RAID FOR SSD's

Schaefespeare

Schaefespeare

Schaefespeare

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Joined
21 Dec 2019
Posts
9
Although I realise that RAID applications were originally created for Hard Disk Drives and the vagaries of the internet and it's server hubs, does it still have a role nowadays ?
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It seems that the M.2 conector for SSD's is capable of having 2 drives attached, I'm wondering whether they can be set up as a Mirrored Raid pair so that the data, progams, files, O/S requirements and everything can be preserved optimally. This will be with Win10PRO 64-bit and the maximum capacity disks currently available [4Tb].
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My computer useage will be mainly Strategy games, a hoard of Wav/Lossless Music Files from my CD collection and data from Windows Office applications. I have found that the Music files deteriorate on my current SSD and volume levels can not only alter from one CD to the next but also from track to track.

All and any advice appreciated.
 
Is this a wind up?

You want to connect two 2.5" SATA SSD's in Raid 1 to an M2 connector, if this was case you could simply use 2 of the Mobos SATA ports and 4TB SSD's are going to cost you about £800 for decent models like Samsung 960 EVO's (£1700 for 960 PRO's) all because your music files are "corrupted"?
 
It's not a wind-up. It's been a while since I've kept track of developments in PC components. I do know that when setting up Windows you have a choice of which disk will become the "C" drive [default boot drive]. Sata connections are slower than an M.2 connector, so what's wrong with wanting to know if these devices have progressed into having RAID compatability regardless of cost implications ?
 
If Windows can see the drives then yes it should be able to mirror a pair of SSDs. For that sort of data though I'd use 2 x 4-6TB HDDs and then maybe a single faster M.2 drive for games.
 
@bimbleuk Thank you very much for your answer. Presumably, for the music storage, you don't see any problem with using HDD's rather than SSD's because of lag but to avoid degradation over time. incidentally Windows Media Player is not as good in Win10 as it was previously, you can no longer look-up back-catalogue CD's information as well as some UI feature changes I'm not enamoured with. If i used large HDD's for Music [as data-disks in Mirror Raid] you don't think it's worth using Raid on any M.2 SSD's to protect the O/S, programs and game files ? Can HDD's & SSD's be water cooled ? Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
 
"When a smarter and better person than you tells you something, just accept is a fact and don't argue. [sic]
Ok?" @4K8KW10 How do I know anyone is smarter or better than me and not just someone with a bigger ego ?
Someone who has more knowledge than me is okay but someone who is self-opinionated shouldn't get the time of day.

@Donnie Fisher that could be one piece of the explanation but I always use a Megalodon headset with an independent processing unit connected by USB port, and therefore connected by the basic [pcie?] multi-trafficked bus. I suppose it's a pipe-dream to expect there to be a soundcard with 2 usb connections, 1 for usb-device [Turntable] input and 1 for usb-device output [Headset] plus the ultimate connect for a digital sp-dif out, probably because I'm the only market for such a card, and on builds these days any internal connection to a CD/DVD unit is never connected and I've never heard of any similar connection between a HDD or SSD and the soundcard and don't understand what it's got to do with the Mobo.
 
Schaefespeare said:
"When a smarter and better person than you tells you something, just accept is a fact and don't argue. [sic]
Ok?" @4K8KW10 How do I know anyone is smarter or better than me and not just someone with a bigger ego ?
Someone who has more knowledge than me is okay but someone who is self-opinionated shouldn't get the time of day.
Click to expand...
You've completely misread the post you're reacting to. It's just a quote that'll appear at the bottom of all of james.miller's posts because he presumably thought it was funny. 4K8KW10 hasn't been involved in this thread at all.

You also don't seem to be able to spot obvious sarcasm.
 
Schaefespeare said:
How do I know anyone is smarter or better than me and not just someone with a bigger ego ?
Someone who has more knowledge than me is okay but someone who is self-opinionated shouldn't get the time of day.
Click to expand...

Oh I quite agree. The guy who said that is... quite special.

Anyway, back to the thread. This is quite easy to prove: do your stored photos and documents also degrade with use? If the answer is no, then neither do your audio files. If the answer is yes, then you have a hardware problem and probably a failing ssd. No, Something else is going on, be it your equipment... Or your ears. Digital data does not degrade just by reading it.
 
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I think the OP is a troll, however ...

Your audio files, as files, won't degrade on your storage device.
Usb port on a soundcard will be no different from usb on the motherboard. It will not affect the sound.

Different songs are always going to have different volumes. Shocker !

You might need to sit down for this bit ...but.... I have to tell you that even with an individual song, the volume of sound may go up as well as down.... I know right ? Loud and quiet in the same track.... Dam that PC voodoo technology ....
 
Thanks for the sarcasm @Donnie Fisher. USB ports on soundcards ? well I meant that instead of all the speaker connections and the input mini-jack-plug I never use on the soundcard [which have nothing to do with the Mobo] they could be replaced by usb terminals which only connect to those input/output channels on the soundcard and whatever peripheral I chose to use plugged into these usb connectors [nothing to do with the Mobo or any bus to the Mobo].
 
@ james.miller My photos and Documents have not degraded, so you're right it's a problem with my ears. However I thank bimbleuk for answering my original query about using Raid on M.2 connected SSD's, unless you just meant the SSD's can be used in Raid only when connected via a SATA device/plug/connector ? and again bimbleuk I appreciate the advice on a back-up plan, I believe you can dedicate a single or set of matching capacity drives to only be used for back-up purposes which I believe can be configured to operate whenever shutting down Windows[10] is invoked. And I take it you think normal fan-assisted air-cooling is sufficient for all SSD & HDD devices no matter how large the capacity.
 
Raid SSD's are overkill for your needs in terms of performance, and I would argue more complex than you need in terms having backup/redundancy.

HDD's will happily handle the audio files and the speed of accessing them. RAID needs some device or software setup to pair the 2 drives together. If a part fails, you're still tied into that RAID setup to be able to repair it. Personally, for simple needs and redundancy, I would have 2 individual drives in the machine each with their own drive letter ... one for your active day to day use of files, and another as a backup of it. A simple backup program can on a daily / weekly basis can mirror the files over onto the backup drive.

Then that way if anything goes wrong, you have 2 seperate devices storing the same information which is not held behind some form of RAID configuration. Worst case scenario, you could simply remove a drive from the machine, plug it into another and still see all the files natively.

As for USB's ... again, personally dont see the benefit really. The sound cards have the audio outs on them cause they are likely better quality and signal path from the DAC on the board. With USB it wouldn't make a difference. Also may involve power implications as USB ports generally have to supply some power down them.
 
All this talk of digital files deteriorating due to differing volume levels? Audio is mastered at varying volume levels. All you need is a normalising plugin for your audio player...
 
Thanks everybody for the input.
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Regarding the Audio problems I have, it's due to a problem with my ears [it's them that need normalizing].
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As for the selection of SSD/HDD units and back-up, I am begining to abandon the idea of RAID configuration despite Win10 having partnered Intel's Rapid Storage Technology application to monitor and manage disk health. However, I still consider that I will need 4 individual drives; one large-ish SSD [and a matching capacity SSD to back it up to] as an o/s, programs and games vehicle, and a very large HDD [and a matching capacity HDD to back it up to] to accomodate my WAV/Lossless music files; the SSD's plugged into the M.2 device and the HDD's connected to SATA [or is it SATA-E these days?] ports.
 
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You don't want your backups to be permanently connected to the same PC. Many of the things that could cause data loss are equally likely to take out your backup drives at the same time.
 
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