Explain raid once more

[anupamsps]

hi all,
this is my first post in the forum. I hope we will have a great time here.
Here is my question. Please explain to me what is raid. I am listing my pc config:
1. p5n32 E sli m/b
2. core 2 duo E6600 (2.4)

please explain to me how raid perform. will there be any performance gain the how. i can see there is lot raid option available in my board. which one should i choose.

any walk through will really be appreciated.
thanks

 

[Daveskater]

well i think that somewhere on the forum there's a stickied thread that explains raid but i won't guarantee it

as far as i can remember RAID splits files across hard drives if you have 2 of them so that both drives are reading and writng at the same time so it makes things twice as fast

or something like that anyway

it'll be on wikipedia.org somewhere i expect

i'm still on IDE for my drives so that's about all i know, but what drives do you have? i don't really need to know about the cpu for hard drive issues

 

[raybay]

The problem with Raid is even more important though... when something fails in a Raid machine, everything can fail... you can have a temporary disaster on your hands... and accessing the second drive is not the simple thing that you expect it will be.

 

[LinkedKube]

Dont let raid scare you. For the amount of people that use raid there are few that have failing drives. The stories you hear about are the 2-3 out of maybe 30 raid users. I dont know why people push the failing part so hard. Although it is possible, its just not as common as the hype makes it seem. All electronics fail right. Just make sure you buy quality drives. I think the failure rate in general electronics is about 10% with mechanical parts right? So there you go.

 

[raybay]

There are good reasons fog going with RAID. The most obvious is redundancy, and the ability to combine several physical discs into one large "virtual" drive. You also gain through performance improvements.

But too often new users of RAID do not understand RAID. The most common misunderstanding is that it replaces backups. RAID is NOT a substitute for
having a good backup system. You can setup RAID levels so that your system is immune to data loss from single-disk failures. But RAID will not enable you to recover easily from a failure. In fact, it can be much more difficult to recover from the "rm -rf" failure. .
, but RAID will not allow you to recover from an accidental bootstrap ("rm -rf") failue.

What is more, RAID will not help you preserve your data if the server holding the RAID itself is lost, as in a natural disaster.

What RAID does do is to allow you to keep systems up and running, in case of a single hard disk failure or other hardware problems.

Just remember that RAID, by itself, is not a complete safety solution... and you better know what you are doing to make the recovery.

Where we see problems is when the amateur technician sets up a beautiful RAID system, but then doesn't have a clue on how to maintain it, or to recover from a disaster such as a lightning strike. You should never consider your system as having a full data safety system... and you better know your stuff... practice and study, to prepare for failures.

I think it is quite funny to see gamers and hobbyists with full RAID systems. I think those are for bragging rights. Some things are just made to sell, not to use. RAID is one.

RAID should be considered a tool of certified Network Administrators, not home gamers. There are better solutions for the home or small office users... and that is a real backup system

Too often RAID is offered as a solution to performance issues. While RAID can indeed be a choice someone is seeking, you would be unwise to think of it as the technical answer. It could get you fired. RAID is only one solution, and only to a few performance issues.

Just as with most computer "solutions" the more complex it is, the more complete must be your knowledge and exprience. If you have not worked on several RAID systems... If you have not taken the certification exam, to no advertise yourself as a RAID whiz.

 

[LinkedKube]

I dont use my raid setup for backup. I'm using it for the performance boost. I also have a 300Gb maxtor for data recovery...just in case, yep there is always a chance your drive can crap on you. I had to do a lot of research before my first raid set up(which is the one I currently have) because of the issues of data recover, disk failure etc. In basic computer usage I don't notice any difference, but in large capacity files, and games I definately notice a difference.

Raybay The only thing I partly disagree with you on is the raid systems for gamers, and bragging rights(although its kinda off topic) I think people only go through the trouble of a raid set up for the performance boost. Is there any other reason? Most gamers already have a kicka** system before they install raid anyway. So the bragging rights thing is kinda off the wall to me.

Although I'm no raid whiz(yet) I do research, and I'm sure you know it as well that disk failure is quite low compared to the amount of people that actually raid anything in their system.

 

[CCT]

There is a LOT of confusion regarding the benefits of Raid 0.

One 2-drive configuration that has some benefit is main drive having about 256 Mb virtual memory assigned and the second drive having 1.5 times the system board RAM.

Thus, on loading XP for instance, the main drive virtual is fully utilized and the second drive uses its' virtual while the main drive runs programs.


At least, this is the way I understand it.

With raid 0, the drives both write BUT the virtual memory is also written to both so the drive arms are doing a bit of seeking from program to virtual memory.

Any clarification on this is welcome.

thx

 

[raybay]

You are correct. Failures amount to just under 14 percent after three years of use in low activity corporate settings... and 32.3% for five years... I suspect gamers drive are a big higher due to the speed and heat... but not much. Some of that failure rate is due to the magnetic media peeling off at a higher rate after five years as they age.

Where we see the dramatic difference is in the 10,000 rpm drives which have a failure rate in RAID drives at nearly three times the rate of 7,200 rpm drives. One thing for sure, as the true gamers focus on more, better, and gooder speeds, the failure rates leap up due to heat... but that seems to be more focused on motherboards, CPU's and fan cooling issues.

SCSI drives are still the drives to have for reliability, but they are not much good to a gamer.

 

[LinkedKube]

right i read about the scsi drives, very reliable, but not geared towards high capacity seek time.

 

[SNGX1275]

well i think that somewhere on the forum there's a stickied thread that explains raid but i won't guarantee it

Yes. Its at the top of this forum (storage & networking) actually.

 

[anupamsps]

Thank you guys, a lot. It helps

 

[Daveskater]

Yes. Its at the top of this forum (storage & networking) actually.

thanks sometimes i imagine things so wasn't quite sure haha