Best Drive Setup?

teamhex

teamhex

Active Member
So im building a new box and I need some help on the drive configuration.
I want extremely fast access times.

My original plan was to buy a SSD to run the OS, programs, and games(maybe around 64 gigs). I would then use my old drive as a slave.

But, I started thinking. Should I buy two SSDs and set them up for RAID? Or would one SSD be just as fast? I guess what im asking is, is it worth buying another drive to do this? Price/Performance is a big deal deal to me. If im only getting 5% extra speed out of getting a second then its not worth the money I don't think. Any help in this department?
 
Also suggestions for the model and brands would be helpful as well.
I haven't built a computer in 2-3 years so im lost when it comes to weighting out price/performance.
 
an SSD Raid 0 setup would be really fast but I don't see the need for it. If you stick to one SSD and a good 7200rpm drive you will have great boot times and loads of storage space. I do not know what is usually recommended for SSDs so I'll let someone else do that but for 7200 I would go with WD Caviar Black or a Samsung F3/F4 in whatever capacity you desire.
 
salvage-this said:
an SSD Raid 0 setup would be really fast but I don't see the need for it. If you stick to one SSD and a good 7200rpm drive you will have great boot times and loads of storage space. I do not know what is usually recommended for SSDs so I'll let someone else do that but for 7200 I would go with WD Caviar Black or a Samsung F3/F4 in whatever capacity you desire.
Click to expand...

I want to say moneys not a big deal, but I know these drives get really pricey.
I figure two 32 gig drives in a Raid 0 configuration would be awesome, but I don't know if its worth the extra money. For instance, would it be 50% faster with two in a raid setup or?
 
This might give you a better idea of what kinds of speeds are possible

EVEREST_Disk_Benchmark_ICH10_RAID0.png


Taken from this review

It's won't be exactly double the read and write of a single drive but it will still be a considerable boost in speed.

IMO it is not worth it because you need to wait for your raid drivers to load and there is a greater chance of failure of your raid array. If that still seems worth it to you then by all means go for it.
 
salvage-this said:
This might give you a better idea of what kinds of speeds are possible

EVEREST_Disk_Benchmark_ICH10_RAID0.png


Taken from this review

It's won't be exactly double the read and write of a single drive but it will still be a considerable boost in speed.

IMO it is not worth it because you need to wait for your raid drivers to load and there is a greater chance of failure of your raid array. If that still seems worth it to you then by all means go for it.
Click to expand...

How much more of a failure chance? I do understand that if one fails the whole array is toast, but are these SSD's that unstable?
I am a PC tech(believe it or not) so im sure ill figure it out. From what that chart shows Raid-0 is the way to go. Just reading some of the reviews on these things makes me want to spend the extra money.
If it can do what people are claiming(load to the desktop in insane time, and shutdown even faster), then I want at least 2 setup.
Thanks man.
 
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No Problem. Happy to help :D

teamhex said:
How much more of a failure chance? I do understand that if one fails the whole array is toast, but are these SSD's that unstable?
Click to expand...

Well it would be half as reliable as a single SSD Since you have 2. You are right if one dies the array is lost. As far as I know there is no way to rebuild it on a RAID 0 array.

SSD's are more reliable than your standard HDD. So there is even less chance that you will lose the Array from a bad drive. I would just be sure to take the necessary steps to keep the SSD at the top levels that it can
(TRIM and other settings...) I would be sure only to use them for your OS and maybe other programs that you use all the time. From what I know they it is better for the life of the drive the less that you write to it.

teamhex said:
I am a PC tech(believe it or not) so im sure ill figure it out. From what that chart shows Raid-0 is the way to go. Just reading some of the reviews on these things makes me want to spend the extra money.
If it can do what people are claiming(load to the desktop in insane time, and shutdown even faster), then I want at least 2 setup.
Thanks man.
Click to expand...

RAID 0 does have some crazy speeds. I know that it will boost your boot times considerably but I do not think it will have a dramatic increase on your shutdown time.
 
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salvage-this said:
No Problem. Happy to help :D



Well it would be half as reliable as a single SSD Since you have 2. You are right if one dies the array is lost. As far as I know there is no way to rebuild it on a RAID 0 array.

SSD's are more reliable than your standard HDD. So there is even less chance that you will lose the Array from a bad drive. I would just be sure to take the necessary steps to keep the SSD at the top levels that it can
(TRIM and other settings...) I would be sure only to use them for your OS and maybe other programs that you use all the time. From what I know they it is better for the life of the drive the less that you write to it.



RAID 0 does have some crazy speeds. I know that it will boost your boot times considerably but I do not think it will have a dramatic increase on your shutdown time.
Click to expand...

I guess 2 in a Raid 0 setup it is then! Then ill run my old 750gig slave and get a 1tb external for pictures, ect, ect
 
I'd go for an SSD for OS/Browser/Office programs and two HDD's in RAID1 for redundancy. Maybe some Samsung F3's?
 
linkin said:
I'd go for an SSD for OS/Browser/Office programs and two HDD's in RAID1 for redundancy. Maybe some Samsung F3's?
Click to expand...

Redundancy isn't something I really care about.
I don't have anything on my HD's that im not willing to lose. I just want the fastest boot times and access times possible.
 
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