RAID question

[Mongrel]

Hello forum
I am building a PC with 2 Samsung SpinPoint T HD400LD 400GB ATA-100 8MB Cache - OEM Hard drives in RAID configuration.
I hear this makes things quicker when reading from and writing to the drives, which is always good. And I was recommended this type of hard drive as being really sweet...
Question: Do I need a PCI card to RAID configure them? Or is there a software solution to keep power consumption and costs?
Basically I just want to do it because it sounds cool, no idea if it's difficult or not, or indeed is it really even WORTH it? Are there noticeable performance gains or is my money better off being spent on other bits?
Thanks in advance

 

[papercut]

yeah you need to get a PCI card for raid, and don't use software solution. By the way i'd advice you to buy SATA drives in this case you won't need to buy a PCI Raid controller, just use onboard one(most of MoBos have such nowadays.)

 

[Mongrel]

I could go with SATA - thanks for the tip...

But is it worth it though? Is there a decent performance gain?

 

[muckshifter]

RAID for a home user is, in my opinion, a waste of money ... you really do need to do a little more reading in what RAID actually is designed for.


If you are going to build a "Server" then I suggest you get 4 HDs and implement a "proper" RAID array.

Bottom line is, if set-up correctly, you will get, depending on which "array" you opt for, an improved performance or not.

There is a little more to RAID than bunging 2 HDs together.

I "think" the reason the MB manufactures implement on-board RAID is it sounds "cool" and more to do with a sales figures than really being useful to the home user.

SATA II drives are not technically faster, as in the spindle speed, but can potentially transfer data @ 350mb/s as opposed to IDE 100 ... it's a numbers game.

 

[Mongrel]

Interesting - I reckon I'm gonna keep costs down then and fork out on a better graphics card instead... Thanks for the advice guys.

 

[floppybootstomp]

I actually think a RAID 0 setup is beneficial.

But unless you use Raptor hard disks then the performance hit is only slight.

The Raptors rotate at 10,000 rpm rather than the usual 7200 rpm.

To recap, most motherboards will have a RAID controller and the manual will explain how to set up a RAID array.

If the board doesn't have a RAID controller, yes, you'll need a seperate PCI card.

Faster still would be a SCSI RAID 0 setup, but then you're talking serious money.

And the RAID system you're referring to is RAID 0, where two disks work together as one.

The most common other form of RAID is a RAID 1, where a second disk permanently backs up the first one, for security in case of disk failure.

And as Mucks mentioned with a 4 disk setup you can have the best of both worlds with RAID 0 + RAID 1.

Another factor to consider is if you're using two hard disks as one, you have twice as much chance of a hard disk failure as if one disk goes wrong, you'll lose all the contents of your main drive.