Should I go RAID0?

Vegeta · 18 Jul 2006 at 23:37

Hi I currently have a WD 250gb caviar se 16mb cache sata2 (you know the one) and i've got another one coming.
I hear both these drivers in a Raid0 will be really quick, and I would love my pc to be faster but I hear raid 0 has some serious risks of data loss.
If I go raid 0, how likely is it that I will lose data? I game a lot, I always push my hardware overclock etc, if I crash my pc once does that mean all the data will be gone? If I accidently unplug a hard drive and stop it spinning then spin it back up will the data be gone?
Or does it only mean when the hard drive dies I lose the data?

xiphrex · 19 Jul 2006 at 00:33

When one hard drive dies, you lose the data on both drives.

My advice: Dont do Raid0, its not worth it in my opinion. Ive had it before, no real improvement from the common user/gamer, just an unneccessary risk added.

semi-pro waster · 19 Jul 2006 at 01:21

Raid0 isn't worth it for most people unless you are working with large files e.g. video/photo/music work. It does increase your risk of data loss although I have had 2 separate Raid arrays(different PCs) working for about 1 year each with no problems but in both cases I moved them from uni to home and the cables came loose and I lost the arrays. It was no great loss as I had all the important stuff backed up but it does mean if it is going to be your main system drive that you need to be more vigilant about backups.

They don't immediately fall over at the first crash but the more often you crash your PC the likelihood of the drives failing/dropping out of synchronisation must increase I'd imagine.

Vegeta · 19 Jul 2006 at 10:09

Hmm dont think i'll bother to be honest, maybe once I fill these drives and I buy a even bigger one for backup i#ll raid them and use them as my main system but keep all the important stuff backed up on the new drive (long time into the future).

Dutch Guy · 19 Jul 2006 at 10:30

For gaming there is no advantage and in some cases level load times can increase rather than decrease.

The only advantage I found was in large file transfer, other than that it's not really faster but one part of why I did it was just to have some fun.

I do regular backups of vital data to a 80Gb IDE drive and I use Acronis TrueImage to make a copy of my Windows install.

jbloggs · 19 Jul 2006 at 12:27

I also find unzipping large file is quite a bit faster.

Dutch Guy · 19 Jul 2006 at 12:36

jbloggs said:
I also find unzipping large file is quite a bit faster.

Yes, the things I notice a speed increase is unzipping, installing, copying but things like gameloading, boot time, starting apps are not really that much faster as they are propably not limited by harddisk speed but other factors.

Vegeta · 19 Jul 2006 at 13:48

guess i wont be going raid0 then

TBirdUK · 19 Jul 2006 at 14:25

Got to add my 2penny to this - went RAID0 on my gaming rig and now playing BF2 my loading time has decreased signifigantly - I am always one of the first in on the server - used to be the last.

IMHO it is worth it as long as you backup your data so you dont lose anything valuable if one drive does go u/s

Dutch Guy · 19 Jul 2006 at 14:29

TBirdUK said:
Got to add my 2penny to this - went RAID0 on my gaming rig and now playing BF2 my loading time has decreased signifigantly - I am always one of the first in on the server - used to be the last.

Nice to know that, so I guess it depends on the game.

Why not try RAID0 for a while and if you do not see better performance in the stuff you use you can always go back to single drives (just make sure you make an image of your Windows install so you can restore that after losing the RAID array.

Vegeta · 19 Jul 2006 at 17:07

Dutch Guy said:
Nice to know that, so I guess it depends on the game.

Why not try RAID0 for a while and if you do not see better performance in the stuff you use you can always go back to single drives (just make sure you make an image of your Windows install so you can restore that after losing the RAID array.

Too much hassle, i'll have these filled by next year im guessing, so when I upgrade then (to a terbyte or whatever is out then), i'll raid0 these two and use them in my windows setup.