Going RAID

[cian1500ww]

I'm planning on going for a RAID 0 setup with two WD 74GB Raptors. I've never used raid before so I presume both drives need to have the same model no. ??? I'll be using my mobos onboard raid controller for the job. Anything else I should be aware of ??

[Cutless009]

Nah you can raid any drives you want together, but theyre performance is going to be bottlenecked by the slowest drive in the raid.

[cian1500ww]

Brilliant mate, so the two don't need to be identical ??? Don't know where I heard that.

[lloyd_mcse]

To answer your question, you just need the same make and same size hard drive, with the same size cache. I've never ran any RAID array with different makes. Nor would I this is your data your talking about. You really want to make sure you get rid of any possible issues :)
Though i did make a mistake and try to make a RAID0 array with 2x 320GB and 1x 500GB thinking they were all 500GBs, it just used the 320GB of the 500GB drive to make the 3rd drive :up:
Once i realised i sorted it.

[cian1500ww]

Ah thanks guys :)

[Eddie3dfx]

Watercooling as well??????

[Cutless009]

They dont even have to be the same size or make, I have a Seagate 720gb mixed in with two WD 500gb drives, and they're running Raid 0 just fine, never had a single hiccup.

[lloyd_mcse]

They dont even have to be the same size or make, I have a Seagate 720gb mixed in with two WD 500gb drives, and they're running Raid 0 just fine, never had a single hiccup.

As i said above you can make a raid array of different sizes BUT they'll all show up as the same size as the smallest drive.
And yes makes shouldn't matter but i wouldn't recommend some one to mix and match if they value their data, plus you probably won't get the same speed with a mix and match. IMHO and i stick to it :up:

To answer the op question model number of raptors will not be an issue, just make sure they have the same amount of cache and same size for optimal performance

EDIT: I love the Enzotech RAM sinks in your build :up:

[Cutless009]

^um, what do you mean they will show as the smallest size HD? Mine show up in Vista 64 as the total size of my raid, and in bios they show as seperate drives with each individual size listed?

[Baleful]

You'll never look back man. I just did my first RAID 0 array and i'm kicking my self for not doing it sooner.

[skinnee]

ugh :fight15: ...I'm about to go Naekuh on your asses.

Mixing different disk sizes for a RAID volume is known as JBOD, it is not true RAID...its a friggin hack job for lazy effers. You can ask Big Daddy, as I know he is in the same line of work I am...knowing RAID is a job requirement.

Want to learn about RAID, start here -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundant_array_of_independent_disks

[Cutless009]

dont look at me, just cuz I cant doesnt mean I do, i match drives when I set up my raids, Ive just set up mixed drive raids in the past :)

[cian1500ww]

Cheers guys thanks, and no Eddie I won't be watercooling them !! Maybe in the future though !

[lloyd_mcse]

^um, what do you mean they will show as the smallest size HD? Mine show up in Vista 64 as the total size of my raid, and in bios they show as seperate drives with each individual size listed?

I accidently tried to make a RAID 0 array with 2x 320GB and 1x 500GB, thinking they were all 320GB. I made the array ok but it only used 320GB of the 500GB so they were the same size. I'm not sure if vista would have installed as i luckily nioticed on reboot.
I only ever use identical drive for RAID ie same make size and size cache :up:

Sorry i didn't explain myself very well, i was getting rather late here :)

[cian1500ww]

I'll be using a second rator 74GB that has a slightly different model no. Hopefully it won't make much of a difference.

[lloyd_mcse]

COOL mate :up:

[grumpy]

ugh :fight15: ...I'm about to go Naekuh on your asses.

Mixing different disk sizes for a RAID volume is known as JBOD, it is not true RAID...its a friggin hack job for lazy effers. You can ask Big Daddy, as I know he is in the same line of work I am...knowing RAID is a job requirement.

Want to learn about RAID, start here -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundant_array_of_independent_disks
I have a question Skinnee . Would there be much of a difference in performance between an intel onboard raid controller and a real raid card for a Raid-0 array?

[skinnee]

Anytime you can offload instructions to an add-in card the better. On board functions mean more RAM and CPU cycles (not just those, but you get my drift) to handle the function(s). Add-in cards have a dedicated processor to handle RAID functions.

In short, yes. You will get better performance out of a PCI-Express RAID card versus on-board.

[Big_Daddy]

Even if you get a cheapo raid card it will help. If you foot the bill and get one of the high end like Areca you'll REALLY see the difference. Cache, battery back up, etc..

[grumpy]

Thanks , i was just wondering. When i went from a 2 drive array to a 3 drive one I got no speed increase in raid 0. I want to try a raid card but i'm trying to get my computer spending under control. :lolsign: