Please help with Raid 0

[Freida]

Hey guys,

I've got 1TB WD1001FALS hard drive and I am thinking to do Raid 0 for my mac pro. Now, can I add 2 x WD1002FAEX to work with the one I have now or would they not work together? I think they are the same family and same specs except the buffer (32vs64).
What speed increase do you think I will get? 3x or less?
Also, do you think its worth it and what would you advice me, please?

It is going to be my first RAID setup so I would like to know that I am doing the right thing.

Specs? 12core mac pro, 16gb ram and 5870 gpu.

Thank you very much

 

[beto2k7]

With 3 drives in raid 0 the chances of losing data triples so plan a good backup strategy. Raid0 provides no redundancy as the files are split among the drives so if one disk is gone so is your data. My2 cents. More knowledgeable people will chime in. Nanofrog is really good at raid stuff. So if he says something listen carefully

 

[Transporteur]

I've got 1TB WD1001FALS hard drive and I am thinking to do Raid 0 for my mac pro. Now, can I add 2 x WD1002FAEX to work with the one I have now or would they not work together? I think they are the same family and same specs except the buffer (32vs64).
What speed increase do you think I will get? 3x or less?
Also, do you think its worth it and what would you advice me, please?

They will work together. The drives don't have to be the exact same model (although that's preferable).

The speed increase for RAID0 is n times the performance of a single drive, so in your case about 120MB/s (empty drives) x 3.

If that's worth it depends on your requirements. With the information you've given so far, no one can tell you.
Advice? Backup frequently (which is more of a general rule, not only for RAIDs)!

 

[Freida]

Thank you very much for your responses so far.

well, I have time machine back up on the whole time and I often do extra 3 back ups for the most important files (dropbox, mobileme & external hdd) so back up is set well.
I know that the risk of losing the data is higher but to be honest if I lose data then I can recover it from time machine and all is good. The chance that I lose time machine back up at the same times as one of the hdd is really, really slim. ))

Anyway, I'm after speed. I always have loads of apps open but sometimes things that load up from the hdd etc. take a while so I thought I would fix that with the raid.
Do you think that having it in dual and not triple would be ok?

 

[Freida]

maybe, is there an app that would give me a report of when things slow down due to hdd speed so I could analyze if I need 2 or 3 Raid setup?

 

[Freida]

The other option I was thinking could be Vertex 2 SSD 120gb.
I've noticed the Vertex 3 but read somewhere that you can't reach the 6gbps throughoutput so its a bit of a waste of money on Mac Pro so its better to get Vertex 2.

What do you guys think? Also, do I need anything else or just the drive that I will put into the Mac Pro?

Any help highly appreciated. Thank you