RAID question regarding performance and reliability - PC Forums

arachnyd · 03-14-2009, 02:31 PM

The total storage for a RAID 5 is going to be approximately n-1/n (with n being the number of disks) of the total disk space, right? (so RAID 5 on 3 1TB HDs is going to give you 2TB of data storage)

The added security of being able to survive a harddrive failure would make me comfortable using $99 samsungs instead of $125 Western Digitals. I'd only be paying $50 more, but improve reliability- and speed- right?

Would I improve boot time drastically if I went with a 73GB 15000 RPM drive for the OS, while using a RAID 5 array of 3 1TB disks for 2TB storage without having to worry so much about backups since I can survive a HD failure?

Any insight is appreciated!

Thanks!

arachnyd · 03-14-2009, 09:28 PM

based on what I'm reading, the 15000 RPM HD is a waste so I should Just go with the RAlD5 setup, my question is now if a 32 mb cache is really beneficial in a RAID 5 setup? or is 16 mb fine? It seems like based on my understanding of how it works, that it is fairlymoot. Any input is appreciated!