RAID0 Configurations - Windows Software vs. Intel ICH vs. IBM1015/Areca1200?

[marcusone]

I have my main windows OS (7 Ultimate) installed on a fast SSD.  How you would setup data storage for fast access given the three options above.

Other things to consider/Assume.

Lots of CPU (Quad core+), Lots of RAM (16G+), mostly used to store VM datastores. Your not worried about crashes of a drive and losing data (have a great backup system).

 

I keep leaning towards just using Windows Software.  Why - easier to transfer to other systems (should hardware die, etc).

 

I keep reading horror stories of the hardware options (and I'm comparing to hardware cards that don't have on-board battery protected memory) that if the card dies, you have to get the same one to get your array up and running (sometimes means you have to wait a few days/weeks until you get a spare).

 

So partly what I'm looking for is confirmation that the Software Raid route is safe/easier and about just as fast as the options in subject.  So just stick with software raids unless I'm going to move to total hardware raid cards with a cache?

 

Thoughts/comments/experiences please

[WeeboTech]

Software raid or Intel ICH  unless you are using a caching controller and can deal with the costs.

On my unRAID I use an Areca ARC-1200 in advanced raid mode. Works great for that environment.

I doubt I would use it for my desktop. I would use Software or Intel ICH raid first.

[marcusone]

Software raid or Intel ICH  unless you are using a caching controller and can deal with the costs.

On my unRAID I use an Areca ARC-1200 in advanced raid mode. Works great for that environment.

I doubt I would use it for my desktop. I would use Software or Intel ICH raid first.

 

I have a ARC-1200 that I use in an ESXi box for a Mirrored Data store array and it works great for that (very fast, don't notice the mirror speed at all with Dual 2TB WD Black drives I easily get 100MB write speeds to it).  But doubt it would make sense to use in a RAID0 Windows environment.

 

I just got an ARC-1210 for a great deal, so may test out RAID0 on it before putting it to real work.

[WeeboTech]

Software raid or Intel ICH  unless you are using a caching controller and can deal with the costs.

On my unRAID I use an Areca ARC-1200 in advanced raid mode. Works great for that environment.

I doubt I would use it for my desktop. I would use Software or Intel ICH raid first.

 

I have a ARC-1200 that I use in an ESXi box for a Mirrored Data store array and it works great for that (very fast, don't notice the mirror speed at all with Dual 2TB WD Black drives I easily get 100MB write speeds to it).  But doubt it would make sense to use in a RAID0 Windows environment.

 

I just got an ARC-1210 for a great deal, so may test out RAID0 on it before putting it to real work.

 

 

I would definitely use the Areca ARC-1200 or ARC-1210 for an ESXi mirrored Data store without hesitation.

 

 

Since you want the paramount of performance for a desktop I would probably use software RAID0 or RAID1 or the hybrid of RAID0/RAID1 for a windows desktop.  Since each drive would have full SATA speed and usually the controller chipset communicates at a very fast speed with a direct channel.  Now if you had the cash for an x8 Areca controller with large amounts of cache, I would use that. But for a basic desktop, I think software or Intel ICH RAID0 will suffice with minimal expenditure.

 

 

If using any form of RAID0, it's of paramount importance to have regular (or automated backups).

[marcusone]

 

If using any form of RAID0, it's of paramount importance to have regular (or automated backups).

 

I've been on here long enough:  For "My documents" I have an auto sync script on changes to my UNRaid box with versioning.  Then nightly backups to an offsite system.

Then I have any other important files synced to UnRaid either nightly (for smaller sets) or 1-2x/week for things like my VM data stores.

 

For example; if I lost one of my RAID0 arrays - at worst I lost a few days of the VM changes, but any files of importance on the VM will have backed up nightly to UnRaid, so I power on my latest backup of the VM datastore, sync back the documents (perhaps install a new program, but very unlikely), and voila, I'm back in business. 

 

[WeeboTech]

ARC1200 Support in ESXi split to here ->

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=22045.0