[SOLVED] RAID questions

[mikasa509]

I have done a lot of research on RAID setups and I only have these questions left that I can't seem to find, Please help

1. Lets say I have 1 drive that has an OS, can I install 2 new drives and set these 2 drives for RAID 0 only and leave the OS drive alone? because all I saw over the internet is formatting the drive and installing the OS together with RAID drivers.
2. I think this is related to #1. After setting up RAID 0, can I install a new drive without disturbing the RAID 0 setup or do I have to reinstall everything again?

3.RAID 1, lets say I have 2 1TB drives, if I set it up as RAID 1 will the size stay at 1TB or will double just like RAID 0? I know its slower than RAID 0 but I kinda like the redundancy of RADI 1.

Thank you for your time

 

[RealBeast]

First, before getting into the answers, my first advice is don't -- motherboard RAID is highly unreliable.
(1) Yes, you must use the RAID drivers but don't include the OS drive in the array. AHCI is a subset of RAID so the OS drive will work fine.
(2) Theoretically you should be able to just add drives and not affect the array, but you never know with motherboard RAID.
(3) You always get the RAID level redundancy - 1 in terms of storage space So in RAID 0 you get double (n=0, no redundancy, one drive failure = data gone) at much higher data risk, Raid 1 you get one drive worth the data, RAID 5 3 drives you get 2 worth the data and the rest is used for metadata.

If you have an overwhelming need to use RAID, first forget RAID 0, then buy a good RAID controller -- don't use the cheap junk on a motherboard. With the larger drives available, you should have no need for RAID unless you store massive amounts of data that you need to keep access to while you dig up your backup since RAID is not backup.

 

[USAFRet]

Counter questions:

1. Why RAID?
2. Which type RAID array? 0?
3. With what drives?

 

[mikasa509]

First, before getting into the answers, my first advice is don't -- motherboard RAID is highly unreliable.
(1) Yes, you must use the RAID drivers but don't include the OS drive in the array. AHCI is a subset of RAID so the OS drive will work fine.
(2) Theoretically you should be able to just add drives and not affect the array, but you never know with motherboard RAID.
(3) You always get the RAID level redundancy - 1 in terms of storage space So in RAID 0 you get double (n=0, no redundancy, one drive failure = data gone) at much higher data risk, Raid 1 you get one drive worth the data, RAID 5 3 drives you get 2 worth the data and the rest is used for metadata.

If you have an overwhelming need to use RAID, first forget RAID 0, then buy a good RAID controller -- don't use the cheap junk on a motherboard. With the larger drives available, you should have no need for RAID unless you store massive amounts of data that you need to keep access to while you dig up your backup since RAID is not backup.

Thank you very much for the explanation

Counter questions:

1. Why RAID?
2. Which type RAID array? 0?
3. With what drives?

1. I've read that RAID is beneficial to gaming as it speeds up the read time.
2. RAID 0
3. Hard Drives(no budget for a 1TB SSD that is why I'm looking into RAID)

 

[USAFRet]

1. I've read that RAID is beneficial to gaming as it speeds up the read time.
2. RAID 0
3. Hard Drives(no budget for a 1TB SSD that is why I'm looking into RAID)

"can I install 2 new drives "

Meaning buy 2 new HDD's ?
2x HDD = ~$95
1x 1TB SSD = ~$110


A HDD RAID 0 vs no RAID 0 is only beneficial, maybe, in level loading time.
And brings with it all the drawbacks.