![]() ![]() Then it was benchmarking time but we’ll hold off on the comparison until the end and look at the results in context with all of the rest. Please note that whilst RAID 1 provides a level of protection against a drive failing, this is no substitute for backing up. RAID 1 just means that if a drive dies, you can still access your data for the time until you replace the failed drive. This is more of a mission critical/business continuity thing than anything else. I’d probably recommend keeping a backup or sync folder to mechanical HDD storage rather than duplicating NVMe storage in this way. AMD NVMe RAID will scale up to seven devices but for this exercise I only have three due to some “first world problems.” I wanted to see the scaling and performance differences between running 2x256GB NVMe SSDs in RAID 0 and then 3x256GB SSDs. This means that the data is spread across both drives providing improved read/write performance but at double the risk of complete data loss. If one drive fails, all data will be lost. ![]() Whilst this might seem reckless, it can be the way to go if you are careful about what you store on the array. Programs (especially Steam/Origin libraries), temp files and working data that is backed up either in real-time or regular intervals will mitigate the risk of data loss and give you performance levels in excess of a single large capacity NVMe SSD. Next step was to delete the RAID 1 array and reconfigure the drives in a RAID 0 setup. (RAID 0 with three ADATA SX8200 Pro NVMe SSDs ) In this configuration we’re able to use all the capacity and theoretically more access to the collective speed of the two storage devices with the only risk being that of data protection in the event of a failure. Not that I’m trying to labour the point but I would never recommend using a striped array (RAID0) for an operating system or any critical data that is not regularly backed up – regardless of your selected brand and their track record. RAID 10 provides the best of RAID 0 and RAID 1 by mirroring the striped drive. It also doubles the cost of your storage devices and is unlikely to be worthwhile for almost all enthusiasts. It’s probably cheaper and more realistic to simply use high-speed NVMe drives and invest in some decent backup or synchronisation software to keep your data safe. Managing the Risk of a RAID 0 Cloud Storage The process was the same as when I configured RAID 0 with two drives except that I’m now using all three for a grand total of 766GB of space. The use of cloud services such as Google Drive, OneDrive, DropBox and others also reduce the risk of data loss for any PC so long as you have a constant Internet connection for the sync to occur. I’d use an array like this for my games to reduce load times. Games are getting a lot bigger now with larger textures, high quality audio, etc. and it isn’t uncommon for AAA titles to be 50-90GB. Thanks to launchers like Steam, Origin, Battlenet and others, backing up the game files and restoring them has never been easier. Basically, if I had to recover from an array failure it would be an inconvenience but not a disaster and certainly worth the risk if the performance gain is there. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |