Mixed RAID

[fw2004]

Hi;
I have a system with Asus P5AD2E mobo running RAID 0 with 2 (SATA) HDD's.
I am considering trying out the Windows Vista beta, but afraid that installing in on a partition of my RAID system, I may trash the whole thing.

If I purchase a single SATA HDD, could I mix the single drive with RAID 0?
If possible, this will give the safest condition, since Vista will be on a stand-alone drive, not the RAID system.

A second question on RAID 0: Do I really have and speed advantage using RAID? I did it because I was told that it would make my system significantly faster for HDD access. But I have never run this system with any other config, so I really don't know.

Thanks for any advice/help

FW

 

[Shizat]

You could put a separate single HDD for use "mixed" as you put it.

Vista shouldn't harm it, but I understand your concern...

GO here for RAID Definitions:
http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,290660,sid5_gci214332,00.html

Raid 0 is a Stripe. If you remove 1 drive from the array, you will ruin the entire stripe.
However, if you had been using Raid 1, you could remove a drive withour fear of loss of data.

To answer your second question, in a Stripe you have a somewhat speed advantage. Some would say not enough. In Raid 1 you would lose some speed during write, but gain speed on the reading. In Raid 0, you gain speed on both read and write sides, but it depends on your drive and controller how much speed is exactly gained.

I would venture to guess that in Raid 0 you wouldn't gain more than a 33% speed increase than by default.

Get a program like hd_speedtest.exe and find out for yourself...

 

[fw2004]

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll go with the separate HDD for Vista, at least if I start with the beta. If I wait until the release next year, I will probably use the current setup.

FW

 

[Shizat]

Good Idea. Especially for the Beta.. I love the media center in Vista. So that's what I use it for, is my media center...