Hardware or Software RAID 1? What best fit for my need?

[deep1234]

Hi guys, currently I have a machines with these spects below which is running as a server with Windows Server 2012 R2 Std:-

Intel Core2Duo E6750

Asus Commando

4 GB

500 GB X 2 (In RAID 1)

As I meantioned above, the system is currently running in RAID 1 throw the hardware configration. What I am worried about is since this motherboard is old if would be extremly difficult for me to find another motherboard that has the same configration to start the hard drives with it again. With this thought I am starting to think that it would be better for me to switch from the hardware to the software RAID 1 since it will be not throw the hardware and easy for me to start again incase of hardware failer.

Please advise me and tell me what you think before I decide.

Thank,

[+Fahim S. MVC]

Intel RST isn't hardware RAID. And isn't this a good reason to have a backup?

[farmeunit]

Software RAID isn't really any more reliable. As .fahim mentioned, on consumer boards, the RAID isn't really as good as a "server" array or a good RAID card.

[Farstrider]

I'm quoting this but have long held the view that "software" raid is actually better than so called "hardware raid"!

It?s a commonly held myth that hardware RAID is unconditionally better than software RAID. That claim is not true in all cases and is particularly wrong at the low end.

There is no "hardware" RAID. RAID systems are computers running code. All RAID is software RAID. The real issue is where the RAID code is running. In hardware RAID it is running on a dedicated processor. In software RAID it is running on the system processor.

Cheap hardware RAID doesn?t have write-back caching and therefore can?t give any significant performance benefit over software RAID. Note that there are different options for how RAID stripes are laid out which can affect performance, so if a cheap hardware RAID device gives any significant performance benefit over software RAID then it?s probably due to where the blocks happen to be stored working well with your filesystem. Which is of course a benefit you could get from tuning software RAID.

The Mythical CPU Benefits of Hardware RAID:

It?s widely regarded that hardware RAID is faster due to taking the processing away from the CPU. But the truth is that for at least the last 10 years CPUs have been fast enough and in fact it?s often the case that RAID controllers are the bottleneck.

[farmeunit]

CPU benefits aside, if your OS crashes, hardware RAID will have a better chance at retaining data integrity than software.

[+LogicalApex MVC]

CPU benefits aside, if your OS crashes, hardware RAID will have a better chance at retaining data integrity than software.

Precisely this. In a software RAID setup you're dependent on the drivers and software alone whereas a hardware server level RAID card is engineered and tested for reliability.

[+BudMan MVC]

"2012 R2 Std"

Really R2 -- when did that come out ;)

Booting off a software raid comes with its own issues btw. Sure if you want to mirror some data partitions, that's pretty straight forward - but actually booting off a software mirror that is done in the OS your booting bit more difficult ;)

[streetw0lf]

Keep in mind that if you use software to create a RAID environment you probably won't be able to access your drives when you boot from some other media like a CD or USB drive. This can really cause havoc if you store you backup files and/or disk images on the software RAID. When the time comes and you need to restore a drive, especially your boot/system drive, you find out that your backups are nowhere to be found. A hardware RAID doesn't have this problem.

[Vlad]

I'm quoting this but have long held the view that "software" raid is actually better than so called "hardware raid"!

"It?s a commonly held myth that hardware RAID is unconditionally better than software RAID. That claim is not true in all cases and is particularly wrong at the low end."

You seem to be reading a lot of FUD. I actually addressed a lot of this back in 2009. Of course that statement isn't true in all cases - if you can't afford hardware RAID, it's not true. If you don't need hardware RAID, it's not true. It's great if your CPU can achieve 3 GB/s of ECC calculations - unless you need that memory bandwidth and CPU cycles to actually do something useful. But if all a system does is store data, then it is useful.

"Real" hardware RAID controllers perform the ECC calculations in dedicated hardware. "Real" hardware RAID controllers leverage hardware, firmware, and software to deliver features that will be unmatched in software RAID. A reasonable analogy for a layperson is dedicated vs. onboard (now onchip) graphics. Sure, onboard will give you a desktop, but dedicated will give you gaming!

Also, you're going to need drivers for hardware RAID cards just like you're going to need drivers for software RAID arrays. Drivers for hardware have just been historically easier to come by, but any Linux rescue CD worth the CD it's burned on should be able to activate and mount (if nothing else, read only) your fakeraid/software/hardware RAID arrays.

Sounds like what you need is something cheap, so either fakeraid or software RAID will be a good choice for you. Just be sure that you:

1. Document your configuration

2. Have a recovery procedure in the event a disk fails

3. Have a spare hard drive on hand or as a hot spare (preferably more than one)

4. Periodically verify the array to ensure the contents are correct

5. Perform regular, safe, and secure backups

[Japlabot]

With a RAID 1 it doesn't matter which hardware/onboard RAID controller you use because both disks are EXACTLY THE SAME, you can freely move between any controller.

WITH RAID 1 in WINDOWS, this is a real PITA. You will need to convert to Dynamic Disk. Dynamic Disk is not a common setup and if you need to use some 3rd Party Tools to repair your Windows installation then your options are going to be very limited in what you can do.

Above all else, BACKUP. RAID is not a replacement for a backup and only a BACKUP will save your ass, a RAID will only get you keep you running temporarily until you replace a broken drive but it does not save you from anything else.