Windows 7 Software RAID. GOBSMAKING RESULTS!

Temi_D

Temi_D

Temi_D

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So I went on an hdd shopping spree and bought 2x500gb Samsung f3s and a single 1tb one. I was about to set them all up then I noticed that there were quite a few options in computer management. And googled them. It turns out that win7 professional and upwards have a software RAID function. I thought to myself: 'HA! yea right its probably crap'. But I decided to test it any way.

The results WILL SHOCK YOU! So I decided to write a mini review about it:D.
Using CrystalDiskMark 2.2 with 1000MB and 5 cycles

My specs:
Intel Q9650 @ 3.6GHz
Gigabyte GA-P43-ES3G (doesnt have hardware RAID)
the rest are in sig:p

Contents:

1. Computer management
2. Single 500GB f3
3-1. Software raided 2x500GB 1st run
3-2. Software raided 2x500GB 2nd run
4. Triple RAID with 2x500GB and a single 1TB f3 (didnt have a third 500GB drive)
5. Cpu usage, Task manager (less than 1%)
6. Conclusion

1. Computer management
hdd1.png



2. Single 500GB f3
f3normal.png



3. 2x500GB
hdd2.png

hdd3.png


3-1. 1st run
sfraidf3.png


3-2. 2nd run
sfraidf32.png



4. Triple raid
triraidscreen.png


SSD who?
tripleraid.png



5.
hddtaskmgr.png



6. Conclusion

WHY hasn't anyone EVER mentioned this before?!!! As you can see, this is a VERY useful feature and it DOESNT have any negative impact on performance

PROS:
-Lets you use TRIM with SSDs
-It lets those who's motherboards dont support raid have the benefits of RAID.
-It lets you have an unlimited (well...limited by number of sata ports) number of DIFFERENT RAID arrays
-Even if you already have hardware raid, you can add another array!
-Doesn't impact performance at all!
-Performs better than Hardware RAID?

CONS:
-you cannot boot from it:(

Recommended setup: have 2 ssds is raid 0 with hardware raid for windows/booting and have hdds in software RAID for speed as well!
 
Last edited:
I'm afraid i cant test raid-5 because it isnt natively supported, need third-party software
 
Last edited:
I got a new mobo and just did a quick test with hardware raid, was peaking at 170MB/s reads and 160MB/s writes
 
Ive been using the RAID 0 (2x500GB) for my fraps recordings and not had a single problem so far but I haven't tried RAID 1
 
Rroff said:
It still won't compare to SSD tho... my gaming machine has a multi disc RAID5 setup for performance with 7200.12 drives and partitioned similiar to short stroking... it benches well over 300MB/s minimum - and games, etc. load 3x faster off a cheapy Patriot SSD I shoved in there - which has just about the worst performance of any SSD.
Click to expand...

The only reason the SSD loads faster is because of the small files making random read/write speeds matter. I use my hdds for files that are 2GB+ so it is pure sequential read/write speed that matters hence it is just as good or even better than getting an SSD (for massive files).
 
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