74GB Raptor Questions

[Mr Bob]

I am thinking about buying two of the 74GB Raptor drives because of its performance.

I am going to do a clean install of XP, and figured now would be a good time to get a fast hard drive.

Right now I have a Seagate 120GB SATA/150 drive. I want to setup the two 74GB Raptor drives on a raid, and have the old 120GB drive as a storage drive.

1) Will I be able to do this with the ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe motherboard?

It says "ICH5R with Integrated SATA and RAID 0"

2) Any places I can visit that will explain how to setup this type of configuration I want?

3) I wanted to put XP and my main programs on the Raptors, and then the 120GB will store all of my regular files. If I access these files a lot, would I still notice fast performance with these Raptors?

Anything I should know before I try this? I would also like to get a backup USB drive too, but that is sometime down the road.

 

[zebra14]

Yes, your mobo will support this. You'll go into the BIOS, activate RAID, then the SATA channels, reboot, go into the RAID setup, create the array, reboot, go into BIOS, choose boot from the array, then install Windows as you would normally, just make sure you have the RAID drivers on a floppy so you can install them when prompted in the beginning with "press F6 to install any RAID or SCSI drivers" and away you go. It will be a very fast system but with RAID 0, there will be no room for error. I applaud your decision to save your data on the 120GB drive - that way if a drive does die, worse case you loose your OS. Good luck!

 

[Mr Bob]

Thanks for the prompt response.

Do I download the RAID drivers from ASUS, then put them on a floppy?

Also, will I be safe doing this>>>

Currently I just run the 120GB drive. I will take out the 120GB drive, then insert the raptors, setup the raid, install XP and get things running.

Then I am going to hook up the 120GB drive, then transfer the files I need from the 120GB to the raptors, then format the 120GB & re-install XP on it & transfer the files from the raptors to the 120GB.

 

[DaveSimmons]

The odds of losing your data are doubled when you use RAID0 so be sure to come up with a backup strategy.

If you're doing this to improve gaming performance, click the "Storage" tab at the top of the page and read the article on the real-world performance of Raptors in RAID0.

 

[Mr Bob]

Not for gaming, but since this system is already pretty fast, I might as well start using it for that.

What I am doing kinda makes it a backup strat already. Basically, I store my important files on both drives, the raptor will hold the OS and programs, and the 120GB will contain all of the files. The raptor will also contain a backup of some of the important files on the 120GB. I plan to get a USB backup drive once the price goes down on them for extra security.

 

[Mr Bob]

Also, what kind of cable do I need to get to do this?

 

[zebra14]

Yes, you download the RAID driver file from Asus. The file may be a self-extracting one which preps the floppy disk for you. You'll also need a SATA cable for each Raptor. That's about it. There are no jumpers to set with the Raptors - each drive gets it's own cable and uses it's own SATA connector on the motherboard. Once you create the array, it will be see as one big 148GB drive which you can parition or leave as one big "C" drive.

Just keep your important data on the other non-RAID drive, just in case of catastrophic loss.

 

[Mr Bob]

The motherboard has two SATA slots. So if I want to run 3 drives, I will need a cable that will fit 2 drives on it, correct? Do they even make these? Any suggestions what to do?

 

[Mr Bob]

Another question.

I don't have any of the cables, screws, clamps, ect, should I buy each item? Or just buy the retail package?

$152 OEM http://www.newegg.com/app/view...amp;manufactory=BROWSE
$169 RETAIL http://shop4.outpost.com/product/3950078

The OEM drive w/ shipping and the secure connect cable comes out to $15 less than the retail drive.

 

[MDE]

You should get two SATA cables with your motherboard and the Raptors will take normal power connectors, so OEM should be fine.

 

[Mr Bob]

I do have a cable already, but the raptors come with a "special" cable. But the thing is... The motherboard has two SATA slots. So if I want to run 3 drives, I will need a cable that will fit 2 drives on it, correct? Do they even make these? Any suggestions what to do?

 

[Thermalrock]

i would recommend getting 1 raptor and 2 120gb drives for the same money. install xp on the raptor. it wont be much slower and youll have more gb for your files. but thats just me.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
The odds of losing your data are doubled when you use RAID0 so be sure to come up with a backup strategy.

If you're doing this to improve gaming performance, click the "Storage" tab at the top of the page and read the article on the real-world performance of Raptors in RAID0.

You dont half the MTBF of the drives by using 2 its a fallacy.

 

[Mr Bob]

Still wondering about this...

But the thing is... The motherboard has two SATA slots. So if I want to run 3 drives, I will need a cable that will fit 2 drives on it, correct? Do they even make these? Any suggestions what to do?


And, for now, 200 GB is enough space. I am cleaning up my 120GB right now, seems like I am using 100/120GBs (once it has been cleaned). Most of it is storage though!.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Mr Bob
Still wondering about this...

But the thing is... The motherboard has two SATA slots. So if I want to run 3 drives, I will need a cable that will fit 2 drives on it, correct? Do they even make these? Any suggestions what to do?


And, for now, 200 GB is enough space. I am cleaning up my 120GB right now, seems like I am using 100/120GBs (once it has been cleaned). Most of it is storage though!.

No, you can only put one drive on each SATA port. If you want to add another you'll need a PCI SATA card.

 

[Mr Bob]

That is pretty shitty. How come there are not any SATA cables that allow you to conntect two drives onto one cable?

Basically, I would need to buy an SATA card in order to use more than 2 SATA drives....

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Mr Bob
That is pretty shitty. How come there are not any SATA cables that allow you to conntect two drives onto one cable?

Basically, I would need to buy an SATA card in order to use more than 2 SATA drives....

It was designed for to eliminate jumpers and simplify installation. Just plug the cables in and you're set. Some motherboards have 6-8 SATA ports onboard, but they aren't very common.

 

[Mr Bob]

Well it seems like I will just have to buy ONE of the raptors, and continue to use the 120GB for storage.

 

[GnomeCop]

unless you really needed the space, thats a better solution anyways.

 

[Mr Bob]

It's going to be fun though trying to reformat the 120GB and figuring out how to transfer all 100GBs from one hd to another that only has space for 74GB :/

 

[Hajime]

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
The odds of losing your data are doubled when you use RAID0 so be sure to come up with a backup strategy.

If you're doing this to improve gaming performance, click the "Storage" tab at the top of the page and read the article on the real-world performance of Raptors in RAID0.

You dont half the MTBF of the drives by using 2 its a fallacy.

Yes, yes you do.

Two drives means twice the chance of failure. Or, in other words, MTBF/n, where N is the number of drives involved on the RAID-0.

3 drives means 1/3rd the MTBF. 4, 1/4th.

FYI for the OP: You might be better off with RAID-1 then RAID-0. RAID-0 only offers benefits in a limited selection of benchmarks and a -handful- of extremely disk intensive consumer uses. I highly doubt you will be dealing with art files in the multiple-gb range and whatnot, so.... However, RAID-1 offers a similar performance benefit when it comes to reads. Plus, a RAID-1 will protect you against failure of a hd.

 

[Mr Bob]

Well... setting up raid is out of the question just because I don't have enough slots for a raid.

I design templates, and have around 45GB of image files, most are around 3-15MB in size.

 

[Hajime]

Mr Bob, if most are 3-15MB in size, you will get absolutely -no- benefit from RAID-0.

You'll get a LOT more benefit from increasing ram.

 

[Mr Bob]

I have 1GB of RAM already, not sure what another GB would do performance wise.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: Hajime

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
The odds of losing your data are doubled when you use RAID0 so be sure to come up with a backup strategy.

If you're doing this to improve gaming performance, click the "Storage" tab at the top of the page and read the article on the real-world performance of Raptors in RAID0.

You dont half the MTBF of the drives by using 2 its a fallacy.

Yes, yes you do.

Two drives means twice the chance of failure. Or, in other words, MTBF/n, where N is the number of drives involved on the RAID-0.

3 drives means 1/3rd the MTBF. 4, 1/4th.

FYI for the OP: You might be better off with RAID-1 then RAID-0. RAID-0 only offers benefits in a limited selection of benchmarks and a -handful- of extremely disk intensive consumer uses. I highly doubt you will be dealing with art files in the multiple-gb range and whatnot, so.... However, RAID-1 offers a similar performance benefit when it comes to reads. Plus, a RAID-1 will protect you against failure of a hd.

The MTBF of 1 drive is (made up for the example) 100000 hours. The MTBF of 2 drives is 100000 hours...

Adding another drive doesnt make the 1st or 2nd more likely to fail, while i agree there is a small increase in risk, if the drive dont die within the 1st 2 months... they are going to last a long time.