About a year ago when I was researching how to set up some drives using RAID on a PC I was planning to build, everyone said I would need to purchase a hardware RAID controller, the decent one was around $300 I believe. Now when I ask similar questions, people are saying all I will need is a motherboard that has built in RAID support.
So here are some related questions.
1)
If my motherboard has built in RAID support, should I use it instead of an aftermarket one?
2)
If I have built in support for RAID but "acquire" a nice hardware RAID controller (Highpoint 3510 or Adaptec 5405 raid controller), would there be ANY benefit of using it instead of using the motherboard built in support?
3)
I am planning on running my OS and all other programs from an SSD drive. I will then have regualr old school spinning disk for all data (movies, music, photos, files). IS it possible to have 2 seperate RAIDs? Example, have 2 SSD drives in RAID-0 for programs and OS and then have 3+ more spinning disk in RAID-10or even 2 in RAID-0 for data. So my PC would have a set of drives for programs, applications that would be 1 RAID. Then have another set of drives for data be a seperate RAID?
4)
If it is POSSIBLE to do what question #3 ask, would it make a difference between using a hardware RAID controller or the motherboard built in RAID support?
Thanks for any info on this, I have never used a RAID setup but have been dreaming of doing it for YEARS and it's about time I do it!
Best Answer
Since you don't specify why you want RAID my answer is going to include a link to this brilliant article from one of WHS team members here with regards to why WHS doesn't use RAID, however it covers the advantages and disadvatages of RAID very well.
RAID-0 is solely for speed, and since you already have the SSD drives, the only real advantage it is going to give you is? I am not sure to be honest. RAID needs power and any person that has managed RAID server will tell you it is heavy on drives themselves hardware wise.
If you using RAID for backup purposes, well then your doing the wrong thing and rather invest in an external backup solution or alternatively a server like WHS for example.
Very few power user need RAID even at home. The performance impact is minimal when compared to hardware life.
If you however do choose to go this route, it really depends how much your spending on the board. a high performance server board with RAID compared to a desktop board with RAID will always be a better option, depending on who makes the chipset. If you are going to buy a cheap board, which you shouldn't anyway, I would suggest looking at an external card. Most of the top RAID cards have their chipsets available standalone or on the motherboard, so it may be wiser to investigate what card you want and see if it is available on a motherboard already.