Spanning vs RAID 0

[hjj174]

So I was thinking about adding a second WD Blue 1 TB hard drive to my rig for more storage for games. That's literally the one only thing that I have on the one. Nothing important that isn't easy to replace. I may end up storing a few recordings of game play as well. Do you think RAID 0 could be justified in this usage, considering easily replaceable or data that I don't care about that much will be the only thing stored?

 

[ronintexas]

Spanning and RAID 0 are the same thing.....

Second - just remember when you have two drives in RAID0, you are twice as likely to lose 100% of the data....with 3 drives, three times as likely.

I never use RAID at home - only in the servers I build at work....too many things can go wrong. If you need a bigger volume, I would suggest just buying a 2TB or 4TB drive (single purchase is more money - but cheaper over the long run).

 

[hjj174]

They aren't quite the same as Spanning/JBOD doesn't give a performance boost at all while RAID 0 can depending on the situation and system, as I'm sure you know. I don't really see myself using 3TB or more considering I already have 1TB about half way full but I plan on installing more games that I have in my Steam and Origin Libraries.

 

[ronintexas]

My typical build, whether server or home PC, is a smaller drive for the OS (home PC is typically a 128GB or 256GB SSD, Server is a 126GB HDD (it is an enterprise drive)). The main reason for this is to avoid any issues with RAID when booting the system....the OS drive is never part of RAID.

I am a big fan of the WD Black for data at home, usually have a 1TB or a 2TB drive for the PC (HTPC has 4TB). I use 2TB Green drives to backup the data (place the 2nd drive in another computer and use syncback Free to backup nightly).

I avoid RAID unless I can go with a 10-20 drive RAID5 or RAID10 setup - the speed and redundancy on the server works great. I also have a high-speed RAID controller (not built into the mobo) for this purpose.

Most of the RAID controllers built into a consumer mobo don't have the needed capabilities to stabilize the system, and errors are sure to follow (even if you don't have a drive die - corruption from the consumer RAID controller to the drives is possible).

JBOD is technically different from RAID0....but not by much.

BTW - have you looked into Windows 8.1 with the "Storage Spaces"? This is Microsoft's answer to RAID, and gives you a lot more options as compared to standard RAID...it still isn't recommended for the OS drive - but it does work good.

 

[hjj174]

If you look at my signature, it shows my Samsung SSD for my OS so that isn't a problem. I'll look into the Storage Spaces and see how that is. I just don't feel like having two separately assigned drives.

 

[ronintexas]

My wife still doesn't know she has three different hard drives in her computer (SSD + DATA1 + DATA2). I put the libraries on the different drives, she clicks on documents, music, videos, pictures, etc., they all automatically go to the proper drive. Other than the difficulty in installing stuff and changing the install drive, you just click and forget....the computer remembers the shortcuts....

BTW - don't tell the wife....I will never hear the end of it.....LMAO.