Hybrid RAID solution for SSD+HDD

[AviateX14]

Hey guys,

First post here despite having lurked for a few years, go easy on me yeah? 😛

I've decided to build myself a high spec PC, I'm looking at storage options, particularly RAID, in aware that setting up a RAID 0 array with an SSD and a HDD is next to pointless, what I would like to know is if I can run RAID in parallel with an SSD.

E.G,
Have my 120GB SSD hold my OS and large programs, but have my files and other software on 4x1TB HDD's running a RAID 10 configuration. Basically. Have RAID, but not include my SSD in it, just have them work side by side.

In my head I'm thinking it probably won't, its a case of RAID or no RAID (I'd better copyright that before Channel 4 GT their hands on it!) but I wanted it clarifying.

Any help would be appreciated!

Cheers,
Joe

 

[snowctrl]

In short, yes you can, this is normal. For example in building a PC for editing I might spec an SSD for the OS drive and then a Raid as you suggest for the media etc.

The only complication is that you must make sure you get a motherboard that supports what you plan to do.

 

[Ra_V_en]

The only complication is that you must make sure you get a motherboard that supports what you plan to do.

Its really hard not to have one nowadays 😉

Btw RAID10 really? RAID 5 is 1 HDD cheaper.. if it fails it fails.. if you want to be safe make a streamer backups, but who would do that for home usage.

If you are eager to make RAID 0 performance even more crazy ... make the Intel SRT caching over that RAID 0 Partition.

Plenty of possibilities and obviously SSD doesn't have to be included in any of the RAID configuration.

 

[AviateX14]

Cheers guys.

The motherboard is the MSI Z87-GD65 (S1150) and I've checked the manual, it supports RAID configurations.

So what you're suggesting there, Ra_V_en, if I'm following, is to set up my OS SSD, a 2 drive RAID configuration, and then have the RAID drives cache onto the SSD as per this guide. My questions would then be, can that only be achieved with RAID 0, or can it be done with R5, R10...? Also, wouldn't this negate the idea of having the OS boot fast from the SSD? Or would the RAID confg cache the OS onto the SSD?

You can see my proposed build here by the way, https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11RY_OQ1yNu33h8ggptT5_wmwHgIWySt15K-B27IkhsQ/edit#gid=0

 

[Ra_V_en]

Raid 10 is hardcore for home usage imo... its a waste of 2 drives only for safety reasons. The first question and the main question is what are you willing to achieve. Generally if you have SSD as an OS drive and decent storage HDD you are good to go. If for some reasons you want additional boost over large area for stuff like video editing then Raid 0 gives you that. If you want to try go even further ssd caching might help especially with high IO operations. Going further than that makes sense only if you are storing valuable data and want to minimize the risk of loosing any.

When i think about fancy home solution i'd pick max 3 drives, 1st SSD (120-240GB) for OS, crucial software and very frequently used games, 2nd decent (caviar blue or black 1TB max) for casual software and most of the games, 3rd (any cheap bulk storage drive over 1TB) for typical copy&forget stuff like mp3, movies, game installers. No RAID whatsoever... while i'm not doing anything with UHD or raw video files which take tons of GB's i cant see any reason to do so. Even if you want to play with some databases SSD will kill such raid0 or raid10 config in no time...