Best use of High capacity Raid/0 Config !

[Jazz]

Hi,. well first for my pc specs and config..

P4 2.4 (533), 512 DDR (333), Intel i845-GEBV2 Mobo.

120Gb (7200rpm 2mb Cache) Seagate Hdd, 52x32x52x16 Combo Liteon

Now for the real stuff.. ok, now all i need is the maxium I/O performance.. (cost effective solution ofcourse)

So, i decide to go in for Raid/0 Config Software based...

I plan to get another Seagate 200Gb (7200 8mb Cache) hdd and plan to use that for my primary drive..

Now first question that comes to my mind is that how am i gonna utilise all that space.. it's kinda true that a whole bunch of GB look very less in a matter of months, so i know i wont be regretting this decision any time soon..

Still partitioning and configuring this setup for the optimal Raid/0 is a challenge... consedring the fact that i plan to install atleast 4 different os'es including Linux.

So, i'v kinda outlined a sample config of my partitioning structure and how i plan to use it.. It would be great if anyone could suggest me a better use of my space, or my partitions, to get the optimal performance outta my setup..

disk 1 - 200 GB 8mb 7200 rpm

disk 2 - 120 GB 2mb 7200 rpm

Part.---Disk1-------Purpose--------disk2-----Total-------Type

1------5GB--------- Winxp ------------5Gb-----10 GB------- Raid 0

2------5Gb--------- Longhorn---------5Gb-----10 Gb------- Raid 0

3------10Gb---------Gentoo----------10GB-----20GB-------Raid 0

4------10GB---------Misc linux-------10GB-----20Gb-------Raid 0

5------20Gb---------Games----------20Gb-----40Gb -------Raid 0

6------50GB--------Data Bckp.------N/A-------50Gb -------Normal

7------100GB-------Entertainment--N/A-------100GB-------Normal

8------N/A----------Iso's & Temp---70GB------70GB-------Normal

Disk Utilisation :-

Disk1 : 200 GB, Space Left : 0 GB

Disk2 : 120 GB, Space Left : 0 GB

PS :- subtract 1 gb from each disk for swap file and swap partition.. its a raid 0 partiton

Ok some doubts regarding this idea are that as the drives have different cache size how bad will this hit the performance of the setup ? and will the faster drive wait a long time for the slower drive to complete the i/o operation ??

Also, how if i just sold the 120gig hdd and got me teh 200 gig, will the performance be faster this way ?

Bye,

Jazz

PS:- please respond to this as i will be making my decision on your opinions....

[Jazz]

no ideas ?, guys i need to take a decision based on ur inputs help me please...

[Justice]

You do realize, that with RAID-0 you will only be able to use 120GB of that 200GB drive? Well, if you used the whole drive. You'd probably be better trying to describe what your thinking by using a bar graph.

[Jazz]

EEHU ! well ya i know that, thats why i'm using only a part of both the drives for the raid setup and will have individual seperate normal partitions on both the drives, to suit my needs, like misc data backup or for something else, that i dont wanna put on the raid...

I've provided the disk setup, not in graph form but i think it serves the purpose..

I hope that helps..

Bye,

Jazz

[Jono]

if your using "software" raid you cannot use other operating systems like ur wishing, also using hardware raid you use the whole disk there is no way to select a certain part of the disk to use,

i would recommend instead of getting a 200gb drive, get a second (preferrebly identicle) 120GB Drive and a Raid Controller card this will give you the best performance for the similar price then

disk 1 - 120 GB 2mb 7200 rpm

disk 2 - 120 GB 2mb 7200 rpm

Partition-Purpose--Size-Total

1---------WinXP----10GB-10GB

2---------Longhorn-10GB-20GB

3---------Gentoo----10GB-30GB

4---------Misc Lin---10GB-40GB

5---------Games----20GB-60GB

6---------Data Bac--40GB-100GB

7---------Entertai----90GB-190GB

8---------ISO's an---50GB-240GB

This is the Partition Configuration i would use, take into consideration when you setup your raid array using your 120GB Drives you essentially create one big 240GB drive which you then partition, you cannot create partitions off of the seperate 120GB Drives it has to be done on the 240GB Drive, hope this makes sense to you.