As an IT admin I come across RAID everywhere. For servers I believe it’s a cool thing, especially when drives can be swapped while the server is on, etc.
A couple of years ago, even laptops started coming out with RAID functionality built-in. Those small and simple controllers are usually capable of doing RAID-0 (stripes) and Raid-1 (mirroring).
Many systems are put on the market with RAID switched off, which I think is a good idea. The average home user wouldn’t want to bother with the additional problems posed by RAID.
If your computer came with a RAID-capable board or extension, I recommend the following:
Don’t bother with RAID-1. It’s crap. Yes it is, and here’s why.
Mirroring drives, I tell you, for a home PC is not useful. To set up a mirror, you should have two drives of same type and capacity, ideally from the same brand. Think about it: the same brand, same capacity = same lifetime.
Today’s quality assurance procedures make products break at almost predetermined intervals. Every IT admin will agree here: The second drive is likely to die right after the first one. No, this isn’t just Murphy’s Law, this is the result of QA being done too well.
Another example; your rear break light on the left burned out. How long do you think the right one will last? (Assuming they were both the same age, such as in a new vehicle.) Smart people replace BOTH break lights. Think about it: both bulbs were exposed to the exact same hours, climate, and everything. Same brand, same type = same lifetime. And today’s QA manufacturing actually reduces the variance in manufacturing. Hence, death by design.
Another story: I have a friend working for Mercedes. They do the same with steerings. They make the steerings break at a certain mileage. They are hired and spend their entire workday every day to make sure the steering doesn’t last longer than specified. They will change the design to make it break earlier when needed. Next time you buy any car (or bring your car to the repair shop, think about this!) Can you believe it. They pay money to make sure their product becomes crappier! This is what they think will increase future sales…
OK, now that I had an opportunity to rant a little (thank you for still reading this post 😉 you get the idea. Mirroring is generally useless because the drives will die one after the other (not at the same time so you will have time to replace and restore the other. OK, it’s not completely useless technology).
But go through the steps of redoing the mirror. You will need again the same drive of same size and brand and type. Well those may not be for sale anymore…..
Another reason why RAID-1 (mirroring) is not so good. Say you have a virus and the virus kills all your files. Guess what, the raid controller deletes them automatically on both disks…duh!
Option two: Set up a RAID-0 (striped disks) AND Turbo Charge your system:
Especially desktops and laptops aren’t usually equipped with the fastests drives. But when you double it, you FEEL it!
1. Make sure that if you use a backup software that boots from CD (you don’t really need it) that it can boot and recognize the RAID controller. Chances are it won’t haha 😉
2. Make sure there is a way to load the RAID device driver when you install Windows. (yes, chances are you will need to wipe the machine.)
3. On XP you need a floppy (press F6 when installing Windows in text mode) then put in the floppy to get the RAID driver loaded
4. browse the internet to find out if you edition of Windows recognizes your RAID component. This would be the best scenario ever, no hassle.
5. Make the stripe size large, as large as possible
6. When you format the partition, make your cluster size the same size as the stripe size.
7. Beware: by using striped RAID you double the probability of data loss. That’s because either drive can fail and since most files are on both drives, if one drive fails all your files are gone for good…..
8. Since you’re smart and you make frequent backups, when (not if) one drive fails simply buy a new pair of larger and faster ones and use the survivor disk for backup!
9. Having a faster PC makes you more productive and less stressed => hence more happy.
So go ahead, switch on that RAID!!!!
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