Jump to content

How to best set up drives?

KirbyTech
By KirbyTech
in Storage Devices
 Share
Posted

So currently I have a 840 evo (256) with 180 GB left on it as it is a boot and programs only drive. Next I have a 1tb, 500 gb, and a 3tb external. I am now adding in a second 500 gb drive and a 128 gb ssd (samsung mz-7pa1280/0l1 which is 250 read and 250 write) I have only 2 sata 3 ports and 4 sata 2 ports. How should I set these up to make the best of them. I would not mind doing say a raid 1 on the 500 gb drives or combine those with the 1tb for some kind of raid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Pice to SATA?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

raid all of then in raid 0

jk don't do that

Yea no but nice try

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

Pice to SATA?

I can't spend money on PC stuff right now sadly, putting everything towards a start up I am part of.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

I can't spend money on PC stuff right now sadly, putting everything towards a start up I am part of.

Just look into it, I don't know how much they cost but it could be very little. Just give all your options a shot

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

If the hard drives are in Sata 2 it won't matter, as even the ones advertised for sata 3 don't cap the bus. However, place the ssds in the sata 3 ports.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

So currently I have a 840 evo (256) with 180 GB left on it as it is a boot and programs only drive. Next I have a 1tb, 500 gb, and a 3tb external. I am now adding in a second 500 gb drive and a 128 gb ssd (samsung mz-7pa1280/0l1 which is 250 read and 250 write) I have only 2 sata 3 ports and 4 sata 2 ports. How should I set these up to make the best of them. I would not mind doing say a raid 1 on the 500 gb drives or combine those with the 1tb for some kind of raid.

 

 

Hey KirbyTech,
 
I wouldn't use different drives in a single RAID array because the chance of a drive dropout and data loss is much higher compared to when using similar/identical drives. I would put the SSDs on the SATA 3 (6 Gb/s) ports and leave all the HDDs on the rest of the SATA 3 (6 Gb/s) and SATA 2 (3 Gb/s) ports. HDDs can't fully utilize the SATA 2 (3 Gb/s) speed limit so you shouldn't suffer any speed loss. SATA 2 (3 Gb/s) supports speeds up to 375MB/s so even the 128GB SSD should be performing at optimal speeds on it.
I would use each drive separately and IMHO it wouldn't matter much which drive is connected to a SATA 3 (6 Gb/s) port  or to a SATA 2 (3 Gb/s) port. :)
 
Captain_WD.

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

 

Hey KirbyTech,
 
I wouldn't use different drives in a single RAID array because the chance of a drive dropout and data loss is much higher compared to when using similar/identical drives. I would put the SSDs on the SATA 3 (6 Gb/s) ports and leave all the HDDs on the rest of the SATA 3 (6 Gb/s) and SATA 2 (3 Gb/s) ports. HDDs can't fully utilize the SATA 2 (3 Gb/s) speed limit so you shouldn't suffer any speed loss. SATA 2 (3 Gb/s) supports speeds up to 375MB/s so even the 128GB SSD should be performing at optimal speeds on it.
I would use each drive separately and IMHO it wouldn't matter much which drive is connected to a SATA 3 (6 Gb/s) port  or to a SATA 2 (3 Gb/s) port. :)
 
Captain_WD.

 

I will be putting the 500 GB drives in RAID 1 for now, both are WD blacks but one is enterprise so not a big difference. As for the rest they will just be in my system and I'll see where I go next either all to server and only a cache ssd and boot ssd or keep one hard drive in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

I will be putting the 500 GB drives in RAID 1 for now, both are WD blacks but one is enterprise so not a big difference. As for the rest they will just be in my system and I'll see where I go next either all to server and only a cache ssd and boot ssd or keep one hard drive in.

 

 

This sounds about right. :) I would take caution if combining two non-RAID drives in RAID one, especially if they are different drives. Could you please specify the models of the two WD Black drives? RAID makes all drives in an array to perform at the speed of the slowest one and limits the capacity of all drives to the one with the smallest one.
 
Captain_WD.

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

 

This sounds about right. :) I would take caution if combining two non-RAID drives in RAID one, especially if they are different drives. Could you please specify the models of the two WD Black drives? RAID makes all drives in an array to perform at the speed of the slowest one and limits the capacity of all drives to the one with the smallest one.
 
Captain_WD.

 

The model number on the non enterprise drive is WD5003AZEX and the enterprise is WD5003ABYX, I think they should be fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

The model number on the non enterprise drive is WD5003AZEX and the enterprise is WD5003ABYX, I think they should be fine.

 

 

Well, one of the drives is WD Black, the other one is WD RE4 and is a bit different. The WD Black drive has higher transfer speeds that will be limited to the lower ones of the WD RE4 drive. Also the WD Black drive is a SATA 3 (6Gb/s) drive while WD RE4 is a SATA 2 (3Gb/s). The WD RE4 has more load/unload cycles guaranteed. Here are the spec sheets of both drives for more info:
 
Although pretty close, they are not identical and they are not NAS/RAID class drives an this may cause problems sometime in the future. Do have that in mind and have a backup. :)
 
Captain_WD.

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

 

Well, one of the drives is WD Black, the other one is WD RE4 and is a bit different. The WD Black drive has higher transfer speeds that will be limited to the lower ones of the WD RE4 drive. Also the WD Black drive is a SATA 3 (6Gb/s) drive while WD RE4 is a SATA 2 (3Gb/s). The WD RE4 has more load/unload cycles guaranteed. Here are the spec sheets of both drives for more info:
 
Although pretty close, they are not identical and they are not NAS/RAID class drives an this may cause problems sometime in the future. Do have that in mind and have a backup. :)
 
Captain_WD.

 

Thanks and I thought they were blacks because of the labels, both said black so I just went with it. I will be keeping a backup the drive will be a working (read daily) solution with backups.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing Storage Devices

×