RAID 0 Questions

[Pinchy]

Im thinking of getting a new 250GB Hard disk, mainly because I want a lot of space to store my music/dvd's/games/etc.

Obviously, I would RAID 0 them, due to the fact that it is the fastest RAID (correct me if im wrong, i dont know much/anything about RAID)

Anyways, I have a couple of questions about the whole 'RAID' thing

1) Does cache matter? Ive currently got a 16mb cache drive, would it matter if i got an 8mb drive? Or would the cache merge?
2) Is setting it up as simple as plugging the second drive in and enabling it in BIOS and installing the drivers? Or do i need to plug the hard drives into a different spot on the motherboard?
3) Would the hard drives come up as seperate drives in windows, or one "500GB drive"?
4) Is there really a double the speed increase or close to double? Like would i see loading times decrease by 50%?

Answer whatever you can

Thanks in advanced

[regan1985]

i didnt really notice a difference about 10percent faster i would say!

your driver will be 500g if you raid two 250 but u can partition!

16mb cache is better i was told but u will notice in tests that burst speeds tend 2 be lower

[DRDNA]

If you are going with 2x250GB raid-0 then I would recomend trying these>>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148142
they are
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250820AS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

I have been reading running these in raid-0 are comparable to running two raptors in raid-0

YES IT WILL BE 500gb IN RAID-0

PS i just ordered two to check out the (Perpendicular Recording) !!Also they come with 5 year warranty

[regan1985]

Originally Posted by DRDNA

If you are going with 2x250GB raid-0 then I would recomend trying these>>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148142
they are
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250820AS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

I have been reading running these in raid-0 are comparable to running two raptors in raid-0

YES IT WILL BE 500gb IN RAID-0

PS i just ordered two to check out the (Perpendicular Recording) !!Also they come with 5 year warranty

they are pritty much the best sata drivers u can get cheap

[Pinchy]

Ive already got one of them, but with 16mb cache.

I just need the second one & i cant buy from Newegg

Whats the Perpendicular Recording? Never heard of it.

[DRDNA]

4) Is there really a double the speed increase or close to double? Like would i see loading times decrease by 50%?
Well when I ran 1x raptor I would see the Xp loading screen make three full passes , when I built the raid-0 array with the raptors i did not even get to see the full travling bar at all and windows was loaded...WAY WAY faster !!! Night and Day difference!!! A difference that will be as noticable as black is to white or up is to down

[DRDNA]

Originally Posted by Pinchy

Ive already got one of them, but with 16mb cache.

I just need the second one

& i cant buy from Newegg

Whats the Perpendicular Recording? Never heard of it.

whay cant you buy from newegg???
Perpendicular Recording is new way of laying the data onto the platter , can fit more data into a smaller area giving more room for data on the platter and also faster at getting to the data.

[Pinchy]

Im in Australia, they dont ship here

Originally Posted by DRDNA

4) Is there really a double the speed increase or close to double? Like would i see loading times decrease by 50%?
Well when I ran 1x raptor I would see the Xp loading screen make three full passes , when I built the raid-0 array with the raptors i did not even get to see the full travling bar at all and windows was loaded...WAY WAY faster !!! Night and Day difference!!! A difference that will be as noticable as black is to white or up is to down

Whoa that sounds kewl

[DRDNA]

well maybe you should call some of your local PC shops and see if they have any or could possibly order you one.

[Pinchy]

Im looking @ eBay

Maxtor III looks good.

Thanks for answering the questions guys, just the last thing, 2) Is setting it up as simple as plugging the second drive in and enabling it in BIOS and installing the drivers? Or do i need to plug the hard drives into a different spot on the motherboard?

[DRDNA]

you will probably have to reload windows from start because of the raid driver ! the raid driver needs to be installed when your installing windows if you want to boot from the array....There maybe a way around this , but I don't know of any .
If you already have an array i know you can ghost it to a single and then ghost back to an array ...So if you did indeed add the raid driver when you installed windows on the single then maybe you can ghost to another single and set up your array then ghost back from the single to the array.

[Pinchy]

Nope, i didnt install the RAID driver at the start because i never thought i would use it...

[DRDNA]

then you will more than probably have to reinstall windows

[Pinchy]

....damn i wasnt expecting that

How about the ports, do i just plug the new drive into SATA 2 and leave the other one in SATA 1, or do i plug them into "RAID" ports? (on the motherboard)

[DRDNA]

Not sure about your mobo , but normally you just plug the 2nd drive into the next sata and enable raid in bios then go into raid menue after bios menue and build the array , then you can lay the system down and install raid driver at f6....good luck m8 you will be fine...back up your save game files so you can stay happy

[Pinchy]

lmao!

Thanks for all the help

Well, when/if i get the second drive and im having troubles, ill know where to come

[DRDNA]

No problem m8 , lots of knowledge here at TPU

[Pinchy]

Just a thought, If i was to get 6 SATA hard drives (as much as my mobo supports), would i be able to RAID them all up and get the speed of 6 HDD's at once ?

[Pinchy]

And another thing, what is RAID 0+1. I know what RAID 0 is, i dont know much about RAID 1...so what is RAID 0+1 ? (I noticed my mobo supports it)

Sorry about the double post...its like a "bump"