RAID, am I understanding this correctly?

[MTDEW]

From what I can tell, if I RAID two 40gb HDs together, then I still only have 40gb of storage space as they will "mirror" each other.

Am I understanding this correctly?

Honestly, when I read RAID articles, it just seems to fly right over my head.

Anyone care to give a "simplified" explaination of how RAID works & the benefits vs drawbacks.

And yeah, I know 8K7A doesnt have RAID.

Id like to know if its worth trying before I try it on my next rig.

My pcs are strictly for home use, browsing, downloading & gaming.

 

[MrGrim]

There are a lot of RAID modes. The most common one (between home users anyway) is RAID 0. This mode doesn't mirror the contents of the RAID array, and therefor you don't lose any space. You will end up with 1 HD with a capacity of 80GB. I think what you are talking about is RAID 1, but I'm not sure.

 

[MTDEW]

Ok, If I have 1 Hd that equals 80gb(two 40gb drives) & I use RAID 0, the what about partioning?

Am I free to partition both drives as normal?
Or will I have to partion both EXACTLY the same, or not at all?

 

[soulm4tter]

RAID 0 is striping, so you get 80GB with 2 40GB drives. Here's a good exlanation. In my opinion, its not worth the trouble and money if you don't already have an onboard RAID controller. RAID 0 increases read speeds alot, but doesn't help access times much. And most users hard drives spend alot more time searching for data then reading it. So improved read speeds doesn't actually improve performance much since the difference in 30mb/s and 60mb/s when reading only 2mb, is hardly noticeable.

As far as partioning goes, the 80GB RAID array should be considered one drive, which you can partion as much as you like.

 

[gogetax]

I just so happen to be using 2 40GB hdd's in a RAID 0 Array, and after setting it up I installed Windows XP. It detected a n 80GB HDD and asked If i wanted to partition it. It partitions just like a single Hard drive. I think the RAID controller automatically makes half of whatever sized partition you make on one HDD, then half of it on the other. That way it is still 2 hdd's writing at the same time. I just made 2 ~40gb partitions anyways.

BTW: The performance difference is DEFINATELY noticable, especially when installing things off the hard drive (like cs 1.3)

 

[MTDEW]

Thanks for the info guys.

My wife is getting ready to upgrade her pc & I was thinking of "practicing" trying this when I build her new pc, to see if its worth it.

I kinda wish I would have gotten onboard RAID, so I could try it myself 1st.

Maybe I can talk her into this pc & build myself a new one instead.