAID 0 setup, the user must provide a matched pair of harddrives. Same rotational speeds, same size cache, same number of platters, same capacity, same *everything*. This is because RAID 0 will provide for you, at most, the performance of the slowest drive multiplied by the number of drives. In a real-world environment, unless the user is manipulating MASSIVE amounts of raw data (Digital Video Editing), the supposed performance increase will go largely unnoticed.

Basically, for the home user, RAID is not worth the time, energy, or money required to set it up. The backup function of RAID Modes 1 or 5 isn't as useful to a home user because the home desktop is not pushed nearly as hard as a Server that is used 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and cannot afford hardware failures.

Get a faster drive if you want better loading speeds. That and more RAM.

And that is the point I was trying to push. Thanks Kaishi. It's not worth the trouble for a gaming PC. Your better off spending the money on something else to help performance.

[caseman]

Re: setting RAID to 0.. what does it do?

Having been an avid fan of RAID technology in the past, and a previous user of said technology, I'd like to explain some misconceptions.

RAID 0 does not improve read, write, or load times to such a degree that it is truly useful for a casual home gamer. Even serious, competitive gamers do not require this technology. Using a single, faster, better-made harddrive is a better investment than a pair of drives set to striping.

The risk of having either drive fail is considerably higher than having both drives fail, if you look at the situation from a statistical point of view. Basically, you're doubling your change of having your data lost to a drive failure when you use a Striping RAID (Mode 0). Do modern drives fail often ? No, normally high quality drives do not fail frequently.

Similarly to Dual-Channel technology, to achieve maximum benefit from a RAID 0 setup, the user must provide a matched pair of harddrives. Same rotational speeds, same size cache, same number of platters, same capacity, same *everything*. This is because RAID 0 will provide for you, at most, the performance of the slowest drive multiplied by the number of drives. In a real-world environment, unless the user is manipulating MASSIVE amounts of raw data (Digital Video Editing), the supposed performance increase will go largely unnoticed.

More importantly, RAID is a business solution. No Digital Video Editing machine, Linux Webserver, or Win2k3 fileserver would be set up to use RAID Mode 0 by *any* IT professional. The only RAID solution that is used in the professional environment today is RAID 5.

RAID 5 requires at least 5 Disks. Two of them are Striped, the other two Mirror the Stripe, and the fifth is used as a repair solution (to help rebuild the array in the event of any other disk failing). This solution provides the performance increase of RAID Mode 0 with the Reliability of RAID Mode 1, with the cost of maximum disk space. Suppose you used 5x 320 GB SATA drives. You would only have available to you 640 GB of Space prior to formatting (and that pesky 1000 versus 1024 bit labeling). 640 instead of 1600 GB (1.6 TB).

Basically, for the home user, RAID is not worth the time, energy, or money required to set it up. The backup function of RAID Modes 1 or 5 isn't as useful to a home user because the home desktop is not pushed nearly as hard as a Server that is used 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and cannot afford hardware failures.

Get a faster drive if you want better loading speeds. That and more RAM.

There are great number of raid types, and any decent administrator will find the one that fits his or her needs, not just head strait to raid 5. Raid 5 is not always the best option depending on what the data is and how it's being accessed. Also, what you describe is not raid 5. Raid 5 is the simple striping of data (like raid 0) but it includes parity information for redundancy. It requires at minimum 3 disks.

Is using raid 0 for a home machine worthwhile in the price\performance ratio..? Probably not. does it give you an increase in speed, at least in certain situations? Yes it does. So whether or not to go for raid is something that needs to be determined by the individual user. If he or she is willing to spend the money on another drive just to get maybe 3 seconds off the loads time on Songhua then for them it's worth it. If the price is too high for what they consider minimal speed increases, then it's not.

[Kaishi]

Re: setting RAID to 0.. what does it do?

There are great number of raid types, and any decent administrator will find the one that fits his or her needs, not just head strait to raid 5. Raid 5 is not always the best option depending on what the data is and how it's being accessed. Also, what you describe is not raid 5. Raid 5 is the simple striping of data (like raid 0) but it includes parity information for redundancy. It requires at minimum 3 disks.

Is using raid 0 for a home machine worthwhile in the price\performance ratio..? Probably not. does it give you an increase in speed, at least in certain situations? Yes it does. So whether or not to go for raid is something that needs to be determined by the individual user. If he or she is willing to spend the money on another drive just to get maybe 3 seconds off the loads time on Songhua then for them it's worth it. If the price is too high for what they consider minimal speed increases, then it's not.

Okay, so I got a detail wrong. Sorry about that. Still, my point stands, the benefit of RAID is greatly outweighed by the costs. A RAID array isn't something a hobbist does spontaneously one weekend, it's something that is carefully planned.

Personally, if you're going to be buying harddrives right now, take a look at Seagate's line of 7200.10 drives. SATA2 (3.0 Gb/s) 16 mb Cache, Perpendicular writing, 320 GB for $100 after shipping. They're fast as hell. I've been *very* impressed with them so far.

[caseman]

Re: setting RAID to 0.. what does it do?

I've heard some good things about those drives as well Kaishi.

[2nd-Irish]

Re: setting RAID to 0.. what does it do?

IMHO, It's like the arguement of whether to run a 2" or 2 1/4 inch exhaust on your car, and what jet size for your NOS.

You do it because you can, not because you will get some huge benefit.

Computer modding, like car customization, can be an expensive hobby based largely on personal style and interest. You don't mod mommy's minivan, and you have to realize there is some risk involved. Having said that, if you got the cash...