[SOLVED] Can you have 2 different RAIDs on one PC without a raid controler?

Jun 5, 2020
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Can you have 2 seperate RAIDs running on a system without a Raid Controller? I want all 4 M.2s in Raid 0 and then 2-4 SataIII SSDs in a seperate Raid 0
 
Solution
All forms of raid require a controller, software or hardware based.

4x NVME M2 drives will probably need a dedicated x16 controller card. I don't know of a motherbd that supports 4 such drives in raid. Maybe a couple of the new TR40 boards? Anyways, there are diminishing returns with raiding NVME drives as well as PCIE lane issues. I can't speak for Threadripper builds but most motherboards only have 1 x16 slot that goes straight to the CPU. The other full x16 slot, if you even have one, will go thru the PCH (aka chipset). This chipset has it's own dedicated pcie bus to the CPU. Guess what? It's usually just an x4 bus. So raiding four 3500MB/s nvme drives thru the chipset doesn't produce the results you're hoping to see...

Having...
Considering all the potetial problems with RAID arrays (RAID0 especially), current fast SSDs pretty much eliminates most reasons for choosing a RAID0 setup, in my opinion.

Speed is not really much of a reason considering the speed of some PCI-e x16 GEN4 SSDs, and reliability certainly can't be the reason.

Since you are not completely familiar with the hardware requirements for the setup you want to run, are you sure that you are aware of all the pro's and con's of usig RAID0, before you potentially end up investing in such a setup?

Can I ask about the type of applications you are going to be using your computer for, since such a setup would be a neccessity in your experience -all RAID-related issues considered? I'm just asking out of curiosity, I hope you don't mind
 
Few, if any.



Many.

Yeah, exactly - I'm just trying not to be too harsh when I choose my words. In my personal experience, most people who are considering RAID0 nowadays, are maybe not completely familiar with all aspects of running such a configuration - but I'm not always right about everything.

I suspect "maximum speed" would be the reason for many, but I can hardly tell the difference between running Win 10 on a good SATA3 SSD compared to a Gen3 x4 NVMe SSD (I need a benchmark tool for that), so I can't personally identify a single reason for using RAID0. Not worth it for the OS, at least

If the idea is to speed up a heavy workload processing very large files, the relaibility (or lack thereof) in RAID0 would be a reason not to go for RAID0 in my opinion.

But you never know - maybe there's some niche application that I'm not familiar with - but people running such niche types of applications, usually has some basic knowledge about RAID controllers and setup.
 
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USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
But you never know - maybe there's some niche application that I'm not familiar with
Yes, there are a few niche use cases.

Movie production house, when moving large sequential data between 2 such arrays.
Large, as in 10 or 100's of GB, multiple times per day.
And only if set up perfectly, with a dedicated RAID hardware. Never a software RAID.

And never for the OS drive or volume.
 
Yes, there are a few niche use cases.

Movie production house, when moving large sequential data between 2 such arrays.
Large, as in 10 or 100's of GB, multiple times per day.
And only if set up perfectly, with a dedicated RAID hardware. Never a software RAID.

And never for the OS drive or volume.

I agree completely, maybe I'm not explaining myself very well. I don't see any good reasons to choose a RAID0 setup for private use.
That's my personal opinion, at least, but I think that most people in general, who are familiar with RAID arrays, share that opinion - like everyone who replied to this thread so far.

EDIT : That's also why I'm curious about OP's specific reasons for considering running two RAID0 arrays - I might be surprised to learn, that it is a result of careful consideration of all currently available alternatives... but considering OP's original question... ;)
 
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popatim

Titan
Moderator
All forms of raid require a controller, software or hardware based.

4x NVME M2 drives will probably need a dedicated x16 controller card. I don't know of a motherbd that supports 4 such drives in raid. Maybe a couple of the new TR40 boards? Anyways, there are diminishing returns with raiding NVME drives as well as PCIE lane issues. I can't speak for Threadripper builds but most motherboards only have 1 x16 slot that goes straight to the CPU. The other full x16 slot, if you even have one, will go thru the PCH (aka chipset). This chipset has it's own dedicated pcie bus to the CPU. Guess what? It's usually just an x4 bus. So raiding four 3500MB/s nvme drives thru the chipset doesn't produce the results you're hoping to see...

Having separate raid types, even across multiple controllers, as long as the controllers are compatible with each other then it's not an issue.

Raids require special consideration. They are NOT ever a substitute for a backup. Making sure all your important stuff is backed up is Job # 1 . Raids can and do fail and frequently take all the data on them with them.
 
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