To RAID or not to RAID

[Tsvetan_1]

Hi guys. I have a 128GB Samsung SSD (with my OS) and 2x1 TB WD Blacks. Should I put the WD hard drives in RAID and will I get any speed improvements over just leaving them separate. Also should I partition the drives or I can leave them in 2 big 1TB chunks?

 

[gasaraki]

You should RAID 1 them for redundancy but it won't help you with speeds. You also won't get increased space.

I wouldn't RAID 0 them, not really worth it you already have a SSD.

 

[bjornl]

Partitioning is only about how you want to organize your data. It is generally a less effective use of space. I prefer just using folders.

RAID being faster... well that depends on which form of RAID you choose. Some are faster, some are slower. I would strongly recommend against it for the home user unless you are going to buy enough NAS rated disks and a NAS enclosure to have a RAID 6 on your network. Raid 0 is just risky. Raid 1 is mirroring and not risky, but consumes a disk. Better to just use good backup procedures of data you care about and maybe an image of the boot volume.

 

[marko55]

If you've got a backup (maybe just grab a cheap external USB connected 2TB backup drive) then RAID-0 away. Yes, you'll get a performance gain, and NO its not "as" super scary and risky as many will make it sound. If you've got good disks its not like putting them in RAID 0 makes them fail more often or anything. WD blacks are touted as great quality drives. Yes, it doubles the potential of data loss just going by the numbers since you're striping across two disks and if either fails then your data is gone, but if you've got a backup then who cares?! Keep in mind that only half of each file is being written and read from each disk too so you're actually putting 1/2 of the toll on each disk with every read & write.

If you have no backup, the ideal solution would be to simply keep both disks separate, use one for storage and grab a backup app like Acronis to back your data up to the other. RAID-1 does NOT beat out using a software backup in pretty much any aspect, from ease of management to the fact that a proper backup app will not only back your data up but will also give you versioning of the backed up files for restore.

 

[Tsvetan_1]

I decided to just keep them separated but oddly I hear a ticking noise when the old disk is in use. I didn't hear it before... It's not like scratching but just ticking

 

[bjornl]

Turn off the PC, disconnect the data cable only (leave the power cable) and then turn it back on. If there is no ticking now, the data cable (SATA) is bad or potentially was just loose.
It could also be just drive noise during data access (nothing to be alarmed about). Or it could be heat-retrains because the drive is out of alignment (drive is probably dying if this is the case).
The drive is not getting enough power. Check the power connector. Try a different one coming from the PSU.
It could be the drive heads parking/unparking in or out of sleep or hibernation modes. Nothing to worry about if this is the case.

 

[Tsvetan_1]

Ok so the boise comes from the older drive when it's being written on or read off. I tried switching both the sata cable and the power cable but the noise persists. I don't know if it was there before and I just didn't notice it or something went wrong.

 

[Tsvetan_1]

BTW can Utorrent cause the HDD to make those clicking sounds? Because I'm performing the WD data lifeguard tests and both HDDs are at 90% working and no sound can be heard. But when Utorrent starts writing on the disk it clicks. When I turn off Utorrent it's all fine.

 

[bjornl]

uTorrent is both very disk intensive and poor written (crazy cpu usage, slows system down, etc). Consider using uTorrent inside a VM.