Simple RAID performance question

[ltww]

Would it be quicker to use 2x40GB ATA133 drives using RAID or would a single 80GB ATA133 be just as fast?

THX

[Jon]

If you're considering RAID 0 then two 40GB would definately be faster. Depending on what you use your PC for will determine whether or not that speed will be noticeable to you though.

[ltww]

would gaming and general web browsing benifit from the performance?

[Jon]

Web browsing would gain absolutely nothing from it.

Gaming would a little. Loads maps and textures quicker than a single drive but after that, no difference.

[mdcomp]

RAID is faster for writing, but slower for reading. For games and progs normal is better, but if you write a lot of files then RAID is better. For me normal would be better...

[Colin]

RAID 0 is one of the most missunderstood and missused items in the hardware community. Unless you are working with large files most of the time as in video editing, you don't want it. For the average user, RAID 0 will decrease your boot times, loading of programs and large fills such as maps mentioned above, but the increased seek time will slow almost everything else down. A single fast drive is the best option for most folks. If you really want speed, go with a single SCSI drive. You can also pick up some speed by running your swap file on a second drive.

For more information on RAID, read the RAID Optimization Guide (http://www.itcp.net/~awsh/Speed_Demonz/IDE_RAID/RAID_01.htm)

[nikhsub1]

How do you change which drive your pagefile is on?

[mrstatzer]

Pagefile question was totally off subject of thread, but will answer anyway. I'm assuming you are running Windows xp. Go to control panel, then system. Select Advanced tab, under performance, click select. Then click advanced tab. Then under virtual memory, click change, then select your drive you want the page file on, and click apply your way out. Will require a reboot to take effect, I think.

[Henry Rollins II]

RAID 0 gives gives really good performance values in benchmark programs. :D Propably this is a good enough reason for at least some users.

Other than that, I can only agree with mr. Colin.

RAID isn´t really a workstation solution at all, it is supposed to be used in servers that handle enormous amounts of data.
RAID 0 really is a bad storage solution for a home PC, unless you have a server that backs up your files pretty often. If one drive fails, you loose everything.

It is intresting to see that RAID has become a sales argument for home PC motherboards. This feature can be of use though - even if you not intend to use RAID. Some motherboards allow you to shift between the raid function and a standard IDE function.
If that is not possible, you can still use single drives: Configure the adapter to have a separate array for each drive.

regards,
Henry.