Oh no! Another should I RAID thread!

wolvers

wolvers

wolvers

Soldato
Joined
26 Jan 2005
Posts
5,141
Location
In........cognito
I'm re-installing Vista at the weekend as I'm changin my mobo/cpu/ram, in my htpc, for core 2 duo and I can't decide what to with my hard disk set up.

2 x 250gb (currently only one used for os)
1 x 500gb (file storage, mostly videos)
1 x NAS disk (backup/server)

It's tricky to fit 3 drive into my htpc case but it's do-able so should I go for a RAID set up with the 2 x 250gb drives or not? Would it give me improved drive performance and which type of RAID should I use?

Thanks in advance for your input.
 
with 2*250GB you only have two possible RAID levels that you can use, ie RAID 0 and RAID 1. The thread mentioned by rpstewart discusses raid0 and whether there really is any real world performance increase.
 
Thanks for the thread link. There's some interesting links there but the thread just seems to be people arguing about it! I never knew that it divided people so much. The test results seem to be a little inconclusive too. :confused:

I'm aware of the RAID levels and have previously set up a RAID0 on my desktop machine as I wanted a single 160gb drive, but happened to have 2 x 80gb ones kicking around. That was quite a while ago and I never noticed any performance benefits and they were SATAI drives as opposed to the SATAII drives that I have in the htpc.

What I had in mind was if on board RAID controllers had moved on or if RAID1 would provide more performance as i had read that it improved read speeds.

Really I find it all very confusing and was hoping someone with a load of experience would say 'do it like this chap, it'll give you the best results'! ;)
 
wolvers69 said:
Really I find it all very confusing and was hoping someone with a load of experience would say 'do it like this chap, it'll give you the best results'! ;)
Click to expand...
Unfortunately it's not possible to do that really. Everyone's usage is different and what's best for one person could lead to very poor performance for the next.

wolvers69 said:
What I had in mind was if on board RAID controllers had moved on or if RAID1 would provide more performance as i had read that it improved read speeds.
Click to expand...
Onboard controllers have moved on but not to the extent of offering split reads on RAID1, you need to go for the likes of a 3Ware card to support that.
 
Ok, thanks for your help.

After reading the links in that post, I've decided to go for a RAID0 array. I think that it will be the best option for my htpc.

Also, quite a few people have mentioned that they have seen a marked improvement in Vista so I'd like to see for myself.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom