RAID 0 setup questions

[smoots]

I am new to this but I'm hoping someone can advise me on setting up a RAID 0 for Gaming applications. I'll be using 2 Seagate 160GB drives. Does this make sense?

Create two partitions on each drive (30GB Primary, 120GB Secondary).
Create the RAID 0 on the 2 30GB Primaries.
Use a 32k stripe.

I'm assuming that I'll never exceed 60GB of application space. Data storage will be on a separate drive.

Are these reasonable parameters?

The goal is to maximize read time. The 30GB primaries should ensure that the outer edges of the platters are used for the RAID storage.

 

[grooge]

You cannot RAID partitions, only drives. so, it make no sense the way you did it. You create the array, it will then show like one big drive (2x160gigs), that you will partition the way you want it.

 

[rkoenn]

The previous response is completely accurate. You need to create the RAID array from the RAID setup in the BIOS. The chipset and BIOS talk to the RAID and windows actually treats it as a drive. From windows XP disk management you would setup the drives and partition as you desire. You will also need the RAID drivers for windows for your particular chipset.

 

[compuwiz1]

With the speed of drives today, why stripe?
I wouldn't do it on a machine, where I cared about preserving my data, unless you are going make constant images for backup.

 

[Aeros]

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
With the speed of drives today, why stripe?
I wouldn't do it on a machine, where I cared about preserving my data, unless you are going make constant images for backup.

cause it is faster.

 

[smoots]

Thanks for the help. I walked through the process and I understand that you create the partitions after the RAID setup. For better or worse here's what I've done. I seek your comments but would prefer constructive criticism.

Seagate 160GB + Seagate 160GB (RAID 0)
1st Partition - 60GB (RAID 0) - Stripe Size 32kb - Drive C: (programs and applications)
2nd Parition - 260GB (RAID 0) - Stripe Size 128kb - Drive H: (not sure what to do with it)

Western Digital 250GB (SATA)
1st Partition - 250GB - Drive D: (stores My Documents and all Data)

Western Digital 200GB (IDE) - Drive G: (store incremental backups of Drive D: nightly)
1st Partition - 200GB

Drives E: and F: are both CD-ROM Drives

I assume that you wouldn't want to store anything on my Drive H: since the computer would be sort of trying to use 4 pipes of data (s pipes for the applications; 2 pipes for the data) on only 2 drives and thus become slower.

P.S. I used the Seagate drives since they only cost me $60 for the pair. They are quiet.

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
With the speed of drives today, why stripe?
I wouldn't do it on a machine, where I cared about preserving my data, unless you are going make constant images for backup.

Because drive size has increased faster than drive speed. Hard drive speed is a serious bottleneck.

If he said it was for storing his doctoral thesis you might have a point, but the OP clearly said it was for games, so data integrity isn't that important.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: grooge
You cannot RAID partitions, only drives. so, it make no sense the way you did it. You create the array, it will then show like one big drive (2x160gigs), that you will partition the way you want it.

That isn't necessarily true. With some controllers, and Intel Matrix-RAID, you can RAID partitions. Putting drives into a RAID array and then partitioning is by far more common though.

 

[tallman45]

Originally posted by: Aeros

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
With the speed of drives today, why stripe?
I wouldn't do it on a machine, where I cared about preserving my data, unless you are going make constant images for backup.

cause it is faster.

Nope it can be slower. It is only faster for Giant files , for small files such as an OS or may Apps it is slower running through a RAID 0.

Why you must be wondering, Well if one has a 32k stripe then each and every file gets striped even if it is 1k. So now you have a 1k file that has to run through a RAID controller and get striped (Tagged) where in did not really need to be done. Adds delay to reading of files

 

[grooge]

Originally posted by: Fullmetal Chocobo

Originally posted by: grooge
You cannot RAID partitions, only drives. so, it make no sense the way you did it. You create the array, it will then show like one big drive (2x160gigs), that you will partition the way you want it.

That isn't necessarily true. With some controllers, and Intel Matrix-RAID, you can RAID partitions. Putting drives into a RAID array and then partitioning is by far more common though.

But it is completly done thru software, so not as fast and not as reliable. and since it is OS dependant, not as pratical. Definitively not recommended

 

[Amnadauss]

Help with Raid. Posted in the wrong location the first time and had some fun with the reply after the first guy riped into me. 2nd guy was great and guided me to here. I have an ASUS motherboard A8N32-SLI Deluxe and have a number of hard drives. I want to I think do a Raid 1 on two identical western digital 250 GB drives. I also have a 500 gb and another 250 GB I put in the case. Question is I want to set up all 4 hard drives but not sure how to proceed and only want the two 250s as raid. Hope I am making sense. Served in the army and I was wounded recently so sent home to recover. Have a bunch of time for the next 6 months so thought I would try my hand at this. I was given and or purchased the motherboard
video card VGA EVGA 7600GT
power supply of NZXT 550 W
CPU of AMD A64 4000
Mem is corsair D400 1Gx2
CPU cooler icecone RTL
4 hard drives, 2 being identical 250 GB western Digital

The extra hard drives were given to me by friends and I want to use them.

I am probably taking on to much and have all the parts and pieces all over the floor in my living room. Have the stuff in the case but do not have all the wires hooked up and definitely an issue with the wires for the hard drives, especially the plug ins for SATA1 through 4. Any help would be apreciated.

Thanks

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: tallman45

Originally posted by: Aeros

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
With the speed of drives today, why stripe?
I wouldn't do it on a machine, where I cared about preserving my data, unless you are going make constant images for backup.

cause it is faster.

Nope it can be slower. It is only faster for Giant files , for small files such as an OS or may Apps it is slower running through a RAID 0.

Why you must be wondering, Well if one has a 32k stripe then each and every file gets striped even if it is 1k. So now you have a 1k file that has to run through a RAID controller and get striped (Tagged) where in did not really need to be done. Adds delay to reading of files

Don't you want big files to be handled faster? If I cut-down large file manipulation times from 5 minutes to 3 minutes then personally I am willing to take the 0.02s hit on my 1KB files...

 

[Amnadauss]

I thought the idea of Raid is to protect files you have so if one drive goes bad, the other will have all the info?

 

[tallman45]

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Originally posted by: tallman45

Originally posted by: Aeros

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
With the speed of drives today, why stripe?
I wouldn't do it on a machine, where I cared about preserving my data, unless you are going make constant images for backup.

cause it is faster.

Nope it can be slower. It is only faster for Giant files , for small files such as an OS or may Apps it is slower running through a RAID 0.

Why you must be wondering, Well if one has a 32k stripe then each and every file gets striped even if it is 1k. So now you have a 1k file that has to run through a RAID controller and get striped (Tagged) where in did not really need to be done. Adds delay to reading of files

Don't you want big files to be handled faster? If I cut-down large file manipulation times from 5 minutes to 3 minutes then personally I am willing to take the 0.02s hit on my 1KB files...

Yes but an OS and Apps could have hundreds, thousands of small files. Keep the RAID 0 on a non OS array and just out the large files there

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: Amnadauss
I thought the idea of Raid is to protect files you have so if one drive goes bad, the other will have all the info?

That's the way all the other RAID types work, but RAID 0 is for speed. It has been argued that RAID 0 isn't even technically a type of RAID.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Originally posted by: Aeros

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
With the speed of drives today, why stripe?
I wouldn't do it on a machine, where I cared about preserving my data, unless you are going make constant images for backup.

cause it is faster.

Not by much and you more then double the risk of data loss. If anything, run a decent RAID 5. You gain the performance increase of stripping and can handle a single disk failure (multiple disks if you use a hot spare, but that is overkill for a home system). Note that I said a decent RAID 5. The raid controller needs to have a hardware XOR function, otherwise, you will not see a performance increase as the CPU will be used for all read/write operations.