Raid and different cache size

DrSteve · 8 Jun 2008 at 08:53

Hello.
I'm currently using an older 74Gb Raptor as a system drive - the 8MB cache version. I was toying with the idea of adding a second one and setting up raid 0. The new version of the drive has a 16MB cache and I was wondering if this makes any difference when setting up an array.
Thanks for any info.

DrSteve · 8 Jun 2008 at 15:31

Thanks for the replies. Have managed to source 2 more identical drives. Was initially going to go for raid 0 which I suppose I could still do but with more drives I suppose the chance of array failure is higher. Still trying to get my head round the various raid types. Am I right in thinking I could go for raid 5 with the three drives? Any point?

DrSteve · 8 Jun 2008 at 16:17

AbsenceJam said:
RAID 5 gives you both striping and distributed parity so you can lose a drive, but unless you have a controller with a dedicated processor it can be slow.

Ahh ok. Was planning to use the built in controller on the mobo so I guess that means my own CPU will need to do all the work. Might just go for raid 0 and put the 3rd drive into another machine.

DrSteve · 8 Jun 2008 at 23:52

Good to know.

Just out of interest, how much of a strain would raid 5 be on the system? Given that it's an overclocked quad core would it be noticable or not?

DrSteve · 9 Jun 2008 at 10:59

That's probably what I will do. Since I'm going to end up with 3 raptors I thought I would use 2 in raid 0 for windows and applications and keep the 3rd one for video editing. Recently got an HD camcorder so the extra speed of the raptor might come in handy there.
I'll probably add another 500GB drive to the quickly filling one I already have for data storage and backup.

DrSteve · 10 Jun 2008 at 12:13

Got it all up and running this morning. Raid 0 with a 32K stripe. Vista certainly loads and shuts down faster. Getting an average transfer rate of 143Mb/sec from the array. Seems good so far.