OMG RAID 0 !!!

[Solouko]

New build, only have space for 4 SATA drives on the nF4 Lanparty ultra D and so i have 4 SATAII drives...

can i use one drive on it's own and have the other 3 in a RAID 0 configuration? (will read the nVidia RAID manual later)

if so, should i have one 80GB HDD for my documents and the other 3 in a RAID 0 configuration with windows and program files on it?

should i have one UBER drive with all 4 in RAID 0
(and possibly partition the uber drive into 3 for windows, program files and my documents)

ooor... should i have 2 drives RAID 0 with windows, 2 drives RAID 0 with program files and not have any my documents on the computer at all?

i'm going for optimal performance here.... i've not got watercooling just so i can be slowed down by a slow SATAII transfer rate!


anyway, thanks in advance :3 hope you guys can help (not that i'm expecting anyone to look in this part of the fourms EVER )

 

[Solouko]

look guys... ST*U about mirrors and ghosting and RAID 1+0 or RAID 5, it's the best RAID 0 configuration for 4 drives, i'm aiming for speed, i'm not going to use this comp for anything important, just games to i need bandwidth.

and i dont need a RAID card cause i have a lanparty nF4 board with the RAID controler built in.

Mercutio has the right idea, 200+ MB/Sec transfer speeds, that's what i'm aiming for, i dont need it to last forever, hell a full drive format is like an oil change on a car, it's something you do on a regular basis to keep it clean and running smoothly, ok putting the right oil in it and not redlining it untill it's warmed up with keep her ticking over a little longer but you have to change it sooner or later!

i'm planing so far (wont hapen untill at least sunday) to Raid 3 drives together into a RAID 0 array and partition it in 2 (one for windows and one for program files) and i'm going to leave a seperate drive untainted by the RAID for My Documents folder, this is because there is a size limit (or was) on both the XP My documents and Program files folders which i always seem to ba able to fill quite nicely. (yes it's upwars of 10GB in each)

i dont need a fast transfer rate for the My Documents just local storage (i may at a alter date invest in network storage) but i do want and need fast transfers for the Windows and program files partitions, cuase this will result in faster booting and loading of both games and programs.

this is my thinking, if i'm wrong about anything please correct me but i really dont care for useing RAID for it's original purpose as to make my system more relyable, just faster :3

 

[Solouko]

ok, i've chickened out, i got the RAID 0 drive working with 3 80GB drives and thought... that's too huge for just windows, so i've got all 4 drives running on RAID 0+1 but i'm thinking about RAID 5.... my motherboard dowsnt support RAID 5 but i can run RAID 5 through software, i'm just worried that it'll slow my processor down too much. because if it's hardware controled i dont mind and is seems a heck of a lot quicker than IDE which is what i'm used to and a 160GB drive is more practical and i'll have some hope of making use of it.

pluss thanks to a slight um... smeg-up on my behalf i'm stuck with a spare 80GB drive of the same type ^_^' heh.. so that make come in usefull some day

anyway, what do you guys think of raid 5?
and what raid configuration do i have to use to enable soft RAID 5?

 

[Solouko]

i dont understand why everyone goes on about raid 0 drive failiure, ive had a raid 0 array working perfectly since 2003 on one rig and ive had my quad drive working flawlessly since day 1 and i got it about feb''ish.

lucky you, i'm having nothing but problems with my raid array >.o i've been sitting here for 2 days now with a message saying "rebuilding array" and once it gets to 100% it starts all over again, this is getting stupid! i need help.