Why didn't RAID make me happy?
Wednesday, 28 July, 2004
After implementing RAID 0 setup and partitioning it into various drives, when I boot Windows XP I get a disk error message in NTFS, saying that disk check needs to be run. It happens on different drives.
Can you help?
Andrew , Sydney, NSW
 Your Asus P4P800 deluxe motherboard provides for both IDE RAID and SATA RAID, but just because it's available doesn't necessarily mean you should use it. I have to ask, what's the purpose of your setting up a RAID configuration in the first place? Unless you're using your PC for something like heavy-duty real-time video editing, or rapid server provision of large amounts of data, then you would gain no real benefit from the feature. At best, you might get a slightly quicker initial load time for a program or game, but you'll get no realistic operational performance improvement!
You'll find that most 'experts' and enthusiasts will advise that using a RAID0, striped array will introduce a greatly increased chance of data loss, and is just not worth the effort of setting up simply for everyday computing operations. In addition, I'd have to ask if those drives you have configured for RAID0 are identical? If not, you should not be using them in RAID configuration, because doing so would be asking for trouble.
My strongest advice would be to reconfigure that system of yours and set it up again, using those drives of yours as 'stand alone' rather than in RAID configuration, unless of course you have a valid reason for using the feature.
If you're intent on using the RAID technology of your system, I'd suggest you use four drives rather than two, stripe both sets of drives, and use one set to mirror the other for data security. This is called 'RAID 0 + 1' and the feature is available for IDE drives on your system. I'd also suggest that you look at the cluster and stripe size currently used on your system. While many places recommend a cluster and stripe size of 32 or 64k, using a smaller size will help reduce fragmentation and possible data loss, and a setting of 16k or 32k would be preferable to a higher figure.
For tracking down data loss problems on your system, you might find the Knowledge Base article "How to Locate and Correct Disk Space Problems on NTFS Volumes in Windows XP" quite helpful.
Also, you might want to visit the download page for your motherboard on Asus' website and obtain both the most recent BIOS update, which includes an update for RAID, and the most recent RAID drivers.
Good luck with it, Andrew, and I'll stress again - if you don't have a real need for RAID 0, don't use it. You might even find you'll get better overall performance from using the drives separately!
Cheers, Terry O'Shanassy
 Reader solutions
Arthur MurrayPosted: 16/08/2007 re: Why didn't RAID make me happy? Gentlemen,
1. Take Multitech to small claims court. They cannot contract out of negligence.
2. How in your right mind could you consider RAID 0 without identical drives. Size is critical as is spin up spin down speeds as is data access speed as is contiguous burst read and write.
3. Have any of you considered having your nappies changes recently, perhaps actually doing something about this rather than dummy spitting you would already have a solution. The result would be a handy hint for all others who find themselves in this position. Perhaps not just coitus interruptus.
(Arthur, say what you really mean. Don't just DANCE around the issue. -PZ) jeffPosted: 03/10/2004 re: Why didn't RAID make me happy? I agree with Terry, Andrew, you are 'dabbling' in something your computer skills (as of now) are incapable of understanding.
You set up the RAID configuration, you can 'disable' it.
For now.
My best advice, to you, is to read a lot more than you have done, to learn all you can about the use of RAID, then, and only then, ADD and USE a h/drive in such a manner, please.
In short, you put 'the cart before the horse' to prove how good you are with computers.
Dumb move, mate.
maneyyPosted: 29/09/2004 re: Why didn't RAID make me happy? don,t go to multitech thay sell you two drives not identical and say that thay will work.
To add to that that thay sell me a mother board that will not support raid.
To add to that again multitech mackay store will not reply to my email .
Thanks Multitech
PaulPosted: 22/08/2004 re: Why didn't RAID make me happy? It's much quicker! To echo the other replies; the drives must be of the same size and to add the should be identical make & model if possible (or else the final volume will run at the speed of the slower drive). I have 2x 160GB SATA drives using RAID0, the performance is circa 160% of the single drive in read (writing is 110%). Also, make sire your pagefile is on the RAID0 volume, this will speed your PC up when it runs short of RAM. BUT after all that is said, if youre just e-mailing, surfing and playing games - don't bother with RAID0. warriorPosted: 01/08/2004 re: Why didn't RAID make me happy? ive had raid set up before ddr came in and raid is great if u use it for lots of data crunchin in mathmaticus or office documents or as above video. yes i agree of a mirror set up to buy another hdd if one fails pop it in and configure it to raid and presto u r up an runnin.
you must have all hdd as 40gig all 4 hdd or 2 hdd not 1 as 20gig and 40gig or any higher 120gig and a 160 gig wont work they must be identical ok have fun all RustyPosted: 30/07/2004 re: Why didn't RAID make me happy? The comment in reply about both drives being identical seems to be good advise ofcourse they dont have to be identical but it does eliminate one potential problem.
No I dont have a fix only encouragement to you to keep your head out of the sand and not be a sheep. andrewPosted: 29/07/2004 re: Why didn't RAID make me happy? why bother???? |