SSD compatibility for RAID 0

[amintha1992]

I have one of these http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16820227792
and I want to do a RAID 0 array.

My questions is , would this work for RAID 0
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX48622

My motherboard (P8Z77-V) manual said it needs to be identical. Does being on the same capacity class makes it the same? Does that mean I need to either find a another vertex 4 256gb or get 2 of the same? (BTW im Completely happy with my vertex 4, just need more space.

And after changing the SATA mode to RAID how do I open the RAID setup on this motherboard?

Thanks in advance

[Excon]

If you need more space space Raid 0 won't do anything for you... The drives need to be the same. Take this from someone with Raid 0 128GB Vertex 4s, it's not worth it. Also your links don't work.

[amintha1992]

If you need more space space Raid 0 won't do anything for you... The drives need to be the same. Take this from someone with Raid 0 128GB Vertex 4s, it's not worth it. Also your links don't work.

Why would it not give me more space? Its raid 0 so it should give me 256+250 = 500gb? Am I wrong?

Or is it because its not the save drive?

[X1XNobleX1X]

Why would it not give me more space? Its raid 0 so it should give me 256+250 = 500gb? Am I wrong?

Or is it because its not the save drive?

No, what raid 0 is it shares each drive by putting 1's on drive 1 and 0's on drive 2. This is why raid 0 is fast. 

Which means it will take the smallest size drive and make it the drive capacity. 

So, if you had a 256gb and a 250. The drive will end up being 250GB after adding it to a raid 0. 

Also watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE7Bfw9lFfs

It's always best to get the same drive, with the same chip.

Also, an FYI I wouldn't put OCZ drives in an array. 

[amintha1992]

No, what raid 0 is it shares each drive by putting 1's on drive 1 and 0's on drive 2. This is why raid 0 is fast. 

Which means it will take the smallest size drive and make it the drive capacity. 

So, if you had a 256gb and a 250. The drive will end up being 250GB after adding it to a raid 0. 

Also watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE7Bfw9lFfs

It's always best to get the same drive, with the same chip.

Also, an FYI I wouldn't put OCZ drives in an array. 

then how do i make the 2 drives into 1 such a way that i will get double the capacity. i dont care about redundancy. ill be doing backups anyway  

[X1XNobleX1X]

then how do i make the 2 drives into 1 such a way that i will get double the capacity. i dont care about redundancy. ill be doing backups anyway  

Watch this video. 

It's not a raid, it's just adding two partitions together: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d69k-6bo-0E

And this way they don't have to be the same. 

 

Edit: This is probably better:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/45439-63-merging-drives-win7-deleting-data

One you see your second drive in disc management right click and press 'Delete Volume' should remove 'D' and then when you select 'C' it should include 'Extend Volume' which will give you the opportunity to increase 'C' into the now unallocated space left by deleting 'D'.

[amintha1992]

Also, an FYI I wouldn't put OCZ drives in an array. 

noted but dont care

[amintha1992]

Watch this video. 

It's not a raid, it's just adding two partitions together: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d69k-6bo-0E

And this way they don't have to be the same. 

 

Edit: This is probably better:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/45439-63-merging-drives-win7-deleting-data

One you see your second drive in disc management right click and press 'Delete Volume' should remove 'D' and then when you select 'C' it should include 'Extend Volume' which will give you the opportunity to increase 'C' into the now unallocated space left by deleting 'D'.

problem is every where i read about RAID 0 it says i will get the total space of the 2 drives ( 1+1 = 2) so are you sure that RAID 0 will only give me 256GB?

[Sheldon_King]

Why would it not give me more space? Its raid 0 so it should give me 256+250 = 500gb? Am I wrong?

Or is it because its not the save drive?

 

No, what raid 0 is it shares each drive by putting 1's on drive 1 and 0's on drive 2. This is why raid 0 is fast. 

Which means it will take the smallest size drive and make it the drive capacity. 

So, if you had a 256gb and a 250. The drive will end up being 250GB after adding it to a raid 0. 

Also watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE7Bfw9lFfs

It's always best to get the same drive, with the same chip.

Also, an FYI I wouldn't put OCZ drives in an array. 

I can't tell from your answer if you are just not good at explaining it, or if you don't know how it works. (Not trying to be negative, but your answer does not sound right). 

 

The easiest way to tell him would be RAID 0 capacity will be the smallest volume multiplied by the number of drives. RAID 0 with a 1TB and 3 3TB drives would be 4TB, same as a 256GB and 250GB would be 500GB. These numbers are the metric volume though, not the binary (you would get 400000MB and 50000MB respectively). 

 

Why would it not give me more space? Its raid 0 so it should give me 256+250 = 500gb? Am I wrong?

Or is it because its not the save drive?

It has nothing to do with it not being the same drive. To get the capacity of a RAID 0 array, multiply the capacity of the smallest drive by the number of drives. For example, say you put 4 drives in an array and they are 250GB, 500GB, 1TB and 250GB. Your array will be 931GB in size (same as a 1TB drive). If you are using a 250GB and a 256GB you get a 500GB array. I would not count on it being massively faster than your current one though, nor fault tolerant. The minimum that I would suggest for fault tolerance on SSDs would be a RAID 5 array (you get 2/3 capacity and can loose 1 drive without loosing any data). 

If you are only looking for more space, just put another drive (HDD or SSD is up to you) and use it as a separate partition. This will give you fault tolerance for DATA, but not for the OS (You can loose the DATA drive without loosing the OS, or inversely can loose the boot drive without loosing the data). 

[X1XNobleX1X]

problem is every where i read about RAID 0 it says i will get the total space of the 2 drives ( 1+1 = 2) so are you sure that RAID 0 will only give me 256GB?

Yeah sorry, Not sure what I was thinking. I actually have a raid 0 and yes it does give the capacity of 1+1.

I was probably thinking of raid 1. 

[Sheldon_King]

Yeah sorry, Not sure what I was thinking. I actually have a raid 0 and yes it does give the capacity of 1+1.

I was probably thinking of raid 1. 

RAID 1 gives the total volume of the smallest drive, but also gives fault tolerance. 

RAID 0 gives the volume of the smallest drive multiplied by the number of drives. No fault tolerance. 

RAID 5 gives the volume of the double the smallest drive, with a hotspare drive. Allows for one failure. 

RAID 6 is the same as RAID 5 but with 2 fault drives. 

 

You answered as if RAID 1 was being used. 

[amintha1992]

Yeah sorry, Not sure what I was thinking. I actually have a raid 0 and yes it does give the capacity of 1+1.

I was probably thinking of raid 1. 

 

 

RAID 1 gives the total volume of the smallest drive, but also gives fault tolerance. 

RAID 0 gives the volume of the smallest drive multiplied by the number of drives. No fault tolerance. 

RAID 5 gives the volume of the double the smallest drive, with a hotspare drive. Allows for one failure. 

RAID 6 is the same as RAID 5 but with 2 fault drives. 

 

You answered as if RAID 1 was being used. 

so at the end of the day . 

 

if i get a 240GB and a 256GB i will have 240+256 = 480GB of space?  and double the theoretical performance ?

[X1XNobleX1X]

so at the end of the day . 

 

if i get a 240GB and a 256GB i will have 240+256 = 480GB of space?  and double the theoretical performance ?

Yes

[amintha1992]

Yes

thanks.... 

 

one more question.

 

how to do i get in to the RAID setup when the PC is booting ? is it CTRL+i ? i tried this didnt work. 

i have already changed the SATA controller mode to RAID from AHCI

[brob]

RAID 1 gives the total volume of the smallest drive, but also gives fault tolerance. 

RAID 0 gives the volume of the smallest drive multiplied by the number of drives. No fault tolerance. 

RAID 5 gives the volume of the double the smallest drive, with a hotspare drive. Allows for one failure. 

RAID 6 is the same as RAID 5 but with 2 fault drives. 

 

You answered as if RAID 1 was being used. 

 

Is not RAID 5 the volume of the smallest drive times the (number of drives - 1)?

[Sheldon_King]

Is not RAID 5 the volume of the smallest drive times the (number of drives - 1)?

I guess it could be if you  were using more than 3 drives in the array. In the smallest array for RAID 5, you get 2/3 capacity (if you are running 3 1TB drives, you get 2TB usable space).  

thanks.... 

 

one more question.

 

how to do i get in to the RAID setup when the PC is booting ? is it CTRL+i ? i tried this didnt work. 

i have already changed the SATA controller mode to RAID from AHCI

Once RAID mode is enabled, you will have to wait for the BIOS screen to pass, and then it will show the RAID splash screen, and that is when you hit control+I. You may have to hit it more than one time to get it to register (or at least I have to on my asus board). 

 

 

 

so at the end of the day . 

 

if i get a 240GB and a 256GB i will have 240+256 = 480GB of space?  and double the theoretical performance ?

Yes on Volume, but no on double. Read and Write gets increased, about 1.8x performance (at least it was on my 4 disk array). The Random read and write operations do not get any improvement though. 

[brob]

then how do i make the 2 drives into 1 such a way that i will get double the capacity. i dont care about redundancy. ill be doing backups anyway  

 

If your RAID controller supports JBOD, you can use that.

 

But the simplest method is to leave the drives separate and simply add the new drive to your Windows My Computer Library. This isn't fully transparent to the user in that the new drive will be one or more folders in the Library.

[amintha1992]

I guess it could be if you  were using more than 3 drives in the array. In the smallest array for RAID 5, you get 2/3 capacity (if you are running 3 1TB drives, you get 2TB usable space).  

Once RAID mode is enabled, you will have to wait for the BIOS screen to pass, and then it will show the RAID splash screen, and that is when you hit control+I. You may have to hit it more than one time to get it to register (or at least I have to on my asus board). 

 

 

 

Yes on Volume, but no on double. Read and Write gets increased, about 1.8x performance (at least it was on my 4 disk array). The Random read and write operations do not get any improvement though. 

hence theoretical performance....