3x 74gb Raptors

andyp · 19 Nov 2007 at 19:34

Will be mine come the middle of the week - it was meant to be 1 more to complement the single I've already got - I'm running low on space so was going to RAID0 them.

However, I'm now going to be getting 2 extra so my question is, what's the best RAID config to put 3 drives in? Whichever configuration, it'll be partitioned into a 10gig for XP and whatever else is left for games, apps, the odd bit of encoding etc.

Motherboard is an ASUS Nforce 650i SLI and I've got 3 other IDE drives (2x160gb and 1x200gb) purely for storage.

helmutcheese · 19 Nov 2007 at 19:42

I dont believe in partitions apart from dual Booting OS.

Some claim it saves a reinstall of all Games/APP's if Windows dies, well most wont run unless reinstalled as not written to Windows Reg and folders.

I would Raid0 all 3 and run as 1 big HDD, and always back up as anyone should do be it Raid or non Raid.

External 500+GB HDD's are cheap as chips these days.

TheVoice · 19 Nov 2007 at 20:21

helmutcheese said:
Some claim it saves a reinstall of all Games/APP's if Windows dies, well most wont run unless reinstalled as not written to Windows Reg and folders.

Not true in my experience. Only had one game so far that didn't want to run (Hitman Blood Money). Re-installing it took 20 seconds anyway because all of the files (except for a select few that it needed) were already on the disk, so it didn't have to copy them all across again.

I'd always recommend partitioning. If not for the sake of not having to re-install, but it keeps the drive a bit tidier and makes defragging easier.

helmutcheese · 19 Nov 2007 at 20:37

Thats your choice m8, I have plenty Games and APP's and I mean DOZENS that will need reinstalled to even run.

Back Up is the answer, then you do not need worry.

The days of FAT32 are over, we have Big Stable Partitions now.

Energize · 19 Nov 2007 at 21:12

I use 2 partitions, if windows needs reinstalling no need to mess around with programs as I can just restore the old registry after reformatting.

helmutcheese · 20 Nov 2007 at 00:57

Lol, thats exactly what I do not do as many APP's need near enough a full install. (my APP's anyhow).

I just keep a back up on the 500GB ESATA HDD.

andyp · 20 Nov 2007 at 10:56

The partitions thing is just personal preference - it's just the way I'm used to and I have my own directory structure that works better having my OS, games/apps and storage/backup in certain places. I think I've just grown comfortable with it being that way and don't really want it to change - regardless of any positives or negatives.

Looks like RAID0 is the way to go then - I did briefly look at RAID5 but couldn't really see any benefits.

TheVoice · 20 Nov 2007 at 11:19

helmutcheese said:
Lol, thats exactly what I do not do as many APP's need near enough a full install. (my APP's anyhow).

I just keep a back up on the 500GB ESATA HDD.

Applications yes, but I've not come across very many games at all that haven't worked after a Windows re-install. Only thing you tend to lose is the shortcut icons/Start menu entries, providing you back up your Documets/Profile folder appropriately. Whether or not that starts to change though, I don't know. Hopefully not.

helmutcheese · 20 Nov 2007 at 13:26

APP's are more important, a Game can be reinstalled in minutes with your SAVE game intacted.

Energize · 20 Nov 2007 at 14:19

I haven't personally found anything that requires a reinstall, not a single program needed reinstalling after my last reformat. You must use some unusual software.

helmutcheese · 20 Nov 2007 at 14:30

Or you must have limited use of software

TheVoice · 20 Nov 2007 at 14:36

helmutcheese said:
APP's are more important, a Game can be reinstalled in minutes with your SAVE game intacted.

Games take ages to install, and there's the added hassle of discs, CD-keys, patching etc. Most actual apps just need a simple installer.

andyp · 22 Nov 2007 at 12:54

1 has arrived today.

I get the feeling this is quite a stupid question but here goes.

Can I build a 2 disk array today and do what I need to do OS wise, and add the third into the array tomorrow when the other one comes?

rpstewart · 22 Nov 2007 at 13:03

Depends on the RAID controller. Quite a few will support Online Capacity Expansion but all that will do is expand the array, you'll still need to extend any partitions you have on the array manually.

Humate · 23 Nov 2007 at 20:03

any chance you could run hd_tune on the raid1 array when you get all 3 drives. I wanna see whether its worth me doing the same or just installing the OS on my raid6 array instead

andyp · 23 Nov 2007 at 22:44

I've just this last half hour booted into a 2 disk RAID0 array. My third drive should be coming either tomorrow or monday - the nforce controller allows me to add the third drive to the array when it arrives.

HD Tune gives me:

Minimum 94.4 MB/sec
Maximum 129.6 MB/sec
Average 102.2 MB/sec

Access Time 7.5ms

Burst Rate 109.1MB/sec

CPU Usage 2.7%

Will do the 3-disk array and post as soon as possible.

helmutcheese · 24 Nov 2007 at 01:20

Seems very slow, is that old Raptor 8MB's ?

I used to get higher on a NF2 Mobo with PCI bus bottleneck.

Humate · 24 Nov 2007 at 12:34

andyp said:
Will do the 3-disk array and post as soon as possible.

cheers !

helmutcheese said:
Seems very slow

is it? what should it be? seems raptors will be the way to go for me. My 7*500GB raid6 array does around 107mb/sec average in hdtune.

andyp · 24 Nov 2007 at 12:57

Mr Cheese - yeah they're both 8mb.

Got the third disk sitting at the side of me waiting to be squeezed into the last space in my drive bays.

helmutcheese · 24 Nov 2007 at 17:14

Thought so as 16MB Raptors will get about 120MB/Sec AVG at least.