NVME boot raid safe?

[Rehmanpa]

So as far as I can tell, currently unless you have x299 or soon to also include x399, you cannot boot off of an nvme ssd raid (maybe I'm wrong idk). What are the advantages of doing this? From what I've heard, and maybe you guys here on the storage forum could correct me if I'm completely incorrect, but that nvme ssds have more failure issues (I'm just looking at warranties and a 960 pro vs 850 pro has a big warranty difference)?

Would running two 960 evos in a raid 0 (is raid zero stripped, or is it mirrored?) Be safe for data storage? I think if I remember correctly that striping doubles your drive arrays performance, meaning I would have like 6000 MB/s of read speed or something? I really would love faster speeds, just don't want to lose all my data. If they're pretty reliable drives I probably wouldn't worry too much, just wanted to see what you guys thought about that (and maybe correct my crappy knowledge on raid while your at it ).

 

[newtekie1]

RAID 0 is not safe, it has no redundancy and when one drive dies you lose everything on both drives.

 

[Rehmanpa]

RAID 0 is not safe, it has not redundancy and when one drive dies you lose everything on both drives.

Am I correct though when I say that it doubles the performance of the array though?
On a side note I seem to remember a raid where it stripes 2 drives and the third drive is used for redundancy. Which raid is that?

 

[Kursah]

Am I correct though when I say that it doubles the performance of the array though?
On a side note I seem to remember a raid where it stripes 2 drives and the third drive is used for redundancy. Which raid is that?

It is theoretical performance, you will see increased performance...whether it is 10% or 100% over depends on various factors.

RAID1 is mirrored, no performance increase but you have redundancy as both drives contain the exact same data...depending on the source of the RAID this can provide a sight performance deficit, if that would be real-world noticeable on NVME, I doubt.

RAID0 is striped, and aimed at only performance with a huge risk of data loss with only one drive failing causing the entire RAID array to lose data integrity. IMHO the risk isn't worth it if the data is important or you aren't backing up the data on that array. A single NVME is already fast enough IMHO. I'd go RAID1 if I had two of them, or just get one and run backups (what I do now...except my SSD's are all SATA...).

To each their own though, some feel a RAID0 SSD setup for the OS/Boot drive is almost a necessity.

 

[newtekie1]

Am I correct though when I say that it doubles the performance of the array though?

In theory. The sequential read and write speeds will go up, however there are cases where the latency will go up too. So random read/write speeds will be lower, and OS drives will actually feel slower this way.

On a side note I seem to remember a raid where it stripes 2 drives and the third drive is used for redundancy. Which raid is that?

None that I know. The common RAID versions are 0, 1, 5, 6, 10.

RAID0 = Striping with no redunancy
RAID1 = Mirroring
RAID5 = Parity(This uses a minimum of 3 drives, and one drive can fail and you still keep your data, but it does not use striping and is one of the slower forms of RAID due to the parity calculations)
RAID6 = RAID5 but uses 2 drives for parity
RAID10 = Two RAID1 arrays that are then striped.

There are bunch of other versions of RAID, but they aren't really used, and most RAID controllers don't even support them.

 

[Rehmanpa]

It is theoretical performance, you will see increased performance...whether it is 10% or 100% over depends on various factors.

RAID1 is mirrored, no performance increase but you have redundancy as both drives contain the exact same data...depending on the source of the RAID this can provide a sight performance deficit, if that would be real-world noticeable on NVME, I doubt.

RAID0 is striped, and aimed at only performance with a huge risk of data loss with only one drive failing causing the entire RAID array to lose data integrity. IMHO the risk isn't worth it if the data is important or you aren't backing up the data on that array. A single NVME is already fast enough IMHO. I'd go RAID1 if I had two of them, or just get one and run backups (what I do now...except my SSD's are all SATA...).

To each their own though, some feel a RAID0 SSD setup for the OS/Boot drive is almost a necessity.

Is there a way to take the nvme drive and mirror it on a mechanical hard drive without it causing huge bottlenecks/slowdowns? Or would that just be a I do a backup weekly of the drive to the mechanical disk?

What about raid 1+0? Isn't that two drives stripped with 1 redundant drive, or am I mistaken on that?

In theory. The sequential read and write speeds will go up, however there are cases where the latency will go up too. So random read/write speeds will be lower, and OS drives will actually feel slower this way.



None that I know. The common RAID versions are 0, 1, 5, 6, 10.

RAID0 = Striping with no redunancy
RAID1 = Mirroring
RAID5 = Parity(This uses a minimum of 3 drives, and one drive can fail and you still keep your data, but it does not use striping and is one of the slower forms of RAID due to the parity calculations)
RAID5 = RAID5 but uses 2 drives for parity
RAID10 = Two RAID1 arrays that are then striped.

There are bunch of other versions of RAID, but they aren't really used, and most RAID controllers don't even support them.

So basically I need a 960 evo raid 10 for both speed and redundancy?

 

[Kursah]

Is there a way to take the nvme drive and mirror it on a mechanical hard drive without it causing huge bottlenecks/slowdowns? Or would that just be a I do a backup weekly of the drive to the mechanical disk?

What about raid 1+0? Isn't that two drives stripped with 1 redundant drive, or am I mistaken on that?

Please don't double post. You can use the MultiQuote feature on the forums. It's the rules. I edited your previous responses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nested_RAID_levels

RAID 1+0 is akin to RAID10, which is two RAID0 arrays nested in a RAID1 array.

You could use Windows backup, Macrium Reflect Free, or another option to run a daily, weekly, monthly backup image of your OS drive or array. Just remember, what changes between backups won't be saved if you don't make it to the next scheduled backup cycle before something fails. Depending on how important the data is that goes on that drive that may or may not be a determining factor.

 

[qubit]

RAID 0 is not safe, it has no redundancy and when one drive dies you lose everything on both drives.

I saw a YouTube video once of 6 or 7 SSDs in RAID 0. It was just a lash-up, not a permanent installation. They tested it and the performance was mindblowing. Everything happened instantly!

And yeah, of course +1 on RAID 0 being unsafe.

 

[Rehmanpa]

Dang. Sounds epic. Idk if the drives are as reliable as like 850 pros then I wouldn't worry about raid 0ing them but if they're unreliable then I guess raid 1 is the way to go, or raid 0 and backups on a physical hdd. Wonder if that would be the easiest way to do it.