To RAID or not to RAID

[WaelT]

I'm planning to get a new PC, and I was wondering does it worth it having 2 SSD in RAID 0? Or shall I go with a single one with x2 size? Or a very fast M2 SSD ?

 

I have the following options:

 

• 2 SAMSUNG 850 EVO 250 GB
• 1 SAMSUNG 850 EVO 500 GB 
• OR Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280

Opinions please..  

 

Thank you

 

[blueballs]

depends of what you do

[KraftDinner]

Just go with the two Samsung 850 Evo's for the following reasons.

 

First of 2 SSD's would provide you redundancy, in case one SSD ever fails at least you still have another to work with until you get a replacement and they'd still be super fast so this is why I would eliminate the thought of the M.2 SSD completely although it is faster. I wouldn't touch software RAID 0 with a ten foot pole, that shit is just a hassle and for the minimal speed performance you actually gain compared the amount of stress you'll be given when that shit fails is just not worth it. When RAID 0 fails you lose everything on both SSD's and must rebuild the array. I have no idea what you plan on doing with your PC but RAID 0 rarely makes a difference for the average persons gaming and redditing.

 

Goodluck 

[CyberneticTitan]

Single 500GB SSD. RAID 1 would be beneficial for 2 SSDs if you want redundancy, but anything else is useless, such as RAID 0'ing SSDs.

 

My next option would be the 950 Pro. Go this route if you absolutely want the fastest speeds at a trade for half the storage space. Besides, you could pick up a cheap WD Blue for expansion.

[Philosobyte]

Single SSD. Imo RAID 0 is not worth it because it increases performance in most areas while decreasing performance in other areas. 

 

If you're not programming, I would not get the 950 Pro. Get the 500GB 850 Evo. 

[WaelT]

Basically I'm going to do some developing, video/photo editing and gaming of course. 

Yes I have seen couple of reviews stating that RAID 0 in real life performance is not worth it. Going RAID 1 is pretty legit here.... 

I added the M2 SSD for performance and to save space and also for future upgrade, but at the same time I hesitate whether or not sacrifice size for performance specially when the performance is not that different 

[Enderman]

dont do raid at all

if you want to keep your data safe use backups

raid (especially software raid) will just cause you a bunch of problems and headaches while not offering much "data loss" protection

it only offers drive loss protection

 

use a separate HDD for backups, and dont touch raid

 

second, don't get a 950

it has overheating issues

if you really need that much speed for professional content creation, buy an intel 750 series

it has a huge heatsink to keep it cool

 

and finally, why do you even need that much speed?

what are you doing that requires 1000+MBps?

unless your job requires content creation or rendering you're just wasting money

[WaelT]

dont do raid at all

if you want to keep your data safe use backups

raid (especially software raid) will just cause you a bunch of problems and headaches while not offering much "data loss" protection

it only offers drive loss protection

 

use a separate HDD for backups, and dont touch raid

 

second, don't get a 950

it has overheating issues

if you really need that much speed for professional content creation, buy an intel 750 series

it has a huge heatsink to keep it cool

 

and finally, why do you even need that much speed?

what are you doing that requires 1000+MBps?

unless your job requires content creation or rendering you're just wasting money

So you suggest go with single 500 GB SSD right ? 

[Enderman]

So you suggest go with single 500 GB SSD right ? 

single SSD + separate HDD for backups

size depends on budget

if you really need speed, then go with intel 750

otherwise stick to a sata SSD from either samsung or intel

[denniS_redbeast]

single SSD + separate HDD for backups

size depends on budget

if you really need speed, then go with intel 750

otherwise stick to a sata SSD from either samsung or intel

@Enderman 

 

In your opinion, is it a viable option to go with a slower m.2 ssd (sataIII protocal, http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mzn5e250bw) as a boot drive, and a faster NVM intel 750 ssd (800 gb or 1.2 tb) as a scratch disk for editing video+pics. 

[Enderman]

@Enderman 

 

In your opinion, is it a viable option to go with a slower m.2 ssd (sataIII protocal, http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mzn5e250bw) as a boot drive, and a faster NVM intel 750 ssd (800 gb or 1.2 tb) as a scratch disk for editing video+pics. 

personally I find it much more efficient to have everything including OS on a single drive

that way when moving files around it can just change the file location instead of completely rewriting the data in a new place

 

if you can afford it, one large 750 series SSD will be the best option, with separate HDDs for mass storage

[denniS_redbeast]

personally I find it much more efficient to have everything including OS on a single drive

that way when moving files around it can just change the file location instead of completely rewriting the data in a new place

 

if you can afford it, one large 750 series SSD will be the best option, with separate HDDs for mass storage

I can see that you have a 512gb pro as your boot drive while you have the 4tb red as secondary storage. In your opinion, is the 512gb enough for a scratch disk for editing and a boot device?

[Enderman]

I can see that you have a 512gb pro as your boot drive while you have the 4tb red as secondary storage. In your opinion, is the 512gb enough for a scratch disk for editing and a boot device?

that depends how much content you create and games you play

If you're working on files that are 100+GB each then 512gb is definitely not enough

if you have a 500GB steam library then its also not enough

 

but I only have a few games, and my videos are only 10-30GB each, so 512GB is enough for my OS, all my personal files, and pictures and projects im currently working on

[denniS_redbeast]

@Enderman

again, your opinion only, did you ever think about keeping the games on another drive. something like a 1tb hdd which is in your system. and also backing that drive to a nas or external hdd.

Edit: or an 1tb ssd (https://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e1t0bam) instead of the 1tb hdd

[brob]

Basically I'm going to do some developing, video/photo editing and gaming of course. 

Yes I have seen couple of reviews stating that RAID 0 in real life performance is not worth it. Going RAID 1 is pretty legit here.... 

I added the M2 SSD for performance and to save space and also for future upgrade, but at the same time I hesitate whether or not sacrifice size for performance specially when the performance is not that different 

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-raid-benchmark,3485-13.html is a good article on the subject of RAID 0 ssd. As you will read, in general a single ssd is as fast or faster than a RAID 0 array of same size in most real world usage. However, a RAID 0 array can be much faster in particular workflows.

 

A 4-lane PCIe 3.0 M.2 (M) ssd offer performance up to 32Gb/sec. If one is looking for best performance, that would be it at the moment. There are only a few models of 4-lane M.2 at the moment.

 

Depending on storage needs and budget, you may want to consider one of the Samsung 850 2TB ssd - EVO or Pro instead of using hdd.

[Enderman]

@Enderman

again, your opinion only, did you ever think about keeping the games on another drive. something like a 1tb hdd which is in your system. and also backing that drive to a nas or external hdd.

Edit: or an 1tb ssd (https://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e1t0bam) instead of the 1tb hdd

What did you think that was? Something other than an opinion?