Raid 0 between IDE and SATA

[FLuff_eei]

Hi guys,

I have a horrible feeling I am about to parade my ignorance in front of the community, but never mind. I currently have a 250Gb IDE Maxtor Hdd and am approaching full capacity. I therefore need to get a second drive, and definitely want to get a SATA one this time. I have a pretty good system, lacking only in the fact it's still single core (grr) and hdd access seems to be a noticeable week point. So, I was wondering if it is possible to run RAID 0 across 1 IDE and 1 SATA drive. I am aware that this would then be limited to IDE transfer speed but I was lead to believe that this is in no way saturated and so shouldn't be too bad. So, can I or can't I?

Sorry for the wall of text,
Fluff_eei

[arthurleung]

If you want to RAID0 across them, you will need to first clear out the data on your IDE harddrive.

You could run the 2 drives seperately. I think you got the wrong idea that if you have more than one harddrive you must run RAID?

[FLuff_eei]

At the risk of sounding childishly defensive, I don't have the wrong idea about RAID, I know I could run them separately. However, I had completely forgot that you had to clean out the data on disk one (last time I ran RAID0 was with two 40Gb drives and the performance increase was pointless copared to the hassle of shoddy south(?)bridge RAID controller). So, anyone know if it is possible, assuming I could backup the stuff I want?

Fluff_eei

[arthurleung]

Yes, Nvidia NVRaid can do it, if you have a motherboard with NF4 or higher. Or you could buy an IDE to SATA converter to turn your old harddrive into a SATA harddrive then use any RAID chipset you want.

[Blitzen]

At the risk of sounding childishly defensive, I don't have the wrong idea about RAID, I know I could run them separately. However, I had completely forgot that you had to clean out the data on disk one (last time I ran RAID0 was with two 40Gb drives and the performance increase was pointless copared to the hassle of shoddy south(?)bridge RAID controller). So, anyone know if it is possible, assuming I could backup the stuff I want?

Fluff_eei

No offence , but if the 'performance increase was pointless' last time you set up a RAID array then you did something wrong.
I use RAID 0 (used to use the 2 drives seperately) and got a 28% speed increase.

Check your HD speeds here against like for like: http://www.simplisoftware.com/Public...request=HdTach

Just download, run and compare.

[FLuff_eei]

No offence , but if the 'performance increase was pointless' last time you set up a RAID array then you did something wrong.
I use RAID 0 (used to use the 2 drives seperately) and got a 28% speed increase.

Crikey, i must've done something wrong in that case, swear I never saw anything like that sort of increase. I've got an A8R-MVP motherboard, so ATi chipset unfortunately, not nVidia, ah well. Sorely tempted to buy two 250Gb Seagate 7200.10's and run them RAID0 now, would make copying files across easier, just need to persuade myself to spend £100 heh.

Thanks so far,
Fluff_eei

[ikonia]

things to keep in mind.

1.) if you run raid0 and you lose a hard disk - all your data is worthless and gone off both disks.

2.) most people will not see any performance increase on a raid0 partition on any home PC kit (I know a post said above he got a %28 incrase) but hardware raid devices built on PC motherboards are not quality and in realiy doest really do hardware raid.

Forget about it and just buy a second disk to store your data.

[SiM]

Forget about it and just buy a second disk to store your data.

I agree. I used to use raid 0 on nf4 pc. You get higher benchmark speeds and files copy a little faster with other drives; but thats it... Not worth it at all. Windows loading speed is the same everything else is the same. When you want to upgrade motherboard you have all sorts of problems as the array may not be compatible with the new board.

[P0!S0N]

i used to have a 80 GB SATA with another 50 GB IDE an they worked perfectley

[FLuff_eei]

Thanks everyone, I think I'll just get the one drive and leave them as they are. Anyone know if windows startup time and other palpable things will be affected by imaging the stuff on my IDE drive over to the SATA one and then using that as system and IDE for storage, or is it negligible?

Fluff_eei

[Agent]

most people will not see any performance increase on a raid0 partition on any home PC kit

Not many users of HEXUS are your average PC home users though
I use RAID 0 on NVRaid and it makes a huge difference for what I do (rendering / encoding / huge texture editing ect).
While if one disk dies you'll loose data, yes, knowing this is the first step in making sure it doesn’t happen. When you know RAID 0 offers no redundancy, you would be mad to store important data on there with no backup.

A question that always springs to mind when people talk about RAID 0 arrays dieing, is how many people actually have data backed up of their main, single HD ?

(I know a post said above he got a %28 incrase) but hardware raid devices built on PC motherboards are not quality and in realiy doest really do hardware raid.

Depends on the motherboards RAID chip. NV raid isnt that bad to be honest. Silicon image based chips are a bit dodgy sometimes - I wouldn’t be happy using one. Highpoint cards also provide decent budget RAID.

I would argue while RAID isn’t aimed at home users, hardware based RAID (££££) cards are not aimed at power users, but more towards servers. With CPU’s of stupid processing ability today, it’s mad not to utilize them if a user wants RAID. Provided the ‘software’ RAID has solid driver implementation, I really don’t see any major downsides.

[Agent]

Thanks everyone, I think I'll just get the one drive and leave them as they are. Anyone know if windows startup time and other palpable things will be affected by imaging the stuff on my IDE drive over to the SATA one and then using that as system and IDE for storage, or is it negligible?

Fluff_eei

Newer SATA drivers are usually more mature hardware wise than their older IDE counterparts, thus any increase going from IDE to SATA is usually due to other factors.
SATA has other nice features such as hot-swapping ability, sexy cables and independent channels, but it’s a bit like putting racing tyres on an average car. It wont go any faster, as the wheels aint whats limiting the car, it’s the engine.
In the case of HD’s, it’ll be the controller card on the drive that limits transfer rate, not the interface to the motherboard.

[Captain Fizz]

Anyone know if windows startup time and other palpable things will be affected by imaging the stuff on my IDE drive over to the SATA one and then using that as system and IDE for storage, or is it negligible?

As the SATA Drive is a newer drive - Usually they will be faster.
(Whether due to physically better designed, improved firmware/board as suggested by Agent etc - Generally they are quicker)

So you'll get a bit of an increase.
Not due to being SATA - But due to the drive being newer.

[BlindMelon7]

Just get a raptor or something. From what I've heard it would be much faster than raid0, although they are expensive.

[Agent]

Just get a raptor or something. From what I've heard it would be much faster than raid0, although they are expensive.

Seek access will be quicker, but i find it very hard to belive that it will beat RAID0 on transfer rates !

[Blitzen]

things to keep in mind.

1.) if you run raid0 and you lose a hard disk - all your data is worthless and gone off both disks.

2.) most people will not see any performance increase on a raid0 partition on any home PC kit (I know a post said above he got a %28 incrase) but hardware raid devices built on PC motherboards are not quality and in realiy doest really do hardware raid.

Forget about it and just buy a second disk to store your data.

Sorry but i just dont agree.
Firstly my encoding/rendering times to a massive leap.

Secondly, when loading games like BF2 and FarCry it was also way quicker.

Seek access will be quicker, but i find it very hard to belive that it will beat RAID0 on transfer rates !

Spot on!!!
Seek access is marginally quicker from a single Raptor compared to a RADI 0 and transfer rates are definitely quicker.
Just use the link i posted and compare.

For example: 2 x Baracudas spank a single Raptor.