Quick RAID question

[CommanderFrank]

I am building a new box and going to RAID two 150gb Raptors in a 1-0 array. My question is can I use a lesser set of SATA as the mirrors or even PATA HDDs as mirror drives or would I have to actually spring for 4 raptors and a pair of earplugs?

 

[RavenD]

In that case just RAID-0 the raptors, and get like a 300-500GB for backups of the raid-0 array.

 

[LightningCrash]

I'd keep the Raptors in RAID-0 and periodically just block write the RAID-0 array to a 300GB drive.

In linux it would be as simple as periodically executing
dd if=/dev/md of=/dev/sdc

I believe there may be a native dd port for Windows as well.

-=HOWEVER=-

Be extra EXTRA EXTRA sure that you have the if= and of= parameters correct. Get your wife to come triple check it, if you have to. Accidentally switching those is one way to seriously wipe your data out.

 

[dirtydr]

In that case just RAID-0 the raptors, and get like a 300-500GB for backups of the raid-0 array.

Agreed 100% for numerous reasons. While you can add different sized drives to an array, you will only see the capacity of the smallest member. Further you would face the issue of, for instance, putting a stick of PC2100 in with a stick of PC 3200. The 2100 wont go to the speed of the 3200 so you'd have to slow down the latter. Also, your system needs to support controller spanning to be able to use sata & pata drives in the same array (NV raid is one of the onboards that offers this off the top of my head) but this adds further complexity and more points of failure IMO.