RAID 1 or Cloning !

technojunky

technojunky

technojunky

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I'm currently preparing my PC for the installation Windows 7 Pro 64 bit on 22/10 by making a few upgrades.

I've increased RAM from 2Gb to 4Gb and I've now bought a Samsung F3 1TB drive for the OS. I've previously run two Samsung 400Gb hard drives in Raid 1 (mirroring) as the main drive for the OS and DATA.

I'm now wondering if I should by another Samsung F3 1TB drive and run them both as a RAID 1 for OS/DATA but understand that RAID 1 actually makes the system run slower than using one drive as everything has to be written twice.

Is this true and, if so, would using a second Samsung F3 to regularly clone the first F3 be a better option ?

Basically, I want to improve the overall loading times and speed of Windows as (with my current set-up) Windows seems a bit lethargic. Data backup within the system is essential.

I do not have unlimited funds and so I'm upgrading on a budget.

Thank You
 
Raid1 won't give you a data backup. It protects you from, in the case of 2 disk raid1, a single hard drive failure.

You are still susceptible to malware, theft, fire, accidental deletion.

Why not use your new drive for OS and data, and then backup regularly to your old drives. I'd also consider getting an external drive to keep a backup away from the computer if you have irreplaceable data you couldn't afford to lose.
 
Thanks for the post ChileanLlama.

I guess keeping one of my older drives for back-up makes the most sense with the possible addition of an external drive for safety. Thanks again.
 
Another option is to have one drive for the OS and a second for data. This separation makes upgrades to the OS much simpler.

I currently run a raptor 150G for the OS and a Raid-1 pair of WD 500G disks for data/documents/Desktop. Raptor will be swapped out for an Intel SSD with Win 7 installation leaving the existing data disks.

As ChileanLlama says, backup your data elsewhere even when running raid-1.
 
I'd also suggest a variation on TurboChicken's. As you have a 1tb drive it's too big for just your OS and Apps only, so I would partition that. It won't help against a drive failure, but it will help if you want to separate your data from the OS.

As for the SSD question, which drives were you considering. It's true the Crucial 64gb are slower than the 128gb drives, but only marginally so. It's not really going to be noticeable. If you can afford a 64gb and it will be big enough for your OS and key apps, then that is a good choice. Don't worry about it being slightly slower, it's not really a compromise.

But to be honest, if you have important data I'd be tempted to get an external HD first - I know it's not as sexy as an SSD, but it secures your data.
 
Thanks for the post ChileanLlama.

I'm very tempted to go down the 64Gb SSD route (despite my lack of funds). I've not considered which one yet but my max spnd is £150 but I'd prefer nearer £100 if I could get one. Can you recommend anything.

This way I'd use the Samsung 1TB F3 as the main data drive and back-up to one of my older drives in the short term with a view to replacing it with an ecternal drive in the near future.

Alternatively, how would it be to initially use the Samsung F3 for Windows 7 OS & data (backing-up data to one of the older drives) and then when the prices of SSD have come down to a more reasonable level, removing the data from the Samsung F3, cloning it and then transfering the clone to a new SSD. Would that work ?

Thanks again for your input.
 
Heres what i have

150gb velociraptor
120gb old drive for games
500gb media1
500gb media2
250gb drive (clone of 150gb velociraptor)

I would recommend you keep all your data seperate to your OS on other drives. Then, like I do, every few weeks use something like Acronis clone image to clone your main OS drive to another. (Making sure it works perfect before the clone of course)

I also have a 1TB external backup of the 2 media drives

Edit - why not buy 2 more 1tb drives and use RAID 5. All the speed and one drive can fall over and you are still ok
 
technojunky said:
Thanks for the post ChileanLlama.

I'm very tempted to go down the 64Gb SSD route (despite my lack of funds). I've not considered which one yet but my max spnd is £150 but I'd prefer nearer £100 if I could get one. Can you recommend anything.

This way I'd use the Samsung 1TB F3 as the main data drive and back-up to one of my older drives in the short term with a view to replacing it with an ecternal drive in the near future.

Alternatively, how would it be to initially use the Samsung F3 for Windows 7 OS & data (backing-up data to one of the older drives) and then when the prices of SSD have come down to a more reasonable level, removing the data from the Samsung F3, cloning it and then transfering the clone to a new SSD. Would that work ?

Thanks again for your input.
Click to expand...

The Crucial M225 64gb is probably still the best price for the performance near your budget, but the prices are going up almost daily - they were £103 at release (Aug) and now £145 - when you can get them. The Samsung PBJ22 is another drive I have, about the same price, but I do prefer the Crucials which have better warranty and support.

Your short term strategy seems sound enough with what you have/plan to have.

Finally yes you could clone your mechanical HD to an SSD. It would certainly work, but Windows 7 does a few things during setup when it detects an SSD, such as align the disk.

My personal preference would be to do a clean install on the SSD the first time - but it will depend if the extra little bit of performance, which I doubt you'll notice would be worth the extra hassle of re-installing everything again!
 
Thanks again for the input ChileanLlama.

The Crucial M225 64Gb it is then. Just need to find one at a reasonable price !

Now that I've made the decision which way I'm going to go, will the speed of the data drive really make any difference ? Do I now really need the Samsung F3 as a data drive or will one of my older drives suffice ? I only have about 300Gb of data !

Thanks again.
 
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It shouldn't be important, any reasonably modern drive will be fast enough for data storage.

I just run SSDs in my box with no storage drives. Data being held on the server, and I don't have any problems.

As you have 2x400gb drives and only 300gb data, then maybe you don't need the F3. You could perhaps return that, and what about getting an enclosure for 1 one of your 400gb drives to run it as an external drive - that would allow you to back up the remaining internal 400gb drive and keep your data safe?

Edit: or maybe keep the 2x400gb in RAID1, and get an enclosure for the 500gb drive? :)
 
May i suggest you keep a partition on one of the 500gb or 400gb drives for a backup of the 64gb SSD. This way if something breaks you can simply change the boot priority, boot from the partition and clone back to SSD

edit - i see you are going to use raid 1. Ignore what i said
 
Thanks for the post Guest 2. That's an interesting point and one I may well action.

There now seems little point in continuing to use the two 400GB HD's in a RAID 1 configuration as I will now be regularly backing the data from the RAID 1 drive up to an external drive. Therefore, I may just as well use one single internal drive for data.
 
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