2HDD's raid options

[allmondjoy87]

so i just built my first computer and ive got 2 640GB hdds. i'm wondering if i should do raid 0/1 or just keep one drive for documents/media and one for OS.

i know a moderate performance boost can be obtained from 0, and alot of backup can be taken from 1. However its also handy to just have all your media on another drive in case something goes hinky w/ the OS and it requires a fresh install. But I feel like 640GB for an OS is a real waste of space. In retrospect i wish i had gotten 3 drives and done 5

i'm looking for a second opinion! anyone?

 

[jevery]

Personally, I'd run two in RAID 0. A 640 GB array drive should be plenty of room for most users, youu'll realize a performance boost, with new drives the chance of a failure are relatively small, and you'll gain some knowledge in the process of setting it up. I ran a four drive 0+1 for a few years before I went to SSDs.

 

[Twist86]

Its a 50/50 really....sure its lower chance of a raid messing up but if you have any kind of stuff on your PC you would die if you lost I would either do your main - slave idea or get a second one and RAID0 the 2 and leave 1 back up storage drive for important documents.

 

[ScOuT]

My advice is not to run a RAID setup.

Modern drives are quick and can move information as fast as you will need it. You may see a few seconds reduced on loading times and information transfer times, but thats it.

What Twist86 said is correct, if you choose a RAID set up, make sure everything is always backed up somewhere. I lost some really important pictues and videos that I can never get back a few years ago.

If you do choose a RAID setup, just throw in an extra hard drive for pictures, music, videos and program files. You can get a nice Western Digital 320GB Blue series drive for like $50 right now.