Internal vs External Raid0 and 5 cards

[Cyber Akuma]

Never setup a RAID system before, and what I want to do is a little on the unorthadox side. I am planning to setup the OS drive as RAID0 with SSDs and the storage to be RAID5 HDDs. The RAID5 isn't really going to be a problem, but I have a lot of questions about the RAID0.

First of all, the whole point of the RAID0 is read/write performance above all else, and the RAID5 for redundancy and fault tolerance. Would I then be better off getting a seperate card for the RAID0 array rather than use the motherboard's built-in RAID0? And if so, I would like to avoid if possible having two seperate RAID cards, are there any good cards that can handle both a seperate RAID0 and RAID5 array at the same time? And if so, would the performance of the RAID0 suffer?

I also know that Intel only a few months ago released an update to support TRIM over RAID0 on some of their motherboards, do any of the 3rd party RAID cards suppot TRIM over RAID0 yet? And is TRIM only used to increase the efficency and lifespan of the SSD, or does it improve performance as well?

Come to think of it, what are even some good brands of RAID cards that don't cost something ridiculous? All I get when searching Newegg are brands that I know are total junk like Rosewill or SYBA.

(P.S. Would I need PCI-E for the 0 or 5? Or would plain PCI be fast enough?)

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

For a RAID0, you need two drives. For RAID5, you need three drives.

A RAID card can do multiple RAIDs at a time.

What motherboard do you have? Most of them have just 2 or 3 RAID ports.

TRIM is only used by SSD's.

Get this: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16816124043

With RAID0 (2 drives) and RAID5 (3 drives)

PCI or PCI-e works about the same.

[Xenomorph]

RAID0 (or "Suicide RAID") isn't really meant for your OS. It's more for a scratch drive, temp files, cache, etc. Stuff you 100% can do without. RAID0 increases your risk of data loss. Why would you want to run your OS on that???

For maximum uptime, multiple controllers are recommended. I'm guessing this isn't for a business system, just personal. A single card handling two RAID configurations is fine. Just remember that your CPU will be doing extra work (unless you get a "true", hardware, dedicated RAID card), so watch out if you have an older CPU.

PCI will limit you to way less than SATA II speeds. You want PCI-E or onboard (which should be PCI-E).

If you want the best (since you didn't mention OS), go with ZFS! RAID1 (2 drives) for your OS, and a RAID1 (2 drives), RAIDZ setup (3 drives) or RAID10 or RAIDZ2 setup (four drives) for your data.

Way more reliable and quicker than traditional RAID.

[+BudMan MVC]

"RAID0 increases your risk of data loss. Why would you want to run your OS on that???"

Because its an OS - and there is no "DATA" to be lost with an OS. I would just reinstall or restore my last bare metal image image of my last backup. Time lost maybe what 30 minutes.

Unless this is a mission critical OS that can not go down on a drive failure, then raid 0 is fine for an OS. Since again there is nothing loss with a OS drive loss.

[FiB3R]

Something to consider instead of the RAID5 setup... http://www.flexraid.com

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Isn't that a software RAID or "fake RAID"? Looks like it.

[Cyber Akuma]

Sorry, I could have sworn I mentioned it in my initial post, guess I forgot.

I am planning to make the RAID0 array out of two SSDs and load my os, apps, and games on there.

And the RAID5 will be for storage and large files, which will be made up of four HDDs. Mostly disk images, video, etc. Typically non-executable data that doesn't need fast access times.

Practically nothing important that can't easily be re-installed/re-downloaded will be on the 0, plus its SSD, so any risks of data loss on it would be minimal, I want it purely for the performance gains.

And yes, its for a personal gaming/all-purpose rig, so performance for 0 and redundancy/fault-tolerance for 5 is the main importance, not uptime.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Any RAID with SSD's is a 50/50 chance. If you want to install games, use a seperate platter drive.

[Cyber Akuma]

Like I said, the RAID0 with SSDs will have nothing irreplaceable on it, I want it for speed, not reliability.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

IIRC, you don't gain double speed when you RAID anything.

[n_K]

RAID0 doesn't double speed but it does increase it. You could just get a OCZ Revodrive which has a SSD RAID0 setup anyway.

In terms of RAID5 and the 'pci, pci-express does not make a difference' !? WHAT!? PCI has a theoretical maximum of 133MB/s transfer rate compared to up to 16GB/s with PCI-Express. For RAID, THAT DIFFERENCE IS HUGE!

DO NOT get a PCI raid card unless you are SURE the drives you are using are slow and old and you do not care about transferring taking a long time.

[Cyber Akuma]

Looked up the RevoDrives, they are full of 1 out of 5 reviews on Newegg about them constantly failing after a few months, as well as costing more than just setting up a RAID0 would cost.

[FiB3R]

Isn't that a software RAID or "fake RAID"? Looks like it.

Yes it is, and that has it's advantages.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Looked up the RevoDrives, they are full of 1 out of 5 reviews on Newegg about them constantly failing after a few months, as well as costing more than just setting up a RAID0 would cost.

Never trust Newegg reviews. Get professional reviews.

[pes2013]

Are some people posting on drugs or something?

First, if you are getting a RAID card, PCI-E. Don't even think about PCI. I don't even think there are new PCI RAID cards.

New and good (see below) RAID cards all support TRIM.

About above, if you can afford it, buy a hardware RAID card. Software RAID cards, although cheaper, will make you lose performance. I personally got a software RAID card for a (storage only) RAID5 and for now, it is more than enough for me.

And you are correct on putting non essential data (OS, apps, etc) on a RAID0. You WILL see a huge increase with SDD+Dedicated hardware RAID0 card+PCI-E. I think this cannot be stressed enough.

If I were you, Id use two seperete RAID controllers: One for your RAID5 another for your RAID0. Which on which is sketchy and depends what your hardware/software supports. Id put the RAID0 on the crappiest, featureless, slowest, etc controller you have since it is "not important". Also remember that most people do NOT consider RAID5 as a backup solution so yes, you will have a huge RAID5 but backing it up is a bitch...

[Cyber Akuma]

I was talking to a few people and was told that no RAID cards support TRIM over 0, only the internal RAIDs on Intel 7 series motherboards, and that there would be very little performance difference between motherboard RAID 0 on SSD and a RAID card for RAID0 on SSD. So I guess I will have to look for a mobo with the 7-series chipset and use the card just for RAID5.

[Lord Method Man]

RAID0 (or "Suicide RAID") isn't really meant for your OS. It's more for a scratch drive, temp files, cache, etc. Stuff you 100% can do without. RAID0 increases your risk of data loss. Why would you want to run your OS on that???

180 degrees out of whack. I can easliy reinstall my OS. I use RAID 0 for performance which is why I install the OS and programs on it. DATA is stored on a RAID 5 for integrity.