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Hardware or software RAID?

bographics
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Hi,

I have a MSI X99A SLI MB with 2 WD Gold HDD for RAID. I have configured a software RAID1 using MSI Smart Tool.

It would be better to have hardware RAID (from motherboard) or just stick with software? How software RAID is affecting the overall system performance?

In the future I will be able to switch to hardware RAID without compromising data?

Thanks!

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The onboard RAID on your motherboard is not true hardware RAID, it's called "FakeRAID" and shouldn't be used except in extremely specific circumstances. If you don't want to buy a proper hardware RAID card then software RAID is the best option.

-KuJoe

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24 minutes ago, KuJoe said:

The onboard RAID on your motherboard is not true hardware RAID, it's called "FakeRAID" and shouldn't be used except in extremely specific circumstances. If you don't want to buy a proper hardware RAID card then software RAID is the best option.

So, if someday I will decide to disable the software RAID1, I will be able to see the same data on both?

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Just now, bographics said:

So, if someday I will decide to disable the software RAID1, I will be able to see the same data on both?

I've never used MSI Smart Tool so I'm not sure, in theory you would just need to a create a new array and import the drive into that array to see it. You wouldn't need both drives but you might still need to run it in an array depending on how the software handles it. I had a software RAID1 setup on my desktop using the Windows Disk Management feature but the 2nd drive in the array died so I removed it and deleted the array, the data is still accessible on the drive that is left.

-KuJoe

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10 minutes ago, KuJoe said:

I've never used MSI Smart Tool so I'm not sure, in theory you would just need to a create a new array and import the drive into that array to see it. You wouldn't need both drives but you might still need to run it in an array depending on how the software handles it. I had a software RAID1 setup on my desktop using the Windows Disk Management feature but the 2nd drive in the array died so I removed it and deleted the array, the data is still accessible on the drive that is left.

Seems that Windows sees the drives as "mirrored", so I think is ok :)

drives.png

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Regarding software RAID1, seems there is an action called "Resynching" that occurs after a power off or reset. This can take as much as few hours if I have a lot of data on the drives. But I've read that if I make the RAID at BIOS level, the resynching problem is gone, but then how the system is taking care of the data after a forced power off?

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