Raid 0 Vs No Raid!

I was wandering if I were to buy a 500GB HD, and run it on a sytem normally, would that be safer than 2x 250GB HD's running on Raid 0? What I mean to ask is would the chances of HD failure be more probable in Raid 0 or just one drive. Will data recovery work just the same on two drives on Raid 0 or will recovery be impossible (ex. microsoft's system restore). What percentage increase of failures or lost data will Raid 0 have vs. one drive? Is having one drive more safer than two drives on Raid 0. I know that Raid 1 is very safe, but I dont want to buy 2 HDs where one will be sitting to back up all the data (I have external USB keys/Drives/hard copies!), what i mean is I dont want to buy 2x 250GB and only have the capacity of one 250GB drive!

PS: I read the sticky and some of my questions have been answered there, but not these obviuosly!

*****Also I'm more concerned about safety rather than performance. But if Raid 0 and no raid are the same (safety wise) I would go Raid 0.

RAID 0 is precisely twice as likely to fail as a single drive - DUH. And, if one drive fails, you lose all your data. It's that simple. Stay well clear of RAID 0, or you will regret it.

If you want to read some more there was a very good thread on this a couple of days ago here http://forumz.tomshardware.com/har [...] 29802.html . Very interesting.

Mobius ... if your single drive fails you think you won't lose your data also ??? the solution is called BACKUPS and it works great, you should give that a try instead of giving poor advice. Raid0 rules if you know what you are doin.

But think about it this way. Either way, if ONE drive fails, you lose all your data. Statistically, you are twice as likely to lose your data, but, either way, if one drive fails, All your data is gone.

Knowing this, I'd say go for the Raid 0. (even though you have two chances of losing your data.)

Normal single drive = cheap, normal performance and secure.

Raid 0 configuration = expensive, fastest performance and low security.

Raid 0 is good for gaming and other things you want to load quickly or if you're just impatient. But always have a backup disks for important data and storage.

No matter if it is RAID0, RAID1 or single drive, not having a backup is not a good thing.. controller failure van affect RAID0, RAID1 and single drive as well..

He means secure as in failure isn't as imminent. No need to mock him with that massive LOL.

When you use raid you put yourself up for potential failure because you are now relying on 2 drives as if they were one. As a poster stated above, you are basically doubling your chances of failure. Not denying the fact that one drive can crap out just as easily, but raid configurations are known to have more issues than single drive configurations.

I've got Raid 0 and have had a few problems with it myself. It's worth it only if you are willing to put up with some of the problems you may run into. Otherwise, i would just grab a single drive and have at it.

LOL! I don't think you get it. Secure as in secure. There is very secure, absolutely secure, secure secure, secure, not so secure, not secure and so on. I meant secure.

There's is a secure hard drive the one that is turned off.

Oh right, but that drive still costs more than twice what the 250 Gb does. And let me guess, this is the part where you're going to tell me that a 60% increase in price is worth a few extra FPS. If you have the budget, go for it. But if you're new to the pc world and want to play it safe, while on a budget (which is exactly what the OP is) thats the dumbest advice you could give anyone.

"LOL and raid 0 can be cheaper when compared to a differnt drive like the wd raptor its perforamnce can be beat by using 2 cheaper hd's"

So, what point are you trying to defend?

your own idiotic point that was tying to point out that you cant throwh in the wd raptor as a price comparison of course you can when you compare the price vs perfomrance of those 2 250 gig hd's that costed 70 each vs one wd raptor lol .

its obvious the above poster doesnt know **** ya its more likely to fail (still unlikely) but the performance boost will be well worth it lol

Way to go bashing the 1st person that gets it right.

RAID 0 isnt really RAID... more like AID.
RAID 1 is prob what ur looking for. If one R1 drive fails u still retain 100% functionality, hence the R(edundant) component. R0 stripes the data across 2 (or more) drives. Hence... lets say u have a 10Mb MP3 file in R0, ~5Mb will be on drive 1 and ~5Mb on drive 2. Soo... if one drive fails all ur left with is 5Mb of a file in fragments.

If u have 4x drives? u can do a combo of 0+1. That will give u the speed of 0 + the reliability of 1

bashing the first person who got it righit? ROFL more like bashign the first person who got it wrong. As if you got it right if raid 0 wasnt raid it wouldnt have the name raid 0 lol your thinking jbod which isnt a raid lol. there is multiple versions of a raid and each of them except for jbod is just as bit of a raid as raid0 they all are different of course

So in the end will one big HD have a chance (I'm making this up, just for example!) 1/1000 to fail while Raid 0 has 2/1000 (1/500) chance to fail?

*****Also I'm more concerned about safety rather than performance. But if Raid 0 and no raid are the same (safety wise) I would go Raid 0.


Stick with a single drive.

Terrifiedkiller
You keep telling me that you CAN compare the raptors. When he posted the original statement he mentioned nothing about any sort of enthusiast product. You simply stated "And raid 0 can be cheaper when compared to a differnt drive like the ed raptor its perforamnce can be beat by using to cheaper hd's"

Your spelling, not mine.

Setting that aside, you just basically told him raid 0 was cheaper than not using raid. Even though you mentioned an enthusiast drive that is priced WAY above normal HD prices. Thats the point I'm trying to get at. Now do everyone a favor and get firefox 2, use the spellchecking option and quit giving bad advice.

I have 5 hdd in my system. 2 are in RAID0, Fact is, I've been running RAID0 since 2001, and I never had any problem.

Since I have 5 hdd in my system, that means that I'm more at risk. So what. I have backup of my valuable stuff so if any or all of the 5 drives chrash at the same time, I won't loose any important files. What is so valuable? I think that personal data such as picture, video or some kind of personnal stuff. MP3s are not valuable stuff, unless you are caugh with some kind of DRM that prevent backup because thay can be found again you know where. same thing for movies... Internet is the biggest backup service, learn to use it.

So, if you can turn off your computer and the world is still running, then your data is not that important. Get 2 hdd, RAID0 them, get a smaller one as a backup drive, and synchronize your picture folder on both the array and the single drive. If you have other important stuff, just sync them too. Application like Second Copy allow just that. You simply backup what you want, no need for a backup of the OS, as it can be reinstalled, just like applications.

And if your luck is half of mine, you'll be fine for (at least)3.5 years before you'll have any problem...

Maybe you are a candidate for raid 1

This will make 2 250's have the same data so a drive failure will not effect you at all, but you get half the space... Or if you have the space you can try 4 250's in raid 1+0 for a total of 500 gigs usable

Or just go raid 0 with 2 250's and get a backup drive in an external enclosure(e sata for speed usb for compatibility) for easy backups. Also look into Second Copy 7 for easy backup's

Seeing as you've come to the correct decision about whether to implement AID0 or not, I'll help you with your current question. 250GB drives on the lowend, but the 320GB drives are the best $/GB.

RAID 0 with decent backup software installed is my choice

Everyone is talking like a drive failure in RAID0 is the same as a failure in a single drive configuration. Drives don't necessarily fail all at once. In RAID0 if one drive starts to loose it you are screwed. If, in a single drive configuration, a drive starts to fail you can, in many cases, get your data off before the drive fails completely. And if necessary, you can use programs like SpinRite etc. Try doing any type of data recovery on RAID0. Then there are the aforementioned problems with regards to a lousy raid controller, of which there are probably many, and improper windows shut downs. I don't think I would be concerned about the latter because how many times does windows lock up anyway? LOL LOL LOL enough of the LOL, we are all older than twelve aren't we? Try using the so generously provided by THG forums.