Is raid 0 unstable at all?

[SpeedZealot369]

Hi, I'm new to raid stuff so I need some info about it please.

I have 2 pc's one has a WD 160gb HD and the other has a Hitachi 160gb HD. Will raid 0 work? (one of my motherboard says it uses nv raid "software", the other just says raid supported) Whats the best way to do this etc etc

And do I need to format my HD's before I do raid.

and is it unstable? How much of a performance gain does it give? and last question will they both work as one drive i.e. I'll have one 320gb once I do raid?

Thanks for everything.

 

[m1ldslide1]

To set up RAID I'd suggest reading your Mobo manual. Essentially all you do is plug in your HDs, enable RAID in BIOS, and then use the POST option to enter RAID configuration mode (mine is alt+f4 or something).

I think your HD's should work together - I cant see any reason why not? The thing about RAID0 is that it stripes the data across both hard drives and so half of each byte would be on each HD. This isn't necessarily unstable, but if one drive fails you lose EVERYTHING. And yes, you will need to reformat your hard drives to install windows to a raid0 config.

Lastly, it offers virtually no improvement in performance for everyday tasks such as web browsing and gaming. From what I understand it's only when copying large amounts of data that you notice a performance gain. I went from a WD 80GB to a raid0 with two of them and noticed virutally no difference. Windows installed pretty darn fast, but after that it was business as usual.

I personally don't recommend it for most people. RAID 1 ain't bad though, because with that setup all of your data is simultaneously written to both HD's and provide excellent protection against hard drive failure.

So in summary, I think it's worth doing just to have the experience doing it and understanding it. After that, it's not really worth doing.

 

[johnnyMon]

Personally I don't believe RAID 1 is a good approach for the home environment. It does protect against drive failure, but there are much greater threats to the data on a hard drive than failure. A virus, other malware, a mistaken deletion, overwriting an important file with the wrong data, flood, fire, and theft are all significant threats that are not protected by RAID 1. With RAID 1, any virus or data deletion or corruption is instantly written to the mirror drive. If you take that extra drive and put it in an external enclosure, keeping it off line except for once a week (or more often) when you back up your main drive to it, then you have great data protection. You could rotate two backup drives, keeping one offsite or in a safe, and this would protect against physical threats such as theft. This would be my preferred use for an extra drive.

 

[Luckyboy1]

As with any hard drive or anything with moving mechanical parts, the answer is completely No!

At least, it's no the way you ask it.

What the first responder said and also, see my responses in the thread where the guy cried that Raptors and RAID were "not worth it".

I've run 0 RAID for almost 3 years now without a single drive related failure. Of course, I pay attention to total case cooling and power supply issues, but just ask around here, that doesn't matter!

 

[johnnyMon]

That was me who said that about the Raptor. I'll make YOU cry, "Luckyboy". :| "Senior member" or not. pfffffffffffffffffffffftt :shakes fist:

As to your other questions, SpeedZealot:

- You would use RAID 0. This would give you a single 320GB drive.

- You would get a big performance gain when loading or writing large files or apps.

- I don't know if you need to format your drives first, but I'd guess you probably do (m1ldslide1's suggestion to read your mobo guide is right on).

- It can be unstable. Most people are OK with RAID 0, but a friend had a bad data corruption due to it. I would be sure you have the right RAID driver installed for your MOBO and that it's up to date before you begin. You'd be well-advised to do a complete backup of your RAID drive with regularity (but this is a good idea with any drive).

 

[HardWarrior]

I've had Raid0 working on 4 drives (2 stripe sets) for about 5-months with no problems yet.

 

[Luckyboy1]

Not a personal cut guy and I think we all learned from your thread. That's the great thing about honestly discussing things. Everyone can learn and those who think they know it all are just legends in their own mind!

 

[johnnyMon]

OK - no worries - peace.