Raid stuff?

Bigshow1030

Bigshow1030

New Member
Would someone please take the time to explain this raid stuff to me.....got it on my motherboard but I don't have clue one what it is or what it is used for? Really would appreciate some help!
Thanks, :)
 
magicman

magicman

VIP Member
For raid you need two hard drives. There are two types of raid which either act as a mirror or backup or a "split" of data equally between each hard drive.

Raid 0 = Each piece of data is split in half and written to each drive
Raid 1 = The contents of one drive are duplicated onto the other as a form of backup

Hope this helps
 
Bigshow1030

Bigshow1030

New Member
somewhat understand

why would you want to use it as a back-up persay.....I thought it was used for a quicker link....like ieee1394 as opposed to usb... What would be the benefit honestly of using it because i Know alot of guys are doing it.?
 
SFR

SFR

Truth fears no questions
Bigshow1030 said:
why would you want to use it as a back-up persay.....I thought it was used for a quicker link....like ieee1394 as opposed to usb... What would be the benefit honestly of using it because i Know alot of guys are doing it.?
Click to expand...

"True" Raid means it is fault tolerant. Raid 0 is not fault tolerant, one drive malfunctions and data on both drives can become corrupt.

If you have ever had a HDD fail on you, it sucks! If you did not properly backup everything... the situation quickly turns into a nightmare!!

Backing up is VERY important because every HDD has a limited lifespan, and at some point it will no longer work. Having 2 HDD with the same contents is a step in the right direction when it comes to keeping your information safe from HDD failure.
 
magicman

magicman

VIP Member
Using Raid 0 speeds up file accessing becuase each hard drive is having to do half of the work. In practice the speed increase isn't quite 2x but it's about 1.6x ish.

Raid 1 is only really useful if you're wanting to backup large amounts of data with the backup being always updated. Useful for businesses. Not so much so for home use in my opinion.
 
R

rars222

New Member
So how do I tell how my machine is set up with RAID. I looked in device manager and the Raid controller says "function 0". Does that mean it's RAID 0?

I never really paid that much attention to it:)
 
Praetor

Praetor

Administrator
Staff member
Function 0 prolly refers to raid 0. Personally i find hardware RAID configs to be a lot better than software ones tho
 
R

rars222

New Member
Meaning? Maybe explain the difference to all of us wanting to learn more:)

FYI: My current business computer was built for me by a local company and I purchased it in '01, so I am not sure how it was configured. I just know it's configured with RAID (2 60 gig drives) and a 3rd 2nd boot drive (from my old business computer). I am thinking of cleaning house in the case and nixing the 3rd HD (it's only 8 gigs).

I currently have an 845WN mobo
intel P4 1.4 (400 fsb 512 cache) - just bought a P4 2.4 400 fsb on Ebay
1 gig PC 133 Ram
2 60 gig HD's (RAID)


Praetor, what do you do with all of that storage?! 4 160 gb HDs! What kind of case are you packing?
 
R

rars222

New Member
I do know my computer also has a PCI Raid Card. I can see the RAID devices plugged into it via a ribbon cable. Is that what you refer to as Hardware?
 
Bigshow1030

Bigshow1030

New Member
Interesting...

I am assuming that he is talking about a raid controller when he is meaning hardware I think.....I too would like to learn alot more about this particular area :)
 
Praetor

Praetor

Administrator
Staff member
Meaning? Maybe explain the difference to all of us wanting to learn more
Click to expand...
Meaning exactly what I said :p (it was just an opinion). Software RAID, IMO is crummy (this follows naturally from the fact that software RAID simply tries to emulate hardware RAID)

Praetor, what do you do with all of that storage?! 4 160 gb HDs!
Click to expand...
I hold files that I immediately use on it. Long term storage gets off'd to the NAS

What kind of case are you packing?
Click to expand...
From time to time a Chenming 602, Chenming 901 and sometimes Stack-A-Shelf-Black-Steel-5-Shelf

I do know my computer also has a PCI Raid Card. I can see the RAID devices plugged into it via a ribbon cable. Is that what you refer to as Hardware?
Click to expand...
If in fact it is a RAID controller and not a ATA150 card than yes.

There are actually 5 different Raids. But 3-5 resemble 2
Click to expand...
1. Only 5?
2. RAID2 is a terribly unideal choice (the fact that no major commercial products exists for it speaks volumes)

For those that have expressed an interest in learning more about what each RAID level constitutes, refer to post #6
 
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