SSD in RAID with 10.000RPM and 7200RPM 3,5″

so as the topic says, I’m wondering about the setup for my harddrives.
I recently bought myself an 120GB SSD (OCZ-Vertex3),
and I’m wondering what kind of setup would be the best?
I heard someone saying that putting an SSD in a RAID isnt the best choice because it will slow it down due to the 10.000RPM\7200RPM discs.
Is this correct?
Currently I have this setup;
Everything setup in RAID (1?)
120GB SSD OCZ-Vertex3
150GB 10.000RPM WD VelociRaptor
1TB 7200RPM Samsung SpinPoint
500GB 7200RPM Samsung SpinPoint
I got a current totalscore on Windows Experience Index of 7,4
The Primary HDD are on 7,5 (out of 7,9).
Before I installed the SSD my HDDs were on IDE-Mode with a score of 5,9.
Answer #1
No raid is the best option in my point of view.
You should install OS in SSD and use hdd for storing. No raid is needed
Answer #2
You will need 2 x SSD in order to put in RAID 0, which would be the fastest option, it would simply be too expensive to also mirror this, ie RAID10, unless you have money to burn (you need 4x SSD).
To have things in RAID 1 (mirrored) you need 2 of everything – what’s the point, when you can merely use Acronis True Image to image the drive to an external, say once per week.
Nothing you have listed above is in RAID, if it is it shouldn’t be.
Use your SSD as your OS drive.
Get rid of the Velociraptor – it’s tiny, and can be outperformed by Seagate Momentus XT (hybrid) 500GB (trust me, I changed over from 600GB velociraptors)
*edit – you could add another 150GB velociraptor, and have the two in RAID 0 to install apps on, rather than for storage.
Here’s a simple guide with pictures to explain the basic RAID arrays (although it doesn’t have RAID 6 or 15).
http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/08/raid-levels-tutorial/
Answer #3
Allright. Thanks! I have everything back to ‘normal mode’ now.
Then is the 2nd question.
IDE (Native IDE?) or AHCI?
And why is one better than the other ?
I tried reading a few tests and benchmarks, but I didnt really find a choise that were much better than the other, and I didnt quite understand everything.
Answer #4
SATA drives are actually IDE (just a different connector to PATA).
AHCI (Advance Host Controller Interface) allows stuff like hot-plugging and native command queuing – so unless your drives are PATA, then using AHCI is preferable.
Answer #5
Allright. Thanks!
Got my rig setup with AHCI now. Hopefully it will perform its best.
I also had a few BSOD with the RAID setup. Hoping they will be gone aswell with the new settings.
again, thanks.
Answer #6
no probs – glad to help