PowerMac G5 RAID

[aviationwiz]

So I just got a 300GB HDD for my "old" Dual 1.8GHZ PowerMac G5, and when setting up the HDD, I saw the RAID option. Do you think I would notice a big bump in speed if I went with a raid (would have to buy a new HDD)? Also, is it easy to set up in Mac OS?

First hard drive is currently the Maxtor 80GB it came with, new one is a Seagate 300GB that I bought... both being SATA.

 

[xraydoc]

So I just got a 300GB HDD for my "old" Dual 1.8GHZ PowerMac G5, and when setting up the HDD, I saw the RAID option. Do you think I would notice a big bump in speed if I went with a raid (would have to buy a new HDD)? Also, is it easy to set up in Mac OS?

First hard drive is currently the Maxtor 80GB it came with, new one is a Seagate 300GB that I bought... both being SATA.

To set up a (stripped) RAID, you'll need two drives of the same capacity (preferably the same make/model). Without two drives of the same capacity, you're limited to 2x the smaller of the two... in your case, 2x80GB, wasting 220GB of your bigger drive. Or, in the case of a mirrored RAID, you'd be limited to the capacity of your smallest drive.

 

[Makosuke]

As said, you'd need another 300GB drive.

If you did have one, it's amazingly easy to set up... but unless you need a massive stream of continuous data (video capture, basically) it apparently doesn't provide that huge of a speed boost. There's also the issue that if one drive dies, the data on both is toast.

In a similar situation, I'd be more likely to mirror the drives to protect against catastrophic failure, though I actually just use part of my 2nd internal for nightly backups--I might loose a day of data that way, but on the other hand it protects me from stupidity like accidentally deleting files, and also directory corruption. Plus, it doesn't take the whole 2nd drive, so I can use some of it for random junk storage.

 

[Chaszmyr]

imo non-redundant striped raid (ie RAID 0) is never to be trusted

 

[MrSugar]

imo non-redundant striped raid (ie RAID 0) is never to be trusted

I know this first hand. I once had all my data owned by a RAID 0 set up. I bought an external HD for backup that night and never looked back. Luckily with some pretty intense software and my mp3 player I was able to get most of the essential things back.

I learned my lesson about backup and about RAID. RAID 0 is fast, ridiculously fast, you will notice a different. However, if you decide to take that option, make sure you back everything up frequently, and don't complain to a soul if you lose your data.

 

[Chaszmyr]

I know this first hand.

Unfortunately, I also know it first hand.