What to do with these 4 Drives...

[MoonPig]

Hey,

Might be getting myself 4x 750GB Samsung Spinpoint F1's for a VERY reasonable price. So, i need ideas.

At the moment, i have a 500GB Black and 750GB Green. The Black is split 195GB (OS+Programs) and 290GB (Games). Then the Green is 600/700GB full of media (Films, Music, TV etc.). This setup works great for me, means i can format the OS without the need of moving files .

So how should i split 3,000GB of space?

As far as i can tell, i have 4 options:

Disk 1 - Raid 0 (2250GB of Raid 0)
Disk 2 - Raid 0
Disk 3 - Raid 0
Disk 4 - Storage (750GB of Media)

Disk 1 - Matrix Raid (0+1) - (1500GB Raid 0)
Disk 2 - Matrix Raid (0+1)
Disk 3 - Matrix Raid (0+1) - (750GB Raid 1)
Disk 4 - Matrix Raid (0+1)

Disk 1 - Raid 0 (3000GB Raid 0)
Disk 2 - Raid 0
Disk 3 - Raid 0
Disk 4 - Raid 0

Disk 1 - Raid 0 (1500GB Raid 0)
Disk 2 - Raid 0
Disk 3 - Raid 1 (750GB Raid 1)
Disk 4 - Raid 1

I need ideas, basically.

I'd still like to keep my partition idea, but im unsure if thats possible with raid...

I've searched google, and it seems 3 of these in Raid0 should fetch about 300MB/s.

Also, so theres no confusion, i will be selling my Black and Green. These Sammy's are a replacement.

Thanks

[GoNz0]

raid 5 ?

[jim]

Yeah, RAID 5 them. Then partition some of it for your OS, and do whatever you want with the rest.

RAID 0 is asking for trouble, and I doubt the performance gain will be worth it.

Question is, how are you going to back them up?

[Behemoth]

Why would you need that much space ? Thats insane !

[shbris]

Disk 1 - Matrix Raid (0+1) - (1500GB Raid 0)
Disk 2 - Matrix Raid (0+1)
Disk 3 - Matrix Raid (0+1) - (750GB Raid 1)
Disk 4 - Matrix Raid (0+1)

surely:
Disk 1 - Matrix Raid (0+1) - (1500GB Raid 01)
Disk 2 - Matrix Raid (0+1)
Disk 3 - Matrix Raid (0+1)
Disk 4 - Matrix Raid (0+1)
4 disks ---> 1 drive

pointless though, +1 for raid 5

or just 4 single drives is probably just as safe as it takes away the inherent risks of using any raid setup

[MoonPig]

What would Raid 5 be, in a break down?

As far as Raid0, i know alot of people that have been running that for a long time, no issues. And i've never had a Hard-Drive fail on me...

[scaryjim]

Raid5 would be:

Disk 1 - Raid 5 (2250GB Raid 5)
Disk 2 - Raid 5
Disk 3 - Raid 5
Disk 4 - Raid 5

Here's an explanation that I can just about understand: simple.wikipedia/Raid5 (raid really isn't my speciality...)

p.s. - I should say that I tried writing a basic description of raid 5, failed, and went to look at simple wikipedia myself - you may find the real wikipedia article more illuminating than I do...

[MoonPig]

Just found this.

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.co...&postcount=175

rockdude14 - 4 X 750GB Spinpoint F1 In RAID5 - 124.1 MB/sec Avg

Min. 111.5 MB/Sec
Max. 129.4 MB/Sec
Avg. 124.1 MB/Sec
Access Time 10.5ms
Burst Rate 305.3 MB/sec

124.1MB/s doesn't sound too exciting ...

[jim]

What on earth are you going to use that speed for though? Seriously? SSDs have proved that sequential read speeds really aren't that relevant.

Basically RAID-5 means one disk fails, everything's fine. Two disks fail, you lose everything.

RAID-0 means one disk fails, you lose everything.

[Terbinator]

They're also old drives don't forget.

[dirky]

Move them on with a markup and buy newer hdds

[smargh]

2 as regular drives.

The other 2 are to back up the data & store it off-line or off-site

[MoonPig]

I'd love to use SSDs, but i can justify the cost to cover my size needs for OS + Programs + Games (About 300GB). I wouldn't be able to just cover the OS+Programs OR Games either, i'd just wish i could have both, lol.

Mechanical Drives are my only route. I can manage 110MB/s on my WD Black and my WD Green is enough for my Media needs. So, i'd aim to Raid0 3 of the drives so that i can see some improvement.

However, since this topic, im having second thoughts... lol.

[Terbinator]

I don't know how much your getting the drives for exactly, but the new Intel SSD's are out later this year which will be faster, more capacious at the same or cheaper price points than now - maybe put the money you would be saving into a SSD pot ?

[shbris]

how cheap exactly are they gonna be? five finger discount cheap...?

personally, i'd take two of them then just put them in as individual drives, copying things over to one drive or the other isn't a hassle, movies on one and other videos on the other or something

whats the old expression: if you need to ask about RAID, you don't need it