Raid 0+1

[LahryMusic]

So im thinking about raid 0+1. Any suggestions if i should use my onboard raid controller or get a card. The plan is to use 3 250gb Evo 850 Pros with 1 WD Black hdd. My current system stats is on my profile. The setup is mostly for aesthetics sadly so im not concerned about a better setup. 

[samcool55]

Raid 0+1 is called raid 10. But i would NOT do what you are planning to do.

The SSD speed will get completely lost because the controller (doesn't matter which one) will wait for the HDD, so just don't do that.

The best thing you can do is raid-0 the ssd's and create a weekly backup or something.

[LahryMusic]

What if i used Raid 4 I guess it still reduces the random write speed to the parity drive but is it the write speed of the hdd? @samcool55

[ChineseChef]

I would also completely advise against combining SSD and HDD in any kind of RAID setup.  RAID the SSDs if you really want, and then just set regular backups to the HDD.

[ChineseChef]

What if i used Raid 4 I guess it still reduces the random write speed to the parity drive but is it the write speed of the hdd? @samcool55

 

It would be just as bad, if you could even find a controller that would offer RAID3/4.  Most controllers only offer 0/1/5/6 and some combo of those (10/01/50/60).

[LahryMusic]

So my entire storage setup is going to be 3 ssds 3 hdd 1 1tb and 2 2tb hdd and 3 250gb sdds any suggestion? @ChineseChef

[ChineseChef]

So my entire storage setup is going to be 3 ssds 3 hdd 1 1tb and 2 2tb hdd and 3 250gb sdds any suggestion? @ChineseChef

 

What are you looking to accomplish?  What is more important to you?  Speed or data protection?

 

Personally, I don't use RAID so much any more, especially with SSDs as I just don't see the point.  Most controllers don't work well with TRIM, and SSDs are plenty fast.  That and I really like to break out how my OS and programs are installed.

 

I personally would put your OS on 1 SSD, and then install games and programs separately on the other 2 SSDs.  Then I would use the 1TB HDD as your Documents/Swap/Misc Storage area.  Then set the 2x 2TB drives in a RAID 1 to use as backup space for your OS and all data. 

 

If you want to combine your SSDs in a RAID 0 I don't see any real problem with it, just keep in mind that if your controller or one of the drives hiccups you will lose everything and have to restore from your backups. 

[LahryMusic]

What are you looking to accomplish?  What is more important to you?  Speed or data protection?

 

Personally, I don't use RAID so much any more, especially with SSDs as I just don't see the point.  Most controllers don't work well with TRIM, and SSDs are plenty fast.  That and I really like to break out how my OS and programs are installed.

 

I personally would put your OS on 1 SSD, and then install games and programs separately on the other 2 SSDs.  Then I would use the 1TB HDD as your Documents/Swap/Misc Storage area.  Then set the 2x 2TB drives in a RAID 1 to use as backup space for your OS and all data. 

 

If you want to combine your SSDs in a RAID 0 I don't see any real problem with it, just keep in mind that if your controller or one of the drives hiccups you will lose everything and have to restore from your backups. 

 

 

Well my main goal is for looks but when it comes down to it data protection edges out speed but only a little i kinda hoard data so i really never delete anything unless its virus/malware realated which almost never happens. Are ssds not stable in raid? If possible the ideal scenario is 3 ssds being mirrored to a hdd. @ChineseChef

[ChineseChef]

Well my main goal is for looks but when it comes down to it data protection edges out speed but only a little i kinda hoard data so i really never delete anything unless its virus/malware realated which almost never happens. Are ssds not stable in raid? If possible the ideal scenario is 3 ssds being mirrored to a hdd. @ChineseChef

 

You can do the RAID 0 with the SSDs, then use software to back it up to the HDD, but if you were to try and RAID the SSDs with the HDD it would only go as fast as the HDD, and basically be a total waste of the SSDs speed.  And SSDs are no more or less likely to crap out on you, my only issue with larger arrays is that the more disks you add the more likely one of them is to just have a generic problem, just a probability thing.

 

If you want the speed and the data integrity, put the SSDs in RAID 0, and the 2x 2TB HDDs in RAID 1.

[LahryMusic]

You can do the RAID 0 with the SSDs, then use software to back it up to the HDD, but if you were to try and RAID the SSDs with the HDD it would only go as fast as the HDD, and basically be a total waste of the SSDs speed.  And SSDs are no more or less likely to crap out on you, my only issue with larger arrays is that the more disks you add the more likely one of them is to just have a generic problem, just a probability thing.

 

If you want the speed and the data integrity, put the SSDs in RAID 0, and the 2x 2TB HDDs in RAID 1.

hmm...i could use Acronis to make weekly disk images and have it delete and copy only changed data, and then just get a 4 tb hdd instead a 1 tb and just have it copy it to there and have the 2x 2tb as video edits,documents and such. Then 1ssd for os and 2 for steam games and origin. Does that sound like a decent setup?

[ChineseChef]

hmm...i could use Acronis to make weekly disk images and have it delete and copy only changed data, and then just get a 4 tb hdd instead a 1 tb and just have it copy it to there and have the 2x 2tb as video edits,documents and such. Then 1ssd for os and 2 for steam games and origin. Does that sound like a decent setup?

 

1 SSD for OS

2 SSD for games (raid 0)

2x  2TB HDD for videos and storage (raid 0)

1 HDD for backups/images (4TB)

 

Sounds like a good plan to me.  I like to have the OS separate so that you can wipe/restore/modify the OS without having to redownload/install programs/games.

[LahryMusic]

1 SSD for OS

2 SSD for games (raid 0)

2x  2TB HDD for videos and storage (raid 0)

1 HDD for backups/images (4TB)

 

Sounds like a good plan to me.  I like to have the OS separate so that you can wipe/restore/modify the OS without having to redownload/install programs/games.

 

This now seems like a better solution than all raided togather. SSDs are sketchy tho being there are litttle warning signs before they die.

[ChineseChef]

This now seems like a better solution than all raided togather. SSDs are sketchy tho being there are litttle warning signs before they die.

 

Eh, people say that, but I have had 2 die on me (early models low time ago).  And both of them started to give signs they were going.  One gave very little warning, but it didn't fail completely before I was able to recover data from it.  I have had plenty of regular HDDs fail and some of them worked one day, and didn't the next.  The key is really just to have good backups.

[LahryMusic]

Eh, people say that, but I have had 2 die on me (early models low time ago).  And both of them started to give signs they were going.  One gave very little warning, but it didn't fail completely before I was able to recover data from it.  I have had plenty of regular HDDs fail and some of them worked one day, and didn't the next.  The key is really just to have good backups.

 

 

Ok side question on this topic. I may have a issue with supporting 6 hdds. In my motherboards specifications if im reading right only allows for 3 even tho i have 6 ill place the link below to my mobo.

 

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4979#sp

[ChineseChef]

Ok side question on this topic. I may have a issue with supporting 6 hdds. In my motherboards specifications if im reading right only allows for 3 even tho i have 6 ill place the link below to my mobo.

 

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4979#sp

 

Per that site, you have 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors, but can't use the last 2 spots if you are using an m.2 or sata express drive.  So you have enough sata ports.

[LahryMusic]

Per that site, you have 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors, but can't use the last 2 spots if you are using an m.2 or sata express drive.  So you have enough sata ports.

ok so i read that wrong lol

[ChineseChef]

ok so i read that wrong lol

 

Might have been since it was labeled as 3. 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors.  I could see where that might catch you if you were reading fast.

[Captain_WD]

So im thinking about raid 0+1. Any suggestions if i should use my onboard raid controller or get a card. The plan is to use 3 250gb Evo 850 Pros with 1 WD Black hdd. My current system stats is on my profile. The setup is mostly for aesthetics sadly so im not concerned about a better setup. 

 

Hey arcticfox159,

 

RAID10 indeed requires four or more (multiple of two) drives in order to operate, but I wouldn't combine the three SSDs with the WD Black. The RAID controller will limit the size of all drives to the one with the smallest (the 1TB WD Black drive will be limited to 250GB) and will limit the speed of all drive to the one with the slowest (the three SSDs will work with the speed of the HDD). So with these four drives you will have 500GB of usable space running at twice the speed of the HDD and not even close to a single SSD speed.

 

I could suggest configuring the three SSD in RAID0 (if the speed is indeed needed) and configure a continuous backup on the WD Black in order to avoid speed and capacity loss and still have some redundancy since RAID0 offers none and it's pretty risky.

 

Captain_WD.

[LahryMusic]

 

Hey arcticfox159,

 

RAID10 indeed requires four or more (multiple of two) drives in order to operate, but I wouldn't combine the three SSDs with the WD Black. The RAID controller will limit the size of all drives to the one with the smallest (the 1TB WD Black drive will be limited to 250GB) and will limit the speed of all drive to the one with the slowest (the three SSDs will work with the speed of the HDD). So with these four drives you will have 500GB of usable space running at twice the speed of the HDD and not even close to a single SSD speed.

 

I could suggest configuring the three SSD in RAID0 (if the speed is indeed needed) and configure a continuous backup on the WD Black in order to avoid speed and capacity loss and still have some redundancy since RAID0 offers none and it's pretty risky.

 

Captain_WD.

 

 

Since i am unfamiler with the way raid works aside from the basic setups how would raid 4 work with these drives?

[Captain_WD]

Since i am unfamiler with the way raid works aside from the basic setups how would raid 4 work with these drives?

 

Pretty much all RAID types do what I described (limit all drives to the specs (speed and capacity) of the slowest and smallest ones). With RAID4 (rare type of RAID) you should have 750GB of usable space and one drive fault tolerance. And all SSDs will be working with the speed of the HDD plus you will practically lose the HDD's whole capacity. 

 

Captain_WD.

[LahryMusic]

Pretty much all RAID types do what I described (limit all drives to the specs (speed and capacity) of the slowest and smallest ones). With RAID4 (rare type of RAID) you should have 750GB of usable space and one drive fault tolerance. And all SSDs will be working with the speed of the HDD plus you will practically lose the HDD's whole capacity. 

 

Captain_WD.

 

My plan that I came up with was Using WD red drives because the are built to be always on. would those be ideal drives? I tend to leave my pc on for extended periods of time.

 

Im also thinking 2x 2tb reds and a 5tb red. And having the 3 SSD and the 2x 2tb imaged to the 5tb.

[Captain_WD]

My plan that I came up with was Using WD red drives because the are built to be always on. would those be ideal drives? I tend to leave my pc on for extended periods of time.

 

Im also thinking 2x 2tb reds and a 5tb red. And having the 3 SSD and the 2x 2tb imaged to the 5tb.

 

WD Red drives are indeed designed for using 24/7 and in a RAID array. I would say that they are good for that. For a massive drive that won't be in a array I would say WD Green would be the better choice. WD Red drives perform similarly to WD Green in a regular desktop and their additional features won't be utilized if not used in a NAS or RAID array. Both drives are equipped with Intellipower and will spin down after short time of no usage in order to save energy and prevent themselves from taking damage. 

I would suggest the following setup: have the two 2TB WD Red drives in a RAID array and configure a continuous backup of all five drives on a 5TB WD Green. Do have in mind that a true backup should be outside your actual system so it can prevent you from data loss in case of power outage, physical damage or something similar (an external drive or a NAS for example).

 

Captain_WD.