Matrix Raid w/ 3 Raptors

Hi, Please help me out below.

Im doing a clean install and have 3(36.7gb)raptors, 16mbcache.

I have an Asus P5WD2 Premium mobo.

1st question. As far as I know, the only software raid I can do on that board is Intel MATRIX raid, or is it possible to do regular plain raid on my mobo? if so, please give explanation, links, etc...

2nd question. Unless there i can do plain raid, i will have to settle for matrix raid. With that being said, I have 3 drives. I need 3 different sections in order of importance. my os/apps and games are kind of even, i could care less about storage though.

1. OS/apps
2. Games
3. Temp Storage (I have a 200gb External Drive I use to backup my files daily)

With this being said, I know matrix raid only allows 2 arrays, so what would be the best possible setup for me using 3 hard drives? i have laid out some examples below. Please feel free to chime in or even add. Thanks guys, i appreciate it.


option 1 ~ 1st array(OS/Apps) ~~ 2nd array(partition1 Games, partition2 Storage)

option 2 ~ 1st array(partition1 OS/Apps, partition2 Games), 2nd array(Storage)

option 3 ~ 1st array(OS/Apps/Games), 2nd array(Storage)

option 4 ~ Single Drive for OS/Apps(No Raid), 2nd & 3rd Drive in Matrix Raid(1st array-Games-, 2nd array-Storage-)

If this is confusing, let me know. If you guys know of anything faster or recommened one option over the other, please help me out by giving a reason why. Thanks so much in advance, tah tah.

Option 5 ~ 3 raptors in RAID0 (OS/Apps/Games)

Use External drive for storage

PS: Intel Matrix is not a software raid as far as I know

Forget all the partitioning and run raid 10 (0+1). With those small rapters, i'd just run those in raid 0 or 10 and use another larger drive, not in raid, for data storage and backup.

Remember, in raid 0, you will only have 36 gigs total storage with the 3 drives. With raid 10, you will have around 50 gigs. And Matrix is software raid.

stunt said:

Remember, in raid 0, you will only have 36 gigs total storage with the 3 drives. With raid 10, you will have around 50 gigs. And Matrix is software raid.

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As far as I know a RAID0 gives 3*36GB since the raid is striped over all 3 discs

I'd go with a variation of (1):

Single simple drive for OS.
2x RAID 0 for games / temp storage.

With small Raptors, I wouldn't separate areas using Matrix RAID or partitions -- the sizes would IMO be too small and problematic. Using a single array, and splitting the parts using folders, would allow better space utilization.

On this, I might even consider getting another large drive for the OS to expand the RAID array to 3x RAID 0. That single drive could then be partitioned, with the additional space used for larger temp storage or rarely accessed games, etc.

I have this setup on an Abit AB9 Pro: 3x36 GB raptors The first 10 GB of each is in RAID 0 for 30 GB of OS and apps. The rest of each is in RAID 5 for data storage.
I have an external drive for backup. In my case, I do not need a lot of storage and I do not game on this machine.

You always have the option of regular RAID or Matrix RAID as long as you load the right drivers when you install windows. If I did play games on this computer, I might do something like Madwand suggested. A single drive for OS/apps and a RAID 0 for games, swap file and temp storage

RAID 10 requires 4 drives and RAID 0 provides the space of the sum of all the drives.

All onboard raid is Software raid. the defination of hardware raid is having a dedicated processor doing raid calculations.

most add in cards over 300 bucks have hardware raid. those cheapy cards that have host raid still use your cpu to do calculations.

as far as your matrix raid goes it can do all the raid levels and you dont have to use the matrix feature. just run a 3 drive raid 0 and watch your drives haul butt. then buy a 320gig seagate drive for all your storage needs.

Nittenti said:

As far as I know a RAID0 gives 3*36GB since the raid is striped over all 3 discs

Click to expand...

Yes, it's striped over 3 drives but the capacity is only the size of the smallest drive. 3x36 gig drives in raid 0 is still only 36 gigs. in 0+1, its half of the total of all drives combined. and in raid 5 its the total of all drives combined minus 1 drive. or close to it.

I run a 4x80 gig raid setup on OS/APPS. My totals are as follows:

Raid 0= 80 gig

Raid 10 or 0+1= 149 gig

Raid 5 = 240 gig

I've run them all.

stunt said:

Yes, it's striped over 3 drives but the capacity is only the size of the smallest drive. 3x36 gig drives in raid 0 is still only 36 gigs.

Click to expand...

This is completely wrong. I think you might be confusing RAID 0 with RAID 1.

With RAID 0 the data is striped across the drives, not duplicated. Hence you add the minimum of the sizes of the drives. With equal drives, you can simply multiple the size of the drive times the number of drives.

Don't just argue about this; check the details in one of the numerous RAID guides.

Airbornederekc said:

All onboard raid is Software raid. the defination of hardware raid is having a dedicated processor doing raid calculations.

Click to expand...

So what? With RAID 0 or RAID 1, there's next to nothing to calculate. This really matters with some RAID 5 implementations, but with RAID 0, even a cheap implementation can hit the STR of the drives across the array, so it's pretty much moot.

Things change with large, (hopefully) smart caching, but unless you're willing to pay out some serious cash for that, it's moot, and even then the benefits for such desktop applications aren't clear -- most high-end RAID systems are designed and tuned for multi-user access.

Edit: The above is a bit of an over-simplification. Reality is a heck of a lot more complicated than the "is not real hardware RAID", "is so", etc., type of discussions. The only really valid rule is that to know anything, you must bench the candidates side by side with your target applications. Theoretical guessing is often simply wrong, even rules such as "HW RAID > software RAID", which are generally true in the end when comparing really good HW RAID implementations are often simply false in other cases, and sometimes hybrid RAID implementations also perform very well.

Madwand said:

This is completely wrong. I think you might be confusing RAID 0 with RAID 1.

With RAID 0 the data is striped across the drives, not duplicated. Hence you add the minimum of the sizes of the drives. With equal drives, you can simply multiple the size of the drive times the number of drives.

Don't just argue about this; check the details in one of the numerous RAID guides.

Click to expand...

ya your completely off on this one. 3x36GB raptors in raid 0 will give you a 108GB drive. raid 1 makes your drives all the same size of your smallest drive. but that also brings up a point its best to match all drives in a raid array.

Madwand said:

So what? With RAID 0 or RAID 1, there's next to nothing to calculate. This really matters with some RAID 5 implementations, but with RAID 0, even a cheap implementation can hit the STR of the drives across the array, so it's pretty much moot.

Click to expand...

i agree completely. i use software for my raid 0 os drive. i do plan on putting in a 4 port raid controler for a nice hardware raid 5. but im a little weird about my storage.

Thanks guys, i appreciate all the input. I really don't care about losing data and what not, i am more interested in speed, so Raid 0 is the way from me. I'm leaning toward a variation of option 1.

fabulouscoops ~ you said i didn't have to matrix raid them, but on my P5WD2 premium, the only option is Intel Matrix Raid or Silicon(which i cant use), am I correct? or is there in fact Normal raid Options?

Nitenni ~ When you say option 5, all 3 in raid 0. Do you mean matrix raid or normal raid? What about partitions? or all on (ie. C: drive)?? or a D:drive, E:drive as well?

stunt said:

Yes, it's striped over 3 drives but the capacity is only the size of the smallest drive. 3x36 gig drives in raid 0 is still only 36 gigs.

Click to expand...

your thinking of RAID 1....RAID 0 is the capacity X the number of drives..In this case 3X36 ...which is 108

vanessab said:

fabulouscoops ~ you said i didn't have to matrix raid them, but on my P5WD2 premium, the only option is Intel Matrix Raid or Silicon(which i cant use), am I correct? or is there in fact Normal raid Options?

Click to expand...

From the Asus product page
"The onboard Silicon Image Sil3132 and the Intel ICH7R southbridge provide the best solution to your RAID requirements on different storage standards. The Intel ICH7R supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 and Intel Matrix RAID Technology on 4 Serial ATA ports. The Silicon Image Sil3132 controller offers 2 additional SATA interfaces and allows RAID 0 and RAID 1 functions for best data security."

You can run either Matrix RAID or regular RAID on the ICH7R southbridge.

vanessab said:

Thanks guys, i appreciate all the input. I really don't care about losing data and what not, i am more interested in speed, so Raid 0 is the way from me. I'm leaning toward a variation of option 1.

fabulouscoops ~ you said i didn't have to matrix raid them, but on my P5WD2 premium, the only option is Intel Matrix Raid or Silicon(which i cant use), am I correct? or is there in fact Normal raid Options?

Nitenni ~ When you say option 5, all 3 in raid 0. Do you mean matrix raid or normal raid? What about partitions? or all on (ie. C: drive)?? or a D:drive, E:drive as well?

Click to expand...

If you don't care about redundancy just go with a full RAID0. I don't know how people can get away with OS+apps/games on 30GB or so, once you start installing some games the space gets used at an alarming rate.

'Matrix RAID' should really refer to splitting the drives into different RAID types but it's also used to refer to using an Intel Southbridge RAID in general. Of course the southbridge is perfectly capable of standard non-split RAID arrays as well as already stated.

venessab said:

but on my P5WD2 premium, the only option is Intel Matrix Raid or Silicon(which i cant use), am I correct? or is there in fact Normal raid Options?

Click to expand...

There's nothing special to do for "normal" RAID, you just create an array that uses all the drive space. I'd run two drives in RAID0 and use the third for page file/temp/storage since adding the third drive in the array probably won't benefit you that much from a performance standpoint unless you're doing large file editing. If you are, go for it.

tuskenraider said:

There's nothing special to do for "normal" RAID, you just create an array that uses all the drive space. I'd run two drives in RAID0 and use the third for page file/temp/storage since adding the third drive in the array probably won't benefit you that much from a performance standpoint unless you're doing large file editing. If you are, go for it.

Click to expand...

ok, so if i used that 3rd drive by itself for storage,temp,pagefile,etc....when I used the other 2 drives in raid 0, would it be better to just install OS/apps/Games all on 1 partition (Cdrive) or would it be better to partition the raid0 into C:drive for OS/apps and D:drive for Games?

vanessab said:

ok, so if i used that 3rd drive by itself for storage,temp,pagefile,etc....when I used the other 2 drives in raid 0, would it be better to just install OS/apps/Games all on 1 partition (Cdrive) or would it be better to partition the raid0 into C:drive for OS/apps and D:drive for Games?

Click to expand...

Partitioning offers no performance advantage so I wouldn't even bother.

Yes, just install the OS/apps/Games all on one partition.
Do you already have these three drives?

THANKS GUYS

A question though, about partitioning. What about disk fragmentation? wont the drive get cluttered a lot faster? Maybe I'm overanalyzing things...

Youngbuck ~ yes i already have all 3. Actually im just waiting on an RMA for my dead ram, and Im planning to do a fresh install as soon as the ram gets here, why do you ask?