What exactly is Raid??

[Newguy123]

Hello all,

I would like to know what exactly is Raid and what does it do? on the Abit board there is a Raid model is that good? I have a Asus A7V has anyone tryed to flash the bios and make the promis into Raid?

Thanks

Newguy123

 

[Goldwing]

RAID= Redundant array of independent disks.

Raid 0 is joining 2 drives of identical size into 1 big drive 20+20=40, 20+30=40 (twice the smallest) but the access times can be twice as fast as the slowest drive.

Raid 1 is mirroring drives 20+20=20 with complete backup in case of one drive failure.

That is just skimming the top.

 

[wild_andy_c]

well explained - very good advice that was concise and correct

 

[Goldwing]

Also, a Raid mobo is in general good for another reason....most of them can be used not just for raid purposes but alternatively for more IDE connectors onboard. They can be used for up to 8 IDE devices instead of adding another card. (SCSI Raid is a slightly different story)

Thanks for the praise wild_andy_c

 

[hooziewhatsit]

Anandtech has a good review of some different raid cards, and a good explaination of what raid is. http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.html?i=1491