Partitioning a NVMe Raid0?

[mewkachu]

Is it possible to create a Raid0 (consisting of two Samsung 960 Pros) to benefit from the increased read/write speeds and partition it when installing Windows into two partitions (1 as boot (OS), 2 as data storage)?

Mainboard: ASUS ROG Maximus IX Hero

[Matt_98]

2 minutes ago, mewkachu said:

Is it possible to create a Raid0 (consisting of two Samsung 960 Pros) to benefit from the increased read/write speeds and partition it when installing Windows into two partitions (1 as boot (OS), 2 as data storage)?

Mainboard: ASUS ROG Maximus IX Hero

 

what is the point in separate partitions

[Sauron]

Yes, it's possible. Windows will see the two drives as one normal drive.

 

Be aware that raid 0 on 2 drives doubles the risk of data loss.

[manikyath]

two things:

1: for nvme you *are* limited to software raid for now, that's just a thing that's a thing. so you wont be using it for your OS drive, and if your OS goes belly up you'll also lose the raid.

2: unless in VERY specific cases, raid0'ing NVME is NOT worth it, AT ALL.

[mewkachu]

Thanks for all your replies.

 

1 hour ago, Matt_98 said:

what is the point in separate partitions

I want to separate the OS from the other data. So I can reinstall Windows (if I need to) while keeping all my data.

 

1 hour ago, Sauron said:

Yes, it's possible. Windows will see the two drives as one normal drive.

 

Be aware that raid 0 on 2 drives doubles the risk of data loss.

Great and thanks for your advice. What would you recommend? Would a Raid0+1 also be possible? Like the two Samsung 960 Pros as Raid0 and two Samsung 850 Pros as Raid1(Mirror)? I'm a newbie at this Raid stuff, so please apologize if I ask dumb questions.

 

52 minutes ago, manikyath said:

two things:

1: for nvme you *are* limited to software raid for now, that's just a thing that's a thing. so you wont be using it for your OS drive, and if your OS goes belly up you'll also lose the raid.

2: unless in VERY specific cases, raid0'ing NVME is NOT worth it, AT ALL.

I don't get your first point. Why would I lose the Raid? If the Raid0 is split into two partitions, one for the OS and one for data storage, why can't I just format the OS drive and reinstall Windows as usual? My idea was to create a Raid0 of two 960 Pros to achieve even faster read/write speeds. Isn't that worth it?

[manikyath]

Just now, mewkachu said:

I don't get your first point. Why would I lose the Raid? If the Raid0 is split into two partitions, one for the OS and one for data storage, why can't I just format the OS drive and reinstall Windows as usual? My idea was to create a Raid0 of two 960 Pros to achieve even faster read/write speeds. Isn't that worth it?

i think you dont understand what you're saying...

 

raid 0 means combining the two drives into one storage pool, which for nvme still requires a software implementation to do so.

[Sauron]

1 hour ago, mewkachu said:

Great and thanks for your advice. What would you recommend? Would a Raid0+1 also be possible? Like the two Samsung 960 Pros as Raid0 and two Samsung 850 Pros as Raid1(Mirror)? I'm a newbie at this Raid stuff, so please apologize if I ask dumb questions.

When you run a raid you should always use only one type of drive, otherwise you risk instability (if it even works, some systems don't allow it when they detect different drives) and a lower speed. There are two main options if you want raid 0 performance with raid 1 redundancy:

 

1) run 4 identical drives in raid 10. This is just a raid 0 where the drives are mirrored; you get half the total space and twice the performance of one drive. This is obviously expensive because you need another two 960 pros.

 

2) run a backup periodically. There are programs which can backup all your data overnight on a schedule. You can backup your data to whatever drive (or drives) you wish, because with a backup performance and drive type are irrelevant (as long as it's fast enough to not interfere with your work).

 

I recommed the second option, it's cheaper and easier to setup. Additionally, if you have very sensitive data that you cannot afford to lose I recommend running an offsite backup as well, meaning saving your stuff to the cloud or on a drive that is physically distant from you - this prevents data loss in case of local disasters like house fires and anything that would destroy your computer completely.

[mewkachu]

25 minutes ago, Sauron said:

When you run a raid you should always use only one type of drive, otherwise you risk instability (if it even works, some systems don't allow it when they detect different drives) and a lower speed. There are two main options if you want raid 0 performance with raid 1 redundancy:

 

1) run 4 identical drives in raid 10. This is just a raid 0 where the drives are mirrored; you get half the total space and twice the performance of one drive. This is obviously expensive because you need another two 960 pros.

 

2) run a backup periodically. There are programs which can backup all your data overnight on a schedule. You can backup your data to whatever drive (or drives) you wish, because with a backup performance and drive type are irrelevant (as long as it's fast enough to not interfere with your work).

 

I recommed the second option, it's cheaper and easier to setup. Additionally, if you have very sensitive data that you cannot afford to lose I recommend running an offsite backup as well, meaning saving your stuff to the cloud or on a drive that is physically distant from you - this prevents data loss in case of local disasters like house fires and anything that would destroy your computer completely.

Awesome! Thanks for this explanation.