Question about on-board RAID

[BlueMysticWarrior]

I just ordered the Shuttle AK-35GTR, and this is my first experience w/ RAID. I was wondering if I have to have two hard drives of the same make and model or can I have two drives of equal performance ( i.e- two 30 GB 7200 (I have one quantum and one maxtor)). I would love any input on my situation. I also would love to hear anything about problems I might run into, and any tips/suggestions ya'll can throw my way.

Much thanx

Eddie

 

[Boonesmi]

raid always works best if the 2 drives are identical

but.... they dont need to be, heck they dont even need to be the same speed or size (but if you do use 2 different size harddrives they will each only be as big as the smaller of the two... meaning if you use a 20gb and a 40gb drive they will both act like 20gb drives)

 

[BlueMysticWarrior]

What problems will I run in to if I use two different brands, but identical speed and size? Is there a performance loss? Any compatibility issues? Anyone who has done this, could you tell me you results. Would it be worth it for me to buy another identical drive??

 

[Boonesmi]

just like you guessed

the problem is slight performance loss


what are your 2 harddrives? make/model?

 

[BlueMysticWarrior]

I have a 30GB Quantum Fireball AS and a 30 GB maxtor (not sure model) both are 7200/ata100,etc. I got the maxtor for free, so it would be nice if it could work. As far as performance loss, does that mean it will peak with the slowest drive?? I mean there both 7200/100. I'm sure the maxtor is only a little bit slower that the quantum. LMK

 

[Boonesmi]

with both drives being 7200rpm ata100 i imagine they would work pretty well together, but i cant really give you any hard numbers on exactly how much performance loss since they aren't identical drives

 

[ShinSa]

<< raid always works best if the 2 drives are identical

but.... they dont need to be, heck they dont even need to be the same speed or size (but if you do use 2 different size harddrives they will each only be as big as the smaller of the two... meaning if you use a 20gb and a 40gb drive they will both act like 20gb drives) >>




I have a 30 Gig 7200 RPM Maxtor and a 60 Gig 5400 RPM WD, both UDMA 100.

Should I RAID or not RAID? WIll it cut my 60 gig WD into a 30 GIG WD????

Would i lose all data if I do Stripping???

 

[Boonesmi]

yup it would cut your 60gb to a 30gb, but if you stripe them you will effectively have 60gb of usable space (2x30gb)

and again yup, you will lose all data currently on the drives when you setup a striped array (if you do raid 1, mirroring then you wont lose the data)



but if you have a 3rd harddrive you can always copy the data to it, then setup the raid on your other 2 drives, then copy the data back onto the raid from the 3rd drive