Torqx2 + (2)Samsung F3's in RAID1?

[j03h4gLund]

First of all, is the F3 a SATA II or III? I keep seeing different answers.

Never done a raid configuration and figured I'd give it a whirl. I know I could just plug them in and they'd be Plug'n'Play as normal drives, so I have a question, or four. RAID1 orrrr.... RAID0!!! Also would love to turn this i5 into HEATWARE when I buy a new case.... A N Y W A Y S....

Im thinking I will RAID0 my Torqx2 eventually with another identical drive($49.99 AR on newegg) but for now, I will continue to boot from Torqx2(SATA II) in AHCI and use the F3(SATA?)'s for storage.

My question(s)! Lol

Is RAID1 reversable? Could I ever decide to format a single drive and still have the contents of the other drive be in tact?

How would I do this? Is it as simple as installing the Intel Rapid Storage Controller software(installed) and setting BIOS to RAID? I already have Win7 installed on the SSD. Do I need to backup my data on that drive as well(is it part of the raid configuration?)

Honestly... should I just buy another F3 and do RAID5? I think -that- would be legit for a gaming rig, since having pure SSD's is obviously faster... thoughts??

Thank you for the help! You save me money and I love you for this :wub:

 

[Cerb]

First of all, is the F3 a SATA II or III? I keep seeing different answers.

The product description will generally tell you, such as, "SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive". Most importantly, however, it's a hard drive. It has to move a long thin piece of metal left and right to find a microscopic track. The most you can do is make sure you plug into ports that boot as AHCI, for easy NCQ under Windows. Unlike your SSD, it won't outrun a slow SATA link speed.

Is RAID1 reversable? Could I ever decide to format a single drive and still have the contents of the other drive be in tact?

Not only is it, but it's not uncommon at some point in a desktop RAID 1's life that that happens even when you don't want it to. All the reboots and config changes give your drives plenty of chances to come out of sync. I prefer setting a second drive up as an explicit backup volume, instead. Servers need the availability, desktops [usually] don't.

How would I do this? Is it as simple as installing the Intel Rapid Storage Controller software(installed) and setting BIOS to RAID? I already have Win7 installed on the SSD. Do I need to backup my data on that drive as well(is it part of the raid configuration?)

Depends. If you have Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate, I believe you can make a RAID 1 volume from disk manager, with no messing around with BIOS or RST. Otherwise, yes, BIOS/RST. Whatever your backup needs are, RAID will not change them. Complete and obvious HDD failure is just one type of failure, and non-drive data corruption, user error, inopportune power failure, and software bugs, account for at least as much data loss, in practice.

Honestly... should I just buy another F3 and do RAID5? I think -that- would be legit for a gaming rig, since having pure SSD's is obviously faster... thoughts??

Not no, but hell no. For RAID 5 to perform well enough to use for a desktop, you're going to need a real RAID controller, and those start around $200 (exact price varies, especially when it comes to PERCs on eBay). For less money, you could just buy 2 2TB drives and do RAID 1, or 4 1TBs and go RAID 10.

 

[j03h4gLund]

How could I remove RAID1 to use as regular drives or RAID0 without making the drives FUBAR?

 

[Cerb]

How could I remove RAID1 to use as regular drives or RAID0 without making the drives FUBAR?

RAID 1 to regular drives: disconnect one of the drives, and reformat it. That way it will be obvious which one is which.

RAID 1 to RAID 0: don't know, and likely will never find out. I would use a third drive.