Adding a 2nd SSD: RAID or not?

[Okcookienc]

Hey community,
I recently purchased a second Crucial M4 128Gb SSD. I currently have Windows 7 installed on my first M4, along with several games. My data and my user documents (My Docs, My Pics, My Vids, etc.) are all stored on my 1Tb Seagate.

The question is: should I go ahead and put the 2 SSDs in RAID 0 for the performance boost? I don't want to have to reinstall Windows and all my games, so the only option I will consider is imagining my C: drive, installing the second card, going into RAID and then cloning the image to the RAID array.

I've heard this can be tricky. I've found a workaround here:
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?72309-How-to-switch-to-RAID-0-without-reinstalling!

What do you all think? The plan for the second drive (if I don't RAID) would be to only install games and apps on it. I bought it because I'm running out of space on C:. Anyway, is it worth it? Is it risky? What do you guys recommend?

 

[kajabla]

Personally, I'd go with more space. The performance would be impressive, but SSD over HDD is such a huge boost that putting more stuff on it (apps!) would be very effective.

 

[geofelt]

You will not get any noticeable performance boost by raiding two ssd's in raid-0.
I know, I tried it. Sequential benchmarks will look impressive, but that is not what we normally do.
My objective was to get a larger image for the "C" drive, and it worked ok, but you lose trim which will be a negative for performance.
It turned out that replacing my ssd with a larger one was just as effective.

IN your case, Just install the second ssd as a normal drive and put your overflow or whatever on it.

 

[inzone]

The one drawback with raid is that if one of the drives goes bad then you loose everything, The two SSD's you have are sata3? If so than they are much faster by a wide margin than the hdd , so a consideration is one SSD for the OS nad the second for games and apps. So as not to waste space the current game you are playing could be on C drive and the rest on the other SSD and the deep storage on the hdd. I guess it comes down to what you want to do because you can go either way.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Do you do anything with your computer that requires a RAID array?

 

[Okcookienc]

I want to thank you guys for talking me out of using RAID. I was feeling inclined to do it because of the benchmark increases and I was hoping to see Windows boot faster, but the risk with RAID 0 just isn't worth it. Also, I really don't need RAID. So, I'll probably just put overflow programs on the 2nd SSD and of course all data on the HDD.

 

[assasin32]

Personally if I went the SSD route I use that for the OS and primary programs, than have a normal hard drive dedicated to games because in my case those are the ones which take up the most HD space. Because with games what generally happens is we load things level by level, and as long as you keep it defrag the difference from that and a SSD shouldn't be big or very noticeable if at all.

Just another way to do things, which may or may not work for you depending on your setup and tastes.

 

[joe_newbuilder]

I want to thank you guys for talking me out of using RAID. I was feeling inclined to do it because of the benchmark increases and I was hoping to see Windows boot faster, but the risk with RAID 0 just isn't worth it. Also, I really don't need RAID. So, I'll probably just put overflow programs on the 2nd SSD and of course all data on the HDD.

If you are doing things right there is no increased risk with a RAID in 0 or not. You should be running frequent backups. If you are REALLY worried run daily back ups. If you keep your data and setings, on the HDD and your apps/ OS on the SSD you will only have 'risky' data on the smaller, easier to back up drive.

Compared to the risk of a virus or deleting a file by accident the risk of an SSD dying is small. If you are an enthusiast you need to back up your stuff anyway. Who knows the next time a demanding game or a new overclock will make your system go poof. These are actually the reasons I don't run redundant raid it won't protect against any of that.

I say try it out and see how it goes. You got the drives. Back up your c: drive make a raid and restore your system to it.

 

[kajabla]

^That is true. The stability of RAID isn't really an issue. As we've seen, though, budget alone is a reason to go for more SSD space over a RAID setup. Also, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96dWOEa4Djs

Personally if I went the SSD route I use that for the OS and primary programs, than have a normal hard drive dedicated to games because in my case those are the ones which take up the most HD space. Because with games what generally happens is we load things level by level, and as long as you keep it defrag the difference from that and a SSD shouldn't be big or very noticeable if at all.

Just another way to do things, which may or may not work for you depending on your setup and tastes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vd-R44d6i0 shows that the level loading difference really is quite significant (just saying). 24s vs 1:10 in that example.

 

[assasin32]

^That is true. The stability of RAID isn't really an issue. As we've seen, though, budget alone is a reason to go for more SSD space over a RAID setup. Also, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96dWOEa4Djs


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vd-R44d6i0 shows that the level loading difference really is quite significant (just saying). 24s vs 1:10 in that example.

Not going to discount that there is a difference, but it shouldn't be that big (huge infact) of a difference if were talking a good hard drive that's not fragmented. So I am wondering if he pitted an old hard drive vs a new SSD.

 

[kajabla]

Don't know, wasn't me! Many people do put their games on SSDs, though.