Can you RAID an IDE and SATA drive?

[996GT2]

Just a hypothetical question...RAID 0 requires 2 drives of the same size (and preferably Cache/RPM)...so if I've got 2 identical HDDs, one IDE and one SATA, could they be put in RAID 0 if the IDE drive has an IDE->SATA converter on it?

 

[Nothinman]

Probably, if you're talking about using a controller to setup the array then it depends on how strict the controller is. If you're talking about software RAID then definitely, you can mix and match whatever you want with software RAID.

 

[supremelaw]

I would punt and demote the IDE drive to an occasional backup device:
face it: IDE is obsolete now.

Then, I'd get 2 new SATA/3G HDDs that are designed to work in RAID setups
e.g. 500GB SATA/3G HDDs w/ 16MB cache are very cheap right now.

Western Digital discovered that some HDDs will "drop out" of a RAID array
if they should go into an extended error detection and recovery sequence.

So, WD has added a feature called "Time Limited Error Recovery" ("TLER")
to their "RAID Edition" HDDs.

Same thing happens if S.M.A.R.T. status starts to fluctuate and
a RAID controller decides to "disconnect" that HDD from the array.

Your IDE drive may not report S.M.A.R.T. status parameters.


Sincerely yours,
/s/ Paul Andrew Mitchell, Inventor and
Webmaster, Supreme Law Library

All Rights Reserved without Prejudice



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[postmortemIA]

Like Nothinman said, for soft RAID it will work, older nvidia chipsets had this option when Parallel ATA was still "in use"

 

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[996GT2]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
Like Nothinman said, for soft RAID it will work, older nvidia chipsets had this option when Parallel ATA was still "in use"

Thanks for the replies guys

So if I put the two 120GB drives into a RAID-0 array would the array operate at the read/write speed of the slower drive for both drives? For example, if one had an avg. read of 60MB/s and the other had an avg read of 55 MB/s, would both drives be read off of at 55 MB/s in the array?

One drive is slightly slower than the other in terms of read/write (both have similar latencies as tested in HD Tach), so would there still be a performance benefit from this?

Just looking for an easy way to speed up my desktop before I reformat it for my parents to use (I'm off to college with a Thinkpad) since the HDD performance in this system leaves a little to be desired.

 

[996GT2]

any1?

 

[Nothinman]

I would definitely not leave my parents with a RAID0 setup, if one of those drives has problems and they lose something it's on you.

 

[996GT2]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I would definitely not leave my parents with a RAID0 setup, if one of those drives has problems and they lose something it's on you.

Oh no, my desktop is going to be used for general use, and there won't be any sensitive data on it. I built a quad core workstation for my dad last year so he could do heavy database work, and it's on that computer that all of the important data is stored.

 

[Nothinman]

But is the drive performance really that bad? IMO the risks when running RAID0 almost always outweigh the performance benefit.

 

[supremelaw]

The WD 160GB "RAID Edition 2" is only $60 at Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...2136200&Tpk=WD1601ABYS

I believe the RE2 HDDs from Western Digital have a 5-year warranty
(last time I checked).

($60 x 2) / 5 = $24 per warranty year for 160 x 2 = 320GB of RAID 0 storage.

You haven't said anything about controllers, so I don't know
if your motherboard has on-board RAID support, or not.

The Promise TX4310 is an excellent choice for available PCI slots:
it comes with excellent "Media Patrol" software, which alone is
worth the cost -- $130 at Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16816102085

If you have an available PCI-E slot, there are now plenty of PCI-E RAID
controllers to choose from too e.g. Highpoint, 3Ware, Promise, Areca, etc.


Sincerely yours,
/s/ Paul Andrew Mitchell, Inventor and
Webmaster, Supreme Law Library

All Rights Reserved without Prejudice