[SOLVED] I have 2 drives in raid 0, can i add another hdd without including in raid

[jhamhockey6]

So I recently decided to try my first RAID 0. I bought 2 x 1 tb SSD and installed them in RAID 0, works awesome! I'm wondering if I can add another hard drive via SATA that wouldn't be i n the RAID setup but just be like an external drive, only internal. I have an external but would like to add to my storage space. So I need to know if my next drive needs to be internal or external? Thank you so much!!

 

[USAFRet]

So I recently decided to try my first RAID 0. I bought 2 x 1 tb SSD and installed them in RAID 0

What backup routine have you instituted for this?

RAID 0 + SSD is generally a bad idea, and rarely provides any real user facing benefit outside of synthetic benchmarks.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-raid-benchmark,3485.html

 

[jhamhockey6]

It's a bad idea? I guess i didn't do my research. I've never had a hard drive fail on me so i don't typically make myself a backup, anything important enough to not want to lose ends up on my phone. So if I undid the RAID on my drives could I add another drive that isn't SSD safely? I want alot of storage so i dont have to keep reinstalling games.

 

[USAFRet]

RAID 0 is absolutely a bad idea, especially with SSD's.
Provides no performance benefit, and is much more fragile regarding data loss.
1TB + 1TB + RAID 0 = 2TB drive space.
1TB + 1TB + no RAID 0 = 2TB drive space, just with 2 drive letters.

Backups? Yeah, you need to do that as well. Physical drive fail is by far not the only way to have a bad afternoon.

You can add drives in whatever type you want. More SSD, HDD, whatever.

 

[jhamhockey6]

I have a windows 7 based backup for my current PC build. It's my 3rd pc build and changing to two 1tb drives in raid0 is my latest "upgrade" i had a 250gb and a 4tb external. I want to add more Hard drive space. I don't leave anything on my computer that i am not willing to lose so my data backup is covered. So what you're telling me is i dont need my SSD in raid 0? And if i took them out of raid 0 i could add a regular HDD of lets say 10 tb with no problem?

 

[jhamhockey6]

Essentially what im saying is I'm not worried about losing my data. But if I can get more life out of my drives I'm game. So if my benefit of running RAID 0 is negligable then I'd rather unRAID and add another non SSD with high capacity.

 

[USAFRet]

With individual drives, you can have them in whatever combination of type and size you want.

In my sig line below, parts list. 7 drives, different sizes. No RAID in sight.

 

[jhamhockey6]

So what you're saying is I should get my SSD drives out of RAID 0 AND THEN add another drive or drives for storage?

 

[USAFRet]

So what you're saying is I should get my SSD drives out of RAID 0 AND THEN add another drive or drives for storage?

Yes.
This will require starting over with a brand new OS install. You can't split a RAID 0 and keep the data as is.

 

[jhamhockey6]

Thank you very much for the help! I've already created a fresh windows install and remembered to include my internet driver this time, I forgot last time so i had to go through my phone haha.
Thanks again!