Is it possible to set up RAID on a ASUS P5Q Deluxe motherboard such that it writes half of the data to each of two hard drives? A few years ago a friend told me it was possible to use two hard drives in this manner to achieve a dramatic reduction in read/write speeds. Again, can anybody clarify or point me to a good article? Thanks, CanadaPhil
The ICH10R southbridge on the P5Q supports RAID 0/1/5/10 via up to 6 internal SATA ports. You can read about RAID here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID to determine which type of RAID suits your needs best. If you're looking to increase performance, then RAID 0 is the way to go, but it doesn't have duplication hence a failure in one drive, would take the entire array offline. RAID 1 on the other hand duplicates all information across multiple drives, providing great redundency. Best way to go about it is to setup a RAID 10 array (1+0) if you have enough spare drives.
Thanks for the info. I can't afford to do a RAID 10 (1+0) setup. I don't have any suitable hard drives and can't justify the purchase at the moment. I might be able to swing RAID 0. Is the performance enhancement worth the money? Thanks, CanadaPhil
Generally speaking, with 7200rpm HD's and especially 10,000rpm HD's you will see an increase in performance with a RAID 0 array. But don't forget that there is no particular fault tolerance on a RAID 0 array, when one drive goes the whole thing goes.
How often do RAID 0 arrays fail? I think i've owned about 8 hard drives in the past 20 years and only one has crapped out on me. Are there minor errors which I wouldn't have noticed on my single hard drive systems that would cause a RAID system to fail?
RAID 0 is dependent on hard drive life - if you've had 12.5 percent failure rate, that will inevitably increase.
do a search and find all the threads where someone posts: "oh noes, my raid 0 failed and I lost everything" followed by Mr Tad busting a cap in them for doing something so stupid. you get little gain in performance, and a lot more chances to lose data. Friends don't let anyone use RAID 0.
I use raid 0 for my gaming drive. As has been mentioned before it is not fault tolerent so make sure anything on it is backed up or easily replaced. The ICH10R has maxtrix raid which allows you to partition your drive and set up a different RAID volume on each partition also the P5Q boards have an additional (Silicon Image) RAID controller that does not require any mucking about with drivers.
Chances are if you have to ask if you should use RAID0 the answer is a definitive "No" This gives a beginner's overview with relevance to home use. Have a peek and decide for yourself whether you think it would benefit you and if it is worth the risk
