What's the best way/system to set up raid 10 with in Windows?

[Elbow]

So I've gotten 4 x 6TB drives now that I was thinking of turning into a 12TB raid 10 but I'm not entirely sure about the best way to go at it. I've heard that some people use Windows Storage Spaces to set up theirs but have also heard some criticism that the software is sub-par and hurts the performance compared to other solutions.

 

So what would be the best way to go at it in you guys opinion? I know I can set up a raid through my MOBO but unsure if that works for raid 10, plus it'd make me completely dependent on that particular model if I wanna move or restore data. Any information on this is highly appreciated!

[vano411]

Best option would probably be a RAID card like the LSI MegaRaid. They're super fast and robust but cost money and take up a PCI-E slot.

 

Honestly, there's nothing wrong with using your motherboard. As far as moving/restoration is concerned, most motherboards use the same Intel RapidStorage tech so it wont be that hard.

[msknight]

Whatever way you choose... if it's at all possible, use some cheap/old disks to run through simulating failures so you have notes on how to recover. Some raid solutions are unforgiving if you mis-identify the failed drive and rip the wrong one out... or can't get the commands right to configure a replacement.

[Elbow]

3 hours ago, vano411 said:

Best option would probably be a RAID card like the LSI MegaRaid. They're super fast and robust but cost money and take up a PCI-E slot.

 

Honestly, there's nothing wrong with using your motherboard. As far as moving/restoration is concerned, most motherboards use the same Intel RapidStorage tech so it wont be that hard.

Yeah I think I'll try it tomorrow then, using a Z390 Aorus Master but IIRC they share the same BIOS design as Gigabyte so should be able to find a guide for it or maybe it's in my manual somewhere.

 

I wonder if they're able to do raid 10 though or if I'm able to do it by applying raid 1 then raid 0 or if doing it through MOBO only allows one configuration of your drives?

 

2 hours ago, msknight said:

Whatever way you choose... if it's at all possible, use some cheap/old disks to run through simulating failures so you have notes on how to recover. Some raid solutions are unforgiving if you mis-identify the failed drive and rip the wrong one out... or can't get the commands right to configure a replacement.

I don't have any spare internal drives lying around but it should be a good idea to mark them at least. Since they're all the same model I wonder how the system names them, by which cable port I'm using maybe?

[msknight]

7 hours ago, Elbow said:

I don't have any spare internal drives lying around but it should be a good idea to mark them at least. Since they're all the same model I wonder how the system names them, by which cable port I'm using maybe?

That's what you need to work out... so that when it says X drive is dead, you pull the right one. Perhaps add one drive at at time and see where they pop up in the configurations. Then label inside the case where the drives are.

[vanished]

Why not RAID 5 or 6?  If I'm not mistaken, it makes sense on paper:

• RAID 5:
  • usable space: 18 TB
  • drives lost with no impact: 1
• RAID 6:
  • usable space: 12 TB
  • drives lost with no impact: 2
• RAID 10:
  • usable space: 12 TB
  • drives lost with no impact: 1 or 2, depending on your luck of which one it is

[NelizMastr]

3 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Why not RAID 5 or 6?  If I'm not mistaken, it makes sense on paper:

• RAID 5:
  • usable space: 18 TB
  • drives lost with no impact: 1
• RAID 6:
  • usable space: 12 TB
  • drives lost with no impact: 2
• RAID 10:
  • usable space: 12 TB
  • drives lost with no impact: 1 or 2, depending on your luck of which one it is

The main downsides to RAID5 at least are the major performance hit when the array becomes degraded and the strain on the remainder of the array during the rebuild.

RAID6 handles this better. RAID10 is mainly beneficial if write performance is a requirement so it can make sense in plenty of workloads.