Is RAID worth it?

[Neutraleyes]

Originally posted by: Regs
There is little performance gain on the desk top but a lot of security gains using level 1 and 5 RAIDs. Is it worth it?

"The main argument in favor of IDE RAID is its good price/ performance ratio. It allows you to achieve a substantial increase in PC system performance and data security for a reasonable cost. For example, a system with two 120 Gbyte hard disks (Maxtor 4G120J6) and our budget winner Dawicontrol DC-100 Raid would cost you just under $400. "

-Tomshardware


I would lose installed games and porn. All of which are backed up on a disc, thank you very much.

But for some of you who work at home and have very valuable data from work, then I would consider maybe a RAID 1 or 5 array. Other than that, I'm not going to waste 400 dollars on it. Performance gains only include 2x transfer rates which mean nothing for games or everyday applications.

Err... or you could get two cheap $80 80GB Seagate SATA hard drives w/ 8MB buffer and run them in RAID 0 or RAID 1 on any onboard RAID controller.

 

[txxxx]

High sustained read rate doesnt convert into better performance at all. Lower seek times will, after all, its that latency between the transmission of that tiny configuration file or anything small but needed that will trap your I/O.

 

[VTrider]

Originally posted by: Lyfer
Just get a WD Raptor if you want peformance, for everyday use, RAID isn't worth it.🙂

Oh boy, another RAID thread....here we go, guess i'll throw in my .02c.

I've been a RAID 0 user for over a year, I was automatically impressed with the speed performance, especially for my video editing work which it greatly benefits from.

I just started using those fist gen Raptors (36g) and honestly, for day to day work, loading times, and general speed perception - those little raptors seem to leave my RAID 0 array in the dust. Now I have no benchmarks to back this up, and i'm sure that RAID 0 is still the way to go for vid. editing, but bottom line IMO if you don't video edit or use/transfer large files/data (database, etc.) then just go with the faster of the two, which as a user of both I know what my choice would be.

 

[maluckey]

Is this fast enough for anyone. 109 dollars including tax, some system tweaks, and a bit of overclocking.

Windows cache enabled:

SiSoftware Sandra

Test Status
SMP Test : No
Total Test Threads : 1
SMT Test : No
Dynamic MP/MT Load Balance : No
Processor Affinity : No
Windows Disk Cache Used : Yes
Use Overlapped I/O : Yes
IO Queue Depth : 8 request(s)
Test File Size : 511MB
File Server Optimised : Yes

Benchmark Breakdown
Buffered Read : 79 MB/s
Sequential Read : 50 MB/s
Random Read : 11 MB/s
Buffered Write : 122 MB/s
Sequential Write : 29 MB/s
Random Write : 191 MB/s
Average Access Time : 4 ms (estimated)

Drive
Drive Type : Hard Disk
Total Size : 114GB
Free Space : 109GB, 100%

Windows Cache disabled:

SiSoftware Sandra

Test Status
SMP Test : No
Total Test Threads : 1
SMT Test : No
Dynamic MP/MT Load Balance : No
Processor Affinity : No
Windows Disk Cache Used : No
Use Overlapped I/O : Yes
IO Queue Depth : 8 request(s)
Test File Size : 511MB
File Server Optimised : Yes

Benchmark Breakdown
Buffered Read : 90 MB/s
Sequential Read : 57 MB/s
Random Read : 8 MB/s
Buffered Write : 115 MB/s
Sequential Write : 56 MB/s
Random Write : 14 MB/s
Average Access Time : 6 ms (estimated)

Drive
Drive Type : Hard Disk
Total Size : 114GB
Free Space : 109GB, 100%

These are by no means my fastest recorded scores. Just where this drive lives and breathes. The drive in question is a 6Y120PO (120Mb Maxtor DiamondMax 9 Plus). I have two of them in this particular rig.

In my other one is a two ATA 133 RAID setup in RAID 0. The RAID setup IS faster, but also more of a PITA to stripe, and backup. Granted, most anyone won't want to OC their PCI bus this high, but a lower lever OC stills gets GREAT results when compared to non-OC'ed components. I'm just trying to offer the third alternative, this being an enthusiasts website and all.