4 smaller drives in RAID 0 worth it?

[MrMonkeh]

Hi guys,

Im going to be building a new system and I'm interested in testing out a RAID 0 config, which I've never done before...

I use my pc for gaming, I have a seperate NAS box for all my backups and data so Im not fussed about resilience

My question is: instead of buying 2 160gb drives and putting them in RAID 0, will I achieve better performance using 4 80gb drives in RAID 0?

Also, should I invest in a controller card? Im looking at buying a Gigabyte P35 mobo that has RAID functionality built in

Im looking at the SATA II samsung spinpoints as I hear they are quiet and reliable

Cheers,

Monkeh

 

[rpstewart]

You may achieve a slight performance improvement using more than 2 drives but 4 drives will be nowhere near twice the speed of 2 drives. I'd be tempted to look at a pair of single platter drives - Hitachi 7K160s, WD AAJS or the new 250Gb Seagate 7200.10 (if you can find one) - rather than 4 slower 80Gbs.

The performance gain of 4 slower drives over 2 quick ones doesn't warrant, in my mind, the increased risk of array failure.

 

[JayMax]

When I first went to 2 disk raid 0 my impressions were yeah, faster. When I went to 3 then 4 disk raid 0 the responsiveness of my OS really improved and impressed me, a very noticable difference. I don't think I could go back to 2 disks.
Gotta have a good backup strategy though. I've never lost a disk, but have bought a 5th one as a spare to drop in in the event of failure. And I run a 3 day rotating backup cycle using Acronis (scheduled for every morning).