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Computer Discussion => Hardware Discussion => Topic started by: ingeborgdot on July 15, 2007, 14:10 hrs

Title: Question on raid 1?
Post by: ingeborgdot on July 15, 2007, 14:10 hrs
My mobod will support many different types of raid so that is not a problem.  My question is about raid and the os.  What would be the best way to do it.  I don't want any other type of raid so don't go there.  Any way should I put the os on a whole seperate drive and raid the the other two drives or should I partition the drive and do it that way?  Any advice?  Thanks.
Title: Re: Question on raid 1?
Post by: Mark H on July 15, 2007, 14:31 hrs
For RAID 1, the RAID will have the size of the smallest hard drive. The best advice is to dedicate 2 equal size hard drives to the RAID 1 array. You could put the OS on the RAID drives since you can partition RAID arrays just like a normal drive or just put it on a third drive like your first option listed.

Mark H
Title: Re: Question on raid 1?
Post by: ingeborgdot on July 15, 2007, 14:39 hrs
I have always in the past just used two hard drives and partitioned putting os on one and docs etc on the other.  What difference in installation would there be with one separate hd for os and the other two for the docs? 
Title: Re: Question on raid 1?
Post by: Mark H on July 15, 2007, 14:46 hrs
There is nothing wrong with either method. You just have to have the RAID drivers available when you install Windows if you put it on a RAIDed drive. As to differences, you won't notice much difference. Either method is fine.

Mark H
Title: Re: Question on raid 1?
Post by: ingeborgdot on July 15, 2007, 15:10 hrs
Would there be any benefit at all by using a separate hd for the os?  If so, how would I go about installing it this way as I have never done it this way before?
Title: Re: Question on raid 1?
Post by: Mark H on July 15, 2007, 16:01 hrs
A separate hard drive for the OS will allow you to have the OS on one drive and the swap file on the RAID drive. You install the OS on the separate hard drive just like any other. Have the two similar hard drives set up as a RAID 1 in the motherboard BIOS. Leave a third drive alone and when you go to install the OS, select the alone drive as the destination.

Whether you put the OS on the RAID drive or a separate single drive is really a preference. I personally like the OS on a single drive with all my data on the RAID 1 array. It really comes down to a personal preference.

Mark H
Title: Re: Question on raid 1?
Post by: ingeborgdot on July 15, 2007, 16:27 hrs
Will having the swap file on the raid drive improve performance.?
Title: Re: Question on raid 1?
Post by: Mark H on July 15, 2007, 18:24 hrs
It will improve performance a little if you have your applications on the OS drive. When using an application that needs to access the disk at the same time Windows needs to access the swap file, speed would be improved by the swap file being on a separate drive than the application accessing the disk.

The performance increase will be small and probably isn't worth investing in a third hard drive. If your RAID controller fails, you won't lose Windows if it is on a separate drive.

Like I said, it is a personal preference thing. If you want to save money, go with two drives in RAID 1 and then partition it into OS and DATA partitions. If you want to save more money, go with one drive and no RAID and then backup to an external drive regularly. As you can see, your budget and personal preferences are the deciding factor. There is nothing wrong with any of the options discussed in this thread.

One thing to note is that a RAID is not a replacement for backing up your data to an external drive. If a power surge or other event takes out both your RAID drives, your data is lost if it is not backed up on a separate detached drive.

Mark H