Should I Go RAID-0?

[jph1589]

I couldn't stand myself. I ordered a couple of Sata II drives for that new board and memory. I've never been happy with the Seagate Sata drive that I have, so that will finally get fixed also. I told you guys that guitar money was burning a hole in my pocket LOL!!

Now I'll finally get to do a Raid 0 configuration. My brother has been running that for about a year and just swears by it.

[gvblake22]

What didn't you like about your Barracuda? I've had four different Seagate drives and have loved every one.

[jph1589]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

What didn't you like about your Barracuda? I've had four different Seagate drives and have loved every one.

It has always seemed slow. In two different systems it has averaged about 40mbs while my Maxtor Diamondmax IDE averages about 60mbs. It also makes a boatload of noise doing smart scans that I could never turn off. Seems like every 2 minutes it does about a 20 second scan. ST3120827AS

So I bought 2 80 gb Hitachi Deskstar Sata II's. I helped build a system in California with those and was very impressed. Besides they are $42 each now!! :)

[fps justin]

congratz dude!

[polobunny]

You're going to love RAID and the heat it produces. Really. :P

[jph1589]

Originally Posted by polobunny

You're going to love RAID and the heat it produces. Really. :P

Talk to me......is there something I should know?

[Tyreal]

a RAID with 2 hard drives won't produce much heat but it really adds up with more drives.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by Tyreal

a RAID with 2 hard drives won't produce much heat but it really adds up with more drives.

You'd be surprised I think. I didn't believe it much before either. :P Chances are you're not using all your hard drives at the same time in your computer, and not at 100%.
For example, compressing a big file in WinRAR will make considerably more heat on a RAID1 than when you are on a single drive. Both drives will work at the same time, and it's slower to write to a RAID1 than to a single drive too.
It's a great experience, but after talking with Rich when I first came here about 10k rpm hard drives and whatnot I did my own experiences and I don't think i'm going RAID again unless I have a 120mm fan blowing on the HDDs. :P

[Tyreal]

I'd imagine that say.... six of the new Seagate 7200.10 320 GB hard drive were put in a RAID, they would generate a helluva lot of heat. Hell, I have one in my rig right now, and its hot to the touch.

[One4yu2c]

And specifically regarding RAID 0, anyone interested in taking that plunge would be encouraged to read a couple of articles first:

Anandtech RAID 0

• "If you haven't gotten the hint by now, we'll spell it out for you: there is no place, and no need for a RAID-0 array on a desktop computer. The real world performance increases are negligible at best and the reduction in reliability, thanks to a halving of the mean time between failure, makes RAID-0 far from worth it on the desktop.
  
  There are some exceptions, especially if you are running a particular application that itself benefits considerably from a striped array, and obviously, our comments do not apply to server-class IO of any sort. But for the vast majority of desktop users and gamers alike, save your money and stay away from RAID-0...."

StorageReview Single Drive vs RAID 0

• "To summarize, RAID 0 offers generally minimal performance gains, significantly increased risk of data loss, and greater cost. That said, it offers the ability to have one large partition using the combined space of your identical drives, and there are situations where the benefit of the benefits outweight the disadvantages. It is your computer: The choice is up to you."

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In the right situation, RAID 0 can be useful, but the majority of desktops will see limited benefits, particularly of the real-world variety (as opposed to benchmarking). That's not meant to dissuade anyone that simply likes to tinker and learn through the hands on approach, but do be cautioned against unrealistic expectations. ;)