Disk set up.Raid or not to Raid?

Higgs

Member
Feb 11, 2004
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Hello, I am ordering a new Athlon 64 3200+ system and need opinions on the disk set up. I will be using the system for small business and playing BF1942 and Call of Duty online. Does the disk set up matter on a performance level for gaming. If so, what is the best way to set up the disks. Is it just as good to have one high performance SATA drive or dual drives in a Raid type set up?
 

nitromullet

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2004
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The disk setup really doesn't have any affect on gaming whatsoever, except that for the load time inbetween levels.

As far as setting up a RAID 0 setup... A couple of things to keep in mind.

1. Your performance will be affected by you file size and RAID stripe size. If you have a lot of large files or do video editing, a large stripe is preferable and vice versa for smaller files. The catch is that if you want change your stripe size, you lose all your data and have to re-install your OS and apps everytime. Is this something that you are willing to do to find the best stripe size for your application?

2. When using a 2 disk RAID 0 array, your reliability decreases by 100%. Since your data is effectively spread out across two disks, if one fails all of your data is lost. Since you are runnning a small business on this computer, if you go with a RAID 0 array, you might want to consider some sort of backup solution. Or even consider RAID 1, which provides redundancy, but no performance benefit. For a better explanation of the various RAID options. check this out.

I'm not discouraging you from RAID in any way, but you should do some research first to know what you are getting into. I personally have a RAID 0 array and have been fairly pleased with the performance, but I also do not run a business or maintain any data that is of any consequence to anyone but me.
 

addragyn

Golden Member
Sep 21, 2000
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A fast SCSI disk will give you a little speed and maybe better reliability.

An IDE RAID 0 will halve your statistical reliability and raise your STR. It does nothing for access time which is the performance gain most users will actually notice.
 

Higgs

Member
Feb 11, 2004
62
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Thanks for the info. Sounds like ons good size disk will be fine. What is the benefit of a raptor drive other than fast boot up for the operating system?
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
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Just slightly faster loading of applications and game maps / levels. And a little faster for very disk-intensive tasks like video editing or heavy database use.

If you can only afford a raptor or a backup solution for your business data (probably a CD or DVD burner) then you need to get the backup solution first.