tale of 2 raptors - to raid or not to raid

[MAXIM]

Got my hands on a couple of raptors... WD360GD-00FNA0 (older versions but still fun)

Do any of you have two of these set up in a RAID 0 config? Wondering if you've experience them as independent drives and as raided drives and what your thoughts are.

I'm thinking I'm going to set these up RAID 0. Run my operating system (XP) and selected apps like games, or maybe some programs I use alot on the combined 72 gigs

the alternative is to NOT raid and set up windowsXP on one drive and fast apps on the other

What's your opinion? Raid or Not Raid

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[javierrivera]

Re: tale of 2 raptors - to raid or not to raid

Errr... I'll bet for RAID, but using linux software raid, not the bios+windows drivers one .

You know... this is a Kubuntu (a linux distro) forum, not exactly the best place to find help on how to setup windows XP .

But the advice probably holds true on windows too... use the windows software RAID. If you use one of this crappy pseudo-hardware SATA raids, expect to reinstall everything if you ever change the motherboard. Far from fail-safe in my book.

Javier.

[dibl]

Re: tale of 2 raptors - to raid or not to raid

I have a pair of the 74GB Raptors in a RAID 1 Win XP box. They've been running for over 3 years now, zero issues, as far as the drives or the RAID. Of course, I've had to re-install Win XP a couple of times, due to viral infections caused by certain family members and their web browsing/downloading habits. There's no important data of mine on that one .... :P

I also have 3 of the 150GB Raptors in this Linux box 'o drives, and I have been somewhat tempted by the possibilities of a RAID setup -- I could probably jazz up the performance with a RAID 0. But I agree with Javier -- one little problem on any drive, and the whole system is toast. So I don't think I'm going to try it.

[javierrivera]

Re: tale of 2 raptors - to raid or not to raid

The problem with RAID 1 and motherboard RAID solutions is that if the motherboard is toasted (something that happens more often than hardisk failures on my experience, specially on cheap PCs) your out of luck. You can just transfer the disk to another machine with a different motherboard, as it won't boot.

If you ever did this on a Win 2000 Server, the system fail, you tell your box that he doesn't need to worry, that you will just switch the disks to another computer and all be running back in 15 minutes, and 3 hours later found yourself installing win2K server in another computer and copying the data... you'd understand me .

From them on, on important windows system, default disk driver (not even normal motherboard ones) . Unless performance is more important than reliability, of course.

Javier.