Hard Drives & OS & RAID

[Mayoo]

Now I am waiting for my DELL XPS9000 which comes with 1TB .. i have the habit of reformat the entire drive to get rid of all the unwanted stuff DELL pre installs .. Now i have two options regarding OS install and i want inputs regarding performance

Option 1. Same Hard Drive 1TB

Partition C:Reformat and partition 100GB for OS, Page File and Program Files
Partition D: 50GB for OS Backup of initial Stage ( Image File. usually i take this after 3weeks of limited use )
Partition E: DATA

Option 1. Two Hard drives

4yrs old 250GB SATAII 7200 RPM
Partition C:Reformat and partition 100GB for OS, Page File and Program Files
Partition D: 50GB for OS Backup of initial Stage ( Image File usually. i take this after 3weeks of limited use )

1TB SATAII 7200 RPM
Partition E: DATA

So will there be any noticable performance improvments by having a dedicated drive just for OS and Programs ?

Any better setup ??

[tritium4ever]

Always install your OS and main apps on your fastest drive, because those are the files you use most often. That automatically rules out option B. Just use your 1TB drive as your main drive, and stick things like movies and music on the old 250GB drive. Media transfers are all sequential reads and even the crappiest old drive has no problems reading fast enough to work with 1080p content.

[GenesisX]

I'd think that it'd be faster running two drives. It'd be faster having information on the outer? part of the disk, and if you install the partitions at the beginning, it should? be faster. I'm not sure if you can RAID for example a 250gb partition from your 1TB HD, and the 250 gb HD, and then leave the 750 for data, but if that's possible, I'd say that that'd be ultra fast =D.

My thoughts:

DISK0 1TB HD || DISK1 250GB HD
- 250 GB DISK 0 PARTITION 1 || RAID 0 || 250 GB DISK 1 PARTITION 1
- 750 GB DISK 0 PARTITION 2

and then see how it works out.

I'm just theorizing, though I'm not sure if it'd work. Hopefully this can give you something to start off of to squeezing every drop of juice out of your rig.

[Mayoo]

thank u both .. i like the raid idea .. but like u said .. can u raid part of the disk space ?

[mr_raider]

thank u both .. i like the raid idea .. but like u said .. can u raid part of the disk space ?

No.

[Mayoo]

thanks .. i think i am going to go with RAID 0

I am going to buy another 1TB and raid 0 them .. ( Question: can i mismatch the brand types ? like 1TB of seagate and 1TB of WD )

I am going keep to the 250GB as a storage of important data as RAID 0 doesnt have data protection ..

Now my question is by putting two brand new HDs into RAID 0, am i increasing the chances of Disk Failure ? or Disk Failure have nothing to do with RAID ??

[tritium4ever]

Now my question is by putting two brand new HDs into RAID 0, am i increasing the chances of Disk Failure ? or Disk Failure have nothing to do with RAID ??

With RAID 0 any single drive failure will kill your data, so the more drives in such an array the greater the risk of data loss. Just do backups of your important data and you'll be fine. This is true regardless of whether or not you're running RAID of any type.

[teleguitar]

RAID 1 is for having a 2nd copy of your drive so good for a backup method?

OP, I would use the 1TB for data and maybe use a RAID 1 system like above.

Ask the more experienced RAID ppl here for confirmation or other ideas.

I would use the 250GB for a 2nd computer or use as the main OS drive if you can't afford another OS drive. If you can buy another one, I would do this, in order of preference or best performance option:
1) buy 60 or 64GB SDD (whichever you can afford as it will be faster than either HDD)
2) buy cheapest Samsung or WD 250 or 320 HDD (320GB is enough for an OS and apps)
Just make sure it is a recent model 7200rpm drive and WD Black or Samsung 7200rpm drives are probably the fastest legacy HDD right now.

Just some suggestions.

[mr_raider]

The platter density of the 1TB drive will win out over any legacy drive he can buy. It will be far faster. Either get an SSD for the OS, or install the OS on the 1TB drive.

As for RAID 0/1, get the computer first. You may find that dell hacked the BIOS and disabled RAID functions to idiot proof their box.

I am not a fan of RAID 0. The speed upgrade is not worth the hassle. RAID 1 is fine if you are doing mission critical stuff, but a it's no substitute for a system of regular back ups. Most platter based drives will go 3-5 years without failing.

[Mayoo]

Thank u all .. I am pretty sure about RAID 0 and 1 is enabled on DELL BIOS .. still i will confirm you when i get it ..

I also googled and found people saying that in order to RAID i need to have same brand, same type, same speed and other same specs .. so i am going to wait for the 1TB which DELL is shipping and gonna get the same from Canada Computers ..

I am gonna then install 250GB as for backup and other important data ..

[Mayoo]

got the machine and man its fast .. now i have only this one or two questions .. it may be stupid but want an answer

By putting two same HD into RAID 0 setup, am i going to ( or increase the chances of ) fail(ing) the drive ?

In another way

Does HD Failure has anything to do with RAID 0 setup ???

RAID Experts pls help me on this ..

[terrybear]

got the machine and man its fast .. now i have only this one or two questions .. it may be stupid but want an answer

By putting two same HD into RAID 0 setup, am i going to ( or increase the chances of ) fail(ing) the drive ?

In another way

Does HD Failure has anything to do with RAID 0 setup ???

RAID Experts pls help me on this ..

I agree with the other posters in your thread, you SHOULD be looking to spend the $ on a 64 gig SSD drive & use the one that came with the pc as a storage/backup drive, you'll see more preformance like this then putting 2 tb drives in raid 0.

Running anything in raid 0 is just as bad as hosting torrents in which your drive becomes affected by " torrent thrashing " I believe the term is. If a hard drive or both fails & you don't have the money to buy replacements your screwed. I am not 100% shure on this but if I remember correctly a not configured right raid 0 setup can also lead to data coruption which would mean repeated reformats & re-setups of your raid array & os.

[Mayoo]

I agree with the other posters in your thread, you SHOULD be looking to spend the $ on a 64 gig SSD drive & use the one that came with the pc as a storage/backup drive, you'll see more preformance like this then putting 2 tb drives in raid 0.

Running anything in raid 0 is just as bad as hosting torrents in which your drive becomes affected by " torrent thrashing " I believe the term is. If a hard drive or both fails & you don't have the money to buy replacements your screwed. I am not 100% shure on this but if I remember correctly a not configured right raid 0 setup can also lead to data coruption which would mean repeated reformats & re-setups of your raid array & os.

Thanks but its kinda over my budget .. currently the HD is going for 89+tax in CC i will stick to RAID 0 for now . i hope this will give me some performance compare to regular setup ..

[terrybear]

Thanks but its kinda over my budget .. currently the HD is going for 89+tax in CC i will stick to RAID 0 for now . i hope this will give me some performance compare to regular setup ..

And you can get a 30-40 gig SSD drive for around the same price.

[supernerd]

Regarding failures with RAID 0: A RAID 0 array of 2 disks will increase the chance of failure by a little less than double (i.e. if a HDD has a 1% chance of failure, then two drives in RAID0 will have a 1.99% chance of failure). If using hardware raid (or more likely fakeraid), the raid controller is an additional spot for failure (although much less often seen).

So, using RAID0 does NOT affect the failure rate of the individual components; however, the reliability of the system, as a whole, does go down.

I am not 100% shure on this but if I remember correctly a not configured right raid 0 setup can also lead to data coruption which would mean repeated reformats & re-setups of your raid array & os.

Your initial set-up either works or it doesnt. There isn't some magical corruption that specifically applies to only RAID. However, you are right in that any failure of a RAID0 system will mean starting from scratch.

can u raid part of the disk space ?

With hardware raid or fakeraid -- no. With software RAID (i.e. LVM in *nux or Windows Dynamic disks) -- yes. However you cannot boot a software RAID0 disk.

RAID 1 is for having a 2nd copy of your drive so good for a backup method?

kinda, but this is more important to remember:

RAID 1 is fine if you are doing mission critical stuff, but a it's no substitute for a system of regular back ups.

+1!!! RAID1 is not a substitute for a back up. RAID1 is for redundancy -- one disk fails, the other still works. Backups are for backups -- you or a virus deletes your personal photo collection, you go to your backup.

And you can get a 30-40 gig SSD drive for around the same price ($90)

Given the state of the technology, I personally avoid buying these ultra low-end SSDs. There's a reason why the Intel X25 or OCZ Vertex are 50% more expensive.

I also googled and found people saying that in order to RAID i need to have same brand, same type, same speed and other same specs

It is not a requirement. For the best chance at better performance, it is recommended though.

.. so i am going to wait for the 1TB which DELL is shipping and gonna get the same from Canada Computers ..
I am gonna then install 250GB as for backup and other important data ..

That is a reasonable solution. Just my 2cents, personally, I'd go find a cheap 250GB on RFD, RAID0 that with your old drive, and then run frequent backups onto your 1TB (as well, your 1TB would be used to hold data such as documents, movies, music, etc). My personal experience with literally hundreds of drives is that if a drive is going to die, it'll die when it's fairly new, or REALLY old and infrequently used... Plus, your 2 x 250GB RAID0 drive can be fully backed up onto your 1TB. The other way around does not work.