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Win 8.1/Win 10 and RAID/non-RAID?

  • 20-03-2015 09:00PM
    #1
    peking97
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 901 ✭✭✭


    My machine has got two 300GB hard disks and these are currently in RAID0 (Stripe) mode giving me a total of 600GB approx.
    I want to install both 8.1 and 10 on different partitions and my question is whether there is any advantage to using the raid at all or just set both disks to non-raid and install each OS on separate disk.
    Any thoughts/suggestions appreciated!
    (The raid is a software raid implemented in the bios).


Comments

  • #2
    Slydice
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,501 ✭✭✭✭Slydice


    Kinda depends on what you want to do with your raid.

    There's a few modes, have a look and see if you are interested in any of raid modes in this article:
    http://uk.pcmag.com/storage-devices-reviews/7917/feature/raid-levels-explained


  • #3
    peking97
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 901 ✭✭✭peking97


    Yeah thanks for the link. I had a look there but I don't have all those options with the bios software raid, just Raid 0 or 1 but I'm thinking if I use Striping I'd lose both OS's if even one disk fails so I'm thinking better to use non-raid and separate 300GB disks for each OS. If I were to use Mirroring I'd only have 300 shared between the two.


  • #4
    Fysh
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 11,206 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    Unless you've got a really good raid controller on your board, I wouldn't be convinced that the gains of striping will outweigh the risks of losing everything if either disk fails. So I'd personally put it into non-raid mode and install one OS on each disk.

    I suggest disconnecting the other disk when installing each OS, btw - that'll make sure the bootloader for each install is on the right disk and avoids frustrating surprises of the "I removed one disk and now the OS on the other disk won't boot" variety. You can always use something like Neowin's EasyBCD to add secondary bootloader entries to each installation afterwards.


  • #5
    peking97
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 901 ✭✭✭peking97


    I agree. Reckon I'll go with the separate disks idea. Thanks for the tip about disconnecting each in turn!


  • #6
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 96,484 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    peking97 wrote: »
    I'm thinking if I use Striping I'd lose both OS's if even one disk fails
    It's called Raid 0 because that's the number of files you'll recover when either disk fails.

    If you split the disks you can do things like putting pagefile and temp folders on the other disk so it'll still be faster than a single disk

    also if you are going for a clean start you can re-partition and have a smaller partition for the system at the start of the drives where it will have much shorter seek times as well as higher transfer rates and another partition for other stuff on the rest of the drives

    of course if want speed you can get a cheap and cheerful 250GB SSD delivered for €108
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT256MX100SSD1-256GB-Includes-Spacer/dp/B00KFAGCWK/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426941499&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=ssd+crucuail


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