Why run Raid? - Overclock.net

hs101 · 1 Week Ago

Hey guys, I just want to clarify something. Is there any advantage running multiple hard drives in raid other than have more space.

The reason why I ask this is because practically everyone has multiple hard drives in raid and I have no idea why (there are people that buy 4 x 1tb HDs). I can't possibly find a way to fill up my 1 tb hard drive, yet 2 or more.

I understand that there are people that need the space or could find ways to use the space but it seems as if practically everyone is running a Raid system and I just want to know if there is any advantage of doing this other than the extra hard drive space.

Thanks guys

JimmyYoshi · 1 Week Ago

Generally it has faster transfer speeds.

kevingreenbmx · 1 Week Ago

Raid 0 not only gives you more space, but it gives you lots more speed. :-)

you can read and write both disks at once so you are not limited as much by the number of heads.

x2s3w4 · 1 Week Ago

Yes, you can either use RAID0 to run faster, RAID1 for parity to create a constant back up and on and on. There are many as reasons to run RAID as there are different RAID arrays. There are many many RAID versions. RAID0 RAID1,RAID5,RAID10,RAID0+1, and sooooooo many more.

Mygaffer · 1 Week Ago

Why run RAID?

Screen shot aside, some people want a transparent backup, so they run RAID 1. In a RAID 1 array data is written bit for bit the same on each member drive. That way if a drive fails the user experiences no downtime and no data loss.
RAID 0 is called a stripe. In a RAID 0 array data is distributed to all discs in the array in chunks, so that you can utilize the read and write speed of all discs combined. Like my RAID 0 above.
RAID 5 is a combination of the above. You get increased performance with fault tolerance. The most simple RAID 5 would be a three disc array, where one disc is a parity disc, if one of the drives fail than the array will stiff function with the remaining two, although performance would then suffer.
There are more levels of RAID, nested levels, etc., but that is a bit more advanced for a beginner. Go and read wikipedia's page on RAID for more information.

mr. biggums · 1 Week Ago

most people on here are running raid0 which basically uses a couple drives on one for faster access speed(too keep it simple) others with the multiple 1tb drives are either short stroking them and having them in raid 0 or running raid 5 too keep there back ups safe. then theres raid 1 but since i can barely remember my name right now i cant even recall what it is.
there's a few other ones as well but i doubt you will see any of those on here there more business use.

eflyguy · 1 Week Ago

RAID 0 does not give faster access times, it gives higher transfer rates, which are not very noticeable in real-world use, except perhaps when copying large amounts of data. I rarely move data around in the system, it's either going out to external drives or a network device, so there's no benefit there for me.

Short stroking will decrease access times slightly, and is more noticeable. Has nothing to do with RAID, but you can RAID multiple short-stroked drives to make up for smaller drive capacity.

I have moved from dual SSD in RAID-0 back to single, and am switching my RAID-0 arrays to RAID-1 as I move drives around. The benefits are not noticeable in any applications I use, so I might as well get some hardware redundancy out of my investments - and use the second SSD in another system where it will make a huge difference..
..a

hs101 · 1 Week Ago

So theoretically can't I raid several low capacity (high speed hard drivers) to increase the speed of transferring files instead of buying multiple 1tb hard drives?