2 HDD's. RAID or Separate?

[C4C]

The title is really all..

I found a 2TB Barracuda LP in the family den room (where my desktop is) and I added it to my setup.

My plan is to run the OS and system programs off the smaller 250GB Barracuda ES.

I know RAID configuration can make drives "faster". Should I take advantage of this potential boost?

 

[Geoff]

Do you have two 2TB drives, or a 2TB and 250GB? If you have just the 2TB and 250GB, don't RAID them, the 2TB will only be able to be used as a 250GB drive in either RAID 0 or RAID 1.

If you have two 2TB drives, it's really up to you, running RAID 0 makes it faster but it comes at the cost of reliability - if one drive fails, you lose everything.

 

[C4C]

Alrighty.. Forgot to include that'd I'd purchase another 2TB to possibly RAID...

I guess it is a reliability thing and knowing that the 2TB has been around for 3-4 years (sitting the past 2) and the 250GB is new, I'll squeeze important documents on the smaller drive and leave downloaded games and disposable files on the larger drive..

 

[Geoff]

Alrighty.. Forgot to include that'd I'd purchase another 2TB to possibly RAID...

I guess it is a reliability thing and knowing that the 2TB has been around for 3-4 years (sitting the past 2) and the 250GB is new, I'll squeeze important documents on the smaller drive and leave downloaded games and disposable files on the larger drive..

How old is the 250GB drive? You most likely will get more performance with having the OS and applications installed on a new 2TB drive that likely has a faster interface and more cache than an old 250GB drive.

 

[C4C]

They're both SATA. I have no idea how old the 250GB is.. Should be a way to find manufacture date on it, right?

 

[porterjw]

Many will have a date code on one of the labels - look carefully as it may not be super obvious. Some don't have anything. Maybe search the serial number on the manufacturer's website if that's at option?

 

[Geoff]

They're both SATA. I have no idea how old the 250GB is.. Should be a way to find manufacture date on it, right?

It could be SATA 1.5Gbps, 3.0Gbps, or 6.0Gbps. My guess is it's SATA 1.5Gbps with an 8 or 16MB cache, not to mention mechanical drives get slower with age and use.

 

[C4C]

They're both SATA 3GB/s but the age of each is unknown. I'll be getting a 250GB SSD in March (birthday ) and will move all the content of the 250GB HDD to it. If all goes well I can still use the larger 2TB drive that has a horrible cache but hasn't been used much (was in a Netgear Stora we never really used)..