OS SSD + RAID 0 for other stuff + Backup drive...unnecessary?

[R4in]

Alright so heres my plan for a new build.

I already purchased 2x 1TB Samsung F3's cause they were on sale. I am also going to get the Crucial M4 128GB.

As far as setup this is what I was thinking.

Load OS and a few games/apps that I want full SSD performance for onto the 128gb m4. For what doesnt need full performance (steam games, movies, pics, less used apps) load these onto the RAID 0 F3's and possibly cache it with a 64GB m4. Then I would like to find a "reliable" hard drive to partition and use for backup.

Anything here seem redundant or not needed? Can anyone suggest a good hard dive for backups? I hear the Greens and Blues from WD are pretty good.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

The Samsung F4 is probably the top 2TB drive. I bought the Rosewill Blackhawk case for my build a couple months ago, and it has an external HD dock built in. There are other cases that have it too. Very nice for external backups with drives that you can swap and take offsite.

The only redundant part of your plan is the SSD for caching in front of your RAID 0, but if you have the money, then you will get a bit of a performance boost. Not much, but some. I wouldn't use an M4 for a cache drive though. A V+100 or SF Gen1 drive would be cheaper and be just as good.

 

[Diogenes2]

Another option would be using SSD caching on a 2 x 2tb RAID 1 for data protection.
I think performance would be better than the RAID 0 ..

Of course, if you really need more than 2TB of storage, this wouldn't be your choice..

 

[R4in]

Thanks guys, I think I may just go with 2 separate F3's and my 128 m4 just to see how i like it, then if i need more, i can always buy more drives

 

[R4in]

Does anybody know the performance loss from running in RAID 1?

I do know you only gain half of your storage as usable but is it considerably slower read/write than separate drives or RAID 0.

 

[nanaki333]

Does anybody know the performance loss from running in RAID 1?

I do know you only gain half of your storage as usable but is it considerably slower read/write than separate drives or RAID 0.

raid1 will be just like running a single disk. you should not notice any difference running with 1 disk, or 2 disks in raid1. space will be the same as using 1 disk as well.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

Some RAID controllers can actually deliver faster read speeds with RAID 1 under some circumstances, but it really depends. Otherwise, yeah, same as single disk. You shouldn't see any lowered performance.