Raiding two 2.5 5400RPM

[Cindori]

I have two 2.5 SATA disks just lying around

I was thinking of putting them in my Mac Pro, one in optical bay and one in 4th drive slot.

One is 60gb and one is 80gb. Both are 5400RPM.

I thought I could RAID-0 them and use as a Windows partition of a total 120GB.

is this a good idea? would it be slower then a single 7200rpm?

 

[macuser154]

I can't answer the speed question. But if you software RAID the drives together on Mac OS X, Windows won't recognise the drives.

 

[TheStrudel]

With regards to speed, Barefeats has done some testing with that and the ProDrive. Depending on the drives, some combinations are faster than the 3.5" 7200 RPM. It varies by case, of course. Check out Barefeats results.

 

[nanofrog]

I have two 2.5 SATA disks just lying around

I was thinking of putting them in my Mac Pro, one in optical bay and one in 4th drive slot.

One is 60gb and one is 80gb. Both are 5400RPM.

I thought I could RAID-0 them and use as a Windows partition of a total 120GB.

is this a good idea? would it be slower then a single 7200rpm?

On the Windows side, you'd have to install the AHCI drivers, and set up the RAID in Windows for several reasons.
1. You'd need them just to get Windows to recognize the ODD_SATA Ports on the board.
2. Windows can't read an array created under OS X.

As for speed, it really depends on some specifics.
For example, what are the exact drives' throuput capabilities?
If each is capable of something around 60MB/s or better, then Yes, they'd be able to beat most 3.5" disks I think. For the throuput to be consistent, you can only use up to 50%. Once you exceed this point, the performance will begin to degrade, as you're moving further into the inner tracks. And this will happen rather quickly, given the capacity is small.

Now consider the fact of the small capacity, can you really afford the space consumed internally?

If so, why not. At least until you out grow them. Again. Otherwise, put them in external enclosures, and use them as a backup.

Hope this helps.

 

[Cindori]

Thank you nanofrog.

All this is going to cost me 1 thing - a molex to sata power cable.


OK so raiding windows seemed complicated. I guess I'll just use it for OSX, WoW shouldnt run that bad on it, right?

 

[nanofrog]

Thank you nanofrog.

All this is going to cost me 1 thing - a molex to sata power cable.

OK so raiding windows seemed complicated. I guess I'll just use it for OSX, WoW shouldnt run that bad on it, right?

No Problem.

Why does making a stripe in Windows seem complicated?
It's rather easy.

AHCI drivers.
When installing Windows (fresh), hit LOAD DRIVER. Once done, Hit REFRESH. Needed, or the ODD_SATA drives won't be available. (If you get an error message, hit REFRESH). Only those attached in the HDD bays would be. But AHCI will give an improvement in throughput anyway, so it's nice to have.

I don't know which version of Windows you're planning on installing, but a search would get you what you need. You can't RAID the disks first (no firmware access), but it can be done after Windows is installed. This is the method you're looking for.

If in Vista, it's really easy. Just look for a setting to Span the drives. Either via My Computer, or from Administration Tools in the Control Panel. Then go into Computer Management, and finally select Storage. Once you see it, you should be able to figure it out very quickly, and easily. (I use the latter, as you have other options, such as creating partitions if you wish).

 

[Cindori]

Well, I have both Win7 64 and Vista 32. Can I install both on the drives, and can I set up raid in either one of them or do I need both? also, will boot camp detect this as startup disk?

 

[nanofrog]

Well, I have both Win7 64 and Vista 32. Can I install both on the drives, and can I set up raid in either one of them or do I need both? also, will boot camp detect this as startup disk?

Both can be installed on the array, and boot. Install one OS, then the other. Installing the first OS is the more difficult, as you have to create the array. Once up, the second is much easier. You'd need the AHCI drivers again, but is easier from there. You might want to consider a separate partition though (file overwrites). It could be a mess otherwise.

The boot manager will allow you to select which version you wish to load. There's also a tool EasyBCD (scroll down to the bottom) that allows you to adjust the order and timeouts. They accept donations, but is freeware, not a trial. It even allows you to use OS X and Linux, though these can be tricky to get installed. Search for help, as GRUB my seem strange if you're unfamiliar with it.

If you're just looking for easy, you might want to consider just installing one OS per drive. But you won't get the throughput if the drives aren't striped.

You might want to consider making a partition on the 80GB drive first, to recover the capacity if you wish, then set up the array. Just keep in mind, that simultaneous access of both partitions on that drive will affect throughput.


Hope this helps.