would it be faster than raid 0 to run 1 hd with os and 2nd one with software?

[heflix455]

I have 2x 80gb sata hard drives in raid 0 right now. Im just wondering if it would be faster if i ran windows xp on the first drive and installed all my apps on the 2nd drive and forgo the raid. This is a dedicated gaming pc mostly for bf2.

[steviep]

It's always better to have a seperate OS drive. Especially if you don't have 2GB of RAM :p

[Ockie]

Not the forums to ask it... I can already tell you the awnser of the admins... ditch raid0

[feigned]

Not the forums to ask it... I can already tell you the awnser of the admins... ditch raid0
I'm neither an admin or a mod.

I think it's a bad idea to RAID 0 unless it's a very temporary storage area.

[DougLite]

Given the lackluster scaling of RAID-0 in typical desktop access patterns, I'm inclined to agree that the advantages of having separate spindles is a good idea, and not just for performance.

If you have two separate drives, you have two file systems. This can be a huge advantage if a virus hoses your OS, you accidentally delete something, or you reformat often. In all of those cases, you can simply disconnect a seocndary storage drive, restore your primary drive, then reconnect the storage drive and be right back in action. If you're running RAID-0, what happens to your OS drive also affects your data. You also have a chance at pretty easy recovery if one of your drives dies and they have separate file systems. However, you should still backup, as a fire/flood/tornado/etc will still destroy both drives. Also, when you resinstall, you no longer have to provide an F6 driver. If you get a new rig, you don't have to worry about moving your RAID array over, you simply connect your storage drive and go.

If you multitask (listen to music, download files, etc) you can have your storage drive handle the I/O associated with those background tasks, leaving your primary drive free to deliver the best game/OS responsiveness possible.

[Ockie]

Given the lackluster scaling of RAID-0 in typical desktop access patterns, I'm inclined to agree that the advantages of having separate spindles is a good idea, and not just for performance.

If you have two separate drives, you have two file systems. This can be a huge advantage if a virus hoses your OS, you accidentally delete something, or you reformat often. In all of those cases, you can simply disconnect a seocndary storage drive, restore your primary drive, then reconnect the storage drive and be right back in action. If you're running RAID-0, what happens to your OS drive also affects your data. You also have a chance at pretty easy recovery if one of your drives dies and they have separate file systems. However, you should still backup, as a fire/flood/tornado/etc will still destroy both drives. Also, when you resinstall, you no longer have to provide an F6 driver. If you get a new rig, you don't have to worry about moving your RAID array over, you simply connect your storage drive and go.

If you multitask (listen to music, download files, etc) you can have your storage drive handle the I/O associated with those background tasks, leaving your primary drive free to deliver the best game/OS responsiveness possible.


I'm rather quite impressed by your response. This is the first time you gave proper reasoning other than "raid0 sucks, heres the screenies I got to prove it" or saying "it creates more heat and reduces reliability".

The response you gave was a real world situation and not just another benchmark.


I'll agree with this post :D