opinion on raid 0

[rkcmd]

I was thinking about upgrades on my pc. I've used SSDs for quite a while now that I doubt an HDD would be usable for me anymore. My earlier plan was to get a 1tb HDD for storage, but now I'm thinking my external HD would suffice, and maybe I should get another SSD and set it on raid 0.

 

Would doing raid 0 on an SSD really make much difference on anything? My performance on a single SSD is quite fast right now. My reflex thinking would be that if I got another SSD, I should just use it as a second drive for more storage. 

[Ahaber]

I was thinking about upgrades on my pc. I've used SSDs for quite a while now that I doubt an HDD would be usable for me anymore. My earlier plan was to get a 1tb HDD for storage, but now I'm thinking my external HD would suffice, and maybe I should get another SSD and set it on raid 0.

 

Would doing raid 0 on an SSD really make much difference on anything? My performance on a single SSD is quite fast right now. My reflex thinking would be that if I got another SSD, I should just use it as a second drive for more storage. 

 

You can get faster speeds by running in raid 0 but your data will be less secure, If you are willing to risk it they you will get significantly faster speeds. Keep in mind that for raid 0 you should try to get the same ssd with the same capacity as well.

[Grrizz]

For OS, programs and general loading stuff you wont notice a difference, I would just have it as a second drive, RAIDing them will get you better throughput (~double) when copying big files but you would need something of equal speed to copy the files to to take advantage of it and you would only see a 4gb file go from something like 8 seconds to 4... basically in most cases its not worth while as you get little to no gain while decreasing reliability slightly.

[rkcmd]

I see... I thought as well... Will probably just get a 2nd, bigger SSD. Thanks!

[Enderman]

IMO not worth it
the faster speeds are not worth my time in setting up raid and fixing it if there are problems and pohigher chances of loosing all my data

plus the speeds barely make a noticeable difference in games or programs unless youre constantly opening up large files like in video eiditing or something

 

if I really needed speeds over 1000MB/s I would sell my SSD and buy a PCIe SSD
much faster speeds and higher reliability

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

I am very wary of RAID 0 unless you are backing up the array regularly.

RAID 0 done right would be two identical SSDs with a mechanical drive that will have a backup made to it every day. something like 2 500GB SSDs with a 1TB drive for nightly backups. that way if anything fails you can just boot off of the mechanical drive and continue from where you left off the night before.

[rkcmd]

I am very wary of RAID 0 unless you are backing up the array regularly.

RAID 0 done right would be two identical SSDs with a mechanical drive that will have a backup made to it every day. something like 2 500GB SSDs with a 1TB drive for nightly backups. that way if anything fails you can just boot off of the mechanical drive and continue from where you left off the night before.

That sounds like a good idea... maybe I should just do a raid mirror setup with a second HDD... minus the 500gb ssd. lol

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

That sounds like a good idea... maybe I should just do a raid mirror setup with a second HDD... minus the 500gb ssd. lol

don't try to mirror two drives that are not identical. just setup some program that will copy all of the contents of your SSD or SSD array to a mechanical drive. I could probably write a batch file to do it.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

I'm hearing a lot of "for OS use it doesn't matter", but I'm not buying it. Benchmarks on a fresh install would make you believe that, but on a PC that's actually being used I do feel the difference between single and RAID. We're talking a tenth here and half a tenth there, but when I temporarily used a single SSD during the rebuild of my PC (case swap, needed different SATA cables) it was enough to notice it.

Whether or not you should RAID depends entirely on your preference. If you for example have a 128GB SSD already, it will be cheaper to just buy a second one of the same type and capacity and RAID them.

If you however want to get a bigger SSD and use the small one for something else, just do that.

Just keep in mind that as soon as you go beyond small files, the difference is night and day.

[rkcmd]

don't try to mirror two drives that are not identical. just setup some program that will copy all of the contents of your SSD or SSD array to a mechanical drive. I could probably write a batch file to do it.

Cool. Like, this would mirror my drive, and be super easy to restore?

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

Cool. Like, this would mirror my drive, and be super easy to restore?

in theory. as long as you can find a program that will clone the drive exactly, and will do it on a schedule, yes. the clone drive would even be bootable, but until it is done it is all theory and there are bound to be speed bumps as there always are in projects.