Debating Raid Again

Hello,

So I have 3 750gb HDs in my computer and I am debating setting up Raid. I have been having major slowdowns with my computer based on the hard drive and I thought that Raid my offer a solution. I know with Raid 0 there are security issues, however I have used Raid 0 in the past briefly with no issues except for a hard drive failure (which was weird because it was still functional). I don't have the money for SSDs so Raid would be my only option for improving disc performance. Should I go with Raid or is there another way to improve my disc performance?

What I will be using my PC for (HDD read/write intensive):
- Recording/rendering 1080p gameplay/videos
- Streaming
- Moving large files between drives
- Games (15+gbs in size)

 

Get a SSD... That will solve EVERYTHING.

 

Because I think you didn't read:

If I wasn't precise enough, I don't have enough for a 750+gb ssd...

 

Raid won't dramatically improve your issue with ui slowdowns. It really only helps with large file transfers of a sequential nature.

However if you are strapped for cash, a good solution is thus.
1. Short stroke your HDD partition which has the OS to roughly 75-80 gigabytes. This will give better random performance for a snappier UI. Leave the remainder of that HDD untouched unless you absolutely need it.
2. RAID0 the remaining 2 HDDs for bulk file storage.

This solution should give you a noticeable improvement to your current setup without spending more money, provided you are disciplined with your file management. (I.e. keep the OS partition as lean and crap free as possible, offload the large files and programs to the RAID0 array)

 

A 7200 RPM HDD will work fine for you uses. You have to get to some pretty serious rendering before you have issues with that setup. I began with this setup and had no issues with the HDD keeping up. No RAID necessary.

 

Here's my take if you use Windows 7 as example when you start to fill up the HDD to capacity it will tell you it is full RED bar status never go beyond that status like what Marksman30k says on his number 1 reply. But I would do the same for the other two but I wouldn't RAID them if they contain different files and your using them for storage a RAID will not protect it or fix it. I have in my Tower Cosair Obisdian 14 3-tb drives in it right now and none of them are RAID as they contains different files and movies and are mainly for Storage and NAS streaming when needed. With my needs and maybe yours a RAID will not improve speed but keeping your HDD from the FULL capacity RED will help it read/write better and most likely help with access time. IMO

I would say the first part #1 is right overfilling a HDD will decrease it's Read/Write/Access time thus causing delay for access to use the HDD properly not filling past the RED warning status helps keep a drive running properly. As for #2 if they have different files on different HDD doing a raid is not a very good use of their HDD resouces and would mean they would need 4 HDD just to do the RAID not a very good way to go. RAID are best done on Server since all data between drives are the same but doing what they are doing it won't help or benefit them.