what is RAID?

[andteater]

hey,
so i'm currently configuring my system and checking out my different options, and in researching motherboards on this message board, this whole RAID thing keeps coming up. what exactly does "raid" mean? and can some people who are using the ABIT BX133-RAID give me some info as to how their system is running, if at all?
thanks,
andt

[QuikDraw]

RAID stands for "Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives" (or Disks, not sure on that one)

It's basically a method of using two or more drives together as if they were one single drive. And that's about all I know about it. I've never tried a RAID system.

Mike

[jjmx3]

right now I am using that abit bx133 raid board and running raid. faster transfer rate is the advantage to it. plus it runs great...whoever owns that board should take advantage of it...

jjmx3

[haschin]

RAID is a fault tolerance standard. There is RAID1, RAID5 etc. You can for example mirror disks to virtually see it as one disk but talking hardware there are actually two disks running together (write to both disks), in that way if one disk fail, you got the same information on the other disk which mean you can repair lost data. RAID can give you faster read or faster write performance, depending on which RAID you use.

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haschin

[lesojos]

I have a RAID working on my PC with a Promise Technology Fasttrack 100 card controlling an array of 4 20GB Maxtor DiamondMax 7200 RPM ATA 100 disks. I have it set to RAID 0 doing stripping throughout the 4 drives which I see as only 1 HD on my PC (Drive C).

You could have 2 sets of mirrored drives (2 on each one). This sacrifices a little performance for security.

I´m actually using the array as my system drive and also as my audio file drive and it works beautifully ......It´s running like a bullet.

I get DAE error 6002 (i think its 6002) "PCI Bus is to busy for PT to connect reliably with the hardware" but it´s easily fixable through the Fasttrack Utility software on wich you can actually vary the use of the PCI Bus for the RAID. Don´t even have to reboot or anything, just assign less use of the PCI Bus on the knob (about half the way will do) and work without any problems.

I have another 30GB HD on wich I constantly backup my sessions using Norton Utilities Ghost software.

The main advantage is that you might save a lot of money compared to getting SCSI drives and controllers. I got the Promise card and 4 HD´s for under US$ 580 wich is probably what one SCSI drive will run you for.

[smit1_uk]

I'm usin' the ASUS CUBX-E motherboard with onbaord ATA100(RAID) these port are usually blue and are next to the standard EIDE ports on the motherboard.