So you've overclocked your CPU, and it's lightning fast and stable, while also keeping cool, your RAM is running blazing fast with no memory errors, and your GPU is overclocked, getting you stellar performance, squeezing every ounce of refresh rates that card can muster, at the prettiest graphics settings it is able to handle.
On top of that, you likely have removed most of the bloatware, and avoided scams from shady callers trying to crash your blazing fast PC, under the guise of "optimizing" it.
So, you're feeling pretty damn good about your PC. I mean, I would. However, your storage drives, you feel, could perform better than advertised.
Many people might wonder, is there a way to run my storage to accomplish sort of the same goals as overclocking the CPU and GPU?
Well, yes, but the title of this post is a bit misleading on purpose. While we will be squeezing more performance out of your storage drives, this isn't overclocking per se.
#StopClickbait.
BENEFITS OF RAID:
Now, what do I mean with RAID? Is this some sort of things computer pirates do? I've never heard of this function before, tell me things are alright daddy Cthulhu!
Have no fear, dear reader, I will be explaining what RAID is.
RAID is an acronym that stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, and when we're talking running in RAID, what we really mean is using multiple storage drives or disks, to achieve faster read and write times, or performance, and better reliability.
Basically, you're combining your storage drives so they collectively perform faster and more reliably than they individually would, much like how the Planeteers combine their powers to create Captain Planet!
He's a hero, who takes pollution down to zero!
So, in essence, to use RAID, you need multiple storage drives, and before we discuss on how to run your drives in RAID, we need to talk about the differences between RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10.
RAID 0:
RAID 0 is all about faster read and write times, and is preferred when using two or more SSD's (Solid State Drives). Since SSD's by their very design are much faster than mechanical HDD's just running normally, you can imagine running an array of SSD's in RAID 0 will make them run blazing fast.
Truer words have never been spoken!
RAID 0 contributes nothing to reliable storage though. RAID 0 is all about wicked fast read and write times. It accomplishes this by taking two or more SSD's and striping the data across the drives, rather than putting them onto the drive as normal.
This means you can keep all of the capacity and, in theory with two drives, double the read and write performance.
The major drawback of RAID 0 is if one of the drives undergoes a hardware malfunction, you lose all of the data.
So RAID 0 isn't reliable, but the massive performance boost of running two SSD's in RAID 0 more than outweighs the risks. Especially considering that SSD's are pretty damn tough to begin with, moreso than any mechanical HDD I've owned and used to date.
If you're doing reliable backups, as well as going for raw performance, RAID 0 is pretty damn tough to beat, as well as safe.
RAID 1:
Whereas RAID 0 was all about raw performance, RAID 1 is all about reliability. How RAID 1 differs from RAID 0 is that instead of doubling the performance and in theory capacity, using two drives in RAID 1 gives you the speed and capacity of only one drive.
Likely what you're thinking right now.
Well, while you might not see a massive performance boost, what you get is the redundancy of however many drives you're running in that array. Say if you're running two 3.5" 3TB mechanical HDD's (Hard Disk Drive), you're not going to get the performance of two of these drives together, but the performance and speed of one, with the redundancy of two drives.
What this means, practically, if one of the drives experiences a hardware malfunction, all of your data will still be there, unlike with RAID 0. This is because RAID 1 is mirroring the data from one drive to the other.
This is why that in enthusiast grade PC's, most enthusiasts have four drives, two SSD's in RAID 0, and two HDD's in RAID 1. You get the wicked read and write performance of RAID 0 with the SSD's, while having the redundancy and reliability of two HDD's running in RAID 1.
RAID 10:
RAID 10 combines the best of both worlds with RAID 0 and RAID 1. Hence the name.
I used this before, but dammit, I love this movie!
RAID 10 stripes the data across two drives, like in RAID 0, and you're mirroring that data to two other drives, as in RAID 1. This is important in applications where you need the awesome performance of a drive array, and redundancy.
Normally, this is used in data centers that have multiple large drive arrays. Coders, 3D modelers and animators usually have a drive array at work that they save their data on, and normally in these applications, there's a backup array of drives running in RAID 1, if nothing else for redundant storage.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO RUN YOUR DRIVES IN RAID:
What you'll need to run your drives in RAID depends on the type of RAID you're running.
For RAID 0, I heartily recommend at least two SSD's.
For RAID 1, at least two mechnical HDD's. Preferably at least 1-2TB capacity.
For RAID 10, at least four mechanical HDD's. Preferably, 7200 RPM HDD's, and ones at least 3TB in capacity.
In any of these cases, RAID works best when the drives in the array are identical in speed, as well as capacity, and with the same firmware. In other words, if you're planning on running your drives in RAID, make sure each drive in the array is identical.
The reason for this is that in a RAID array, the speed of the array is determined by the slowest drives, which is not what you want, especially in RAID 0. I mean, why would you want to handicap the raw performance of RAID 0 with a slow ass drive right?
HOW TO DO IT:
Normally, I don't recommend starting a RAID on a computer with an OS installed. In my experience, RAID is easiest to set up with a freshly built computer. It is perfectly safe and completely doable, but for the sake of simplicity, and because that's a topic for a different thread, best to start with a freshly built PC for this.
Now, normally in the past, one might have had to purchase a separate RAID controller, but these days, motherboard manufacturers have their own onboard RAID controller.
So in this case, all you really have to do is plug your drives in and turn the computer on.
On a freshly built PC, it should automatically boot into the motherboard's UEFI BIOS. From here, follow the CPU overclocking guide I did in this thread, enable XMP mode (or DOCP mode if you're using an AMD CPU), and then move to the motherboard's chipset settings.
In this area of the BIOS, you should see something called "SATA" or "SATA Config," and in that field, you should see it listed as AHCI by default. If you're running in RAID, obviously, you want to switch it to RAID.
Now, this will sound freaky, but at this point, after you're happy with the changes you made in the firmware, hit "Save & Exit."
While the computer is rebooting, press and hold CTRL + R to to launch the RAID Controller User Interface.
Ah! It looks like an MS-DOS nightmare! I'm scared Daddy Cthulhu!
From this point, select Create Array then simply select the drives you want to use for that RAID configuration. The drives available should be listed on the right hand side under Disks.
Use the A or the Ins key to select the drives for that array and then hit enter once you're done.
After you've selected the drives, the screen will switch to this.
From here, simply select which RAID configuration you're using for that array. For two SSD's, I heartily recommend RAID 0, and for two HDD's, I recommend RAID 1.
Afterwards, you simply select the size of the array you want to build.
I would recommend keeping the default setting of using All Available Space. After this you will select the caching mode, I personally recommend keeping the default caching system of Read/Write.
Repeat the previous steps for creating a RAID 1 array, if you have two identical 3.5" HDD's for mass, redundant storage.
After you're done, simply press C to create the array. After you've created the array, press Esc and Y to restart the computer with your new RAID configuration.
Once you inevitably get back to the UEFI BIOS, simply select the RAID array you want to boot from, and install the OS of your choice as normal.
CONCLUSION:
Sure, this may sound like advanced computer voodoo, but setting up and configuring a RAID array these days is much less painful than it used to be. Not only that, but the benefits to running storage drives in RAID are many, including redundant and reliable storage, blazing fast read and write performance, and many others.
Now, I should say that RAID is not a substitution for backing up data! Backing up your data should be something you do regularly. Some persnickity people back up to three drives: the original, the copy, and the copy of the copy (and for extra redundancy, copies, of copies, of copies are stored off-site, like in a safe-deposit box). While this is tedious, backing up data makes it extremely hard to lose important and sentimental data.
Even in a safe RAID 1 array, redundancy is not the same thing as a backup.
On top of this, a RAID array is still prone to the same computer woes, such as viruses and malware, accidental data deletion, corruption, and human error. To minimize these things, I always recommend doing a regular backup of your important data, even in a safe RAID array.
Even with this caveat, running your drives in RAID is very safe, very reliable, and the redundancy measures as well as the better performance of a RAID array is reason enough to run your drives in RAID.
Hope this guide helped! If you have any questions, please, drop me a question in the comments! Happy RAIDing!
On top of that, you likely have removed most of the bloatware, and avoided scams from shady callers trying to crash your blazing fast PC, under the guise of "optimizing" it.
So, you're feeling pretty damn good about your PC. I mean, I would. However, your storage drives, you feel, could perform better than advertised.
Many people might wonder, is there a way to run my storage to accomplish sort of the same goals as overclocking the CPU and GPU?
Well, yes, but the title of this post is a bit misleading on purpose. While we will be squeezing more performance out of your storage drives, this isn't overclocking per se.
#StopClickbait.
BENEFITS OF RAID:
Now, what do I mean with RAID? Is this some sort of things computer pirates do? I've never heard of this function before, tell me things are alright daddy Cthulhu!
Have no fear, dear reader, I will be explaining what RAID is.
RAID is an acronym that stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, and when we're talking running in RAID, what we really mean is using multiple storage drives or disks, to achieve faster read and write times, or performance, and better reliability.
Basically, you're combining your storage drives so they collectively perform faster and more reliably than they individually would, much like how the Planeteers combine their powers to create Captain Planet!
He's a hero, who takes pollution down to zero!
So, in essence, to use RAID, you need multiple storage drives, and before we discuss on how to run your drives in RAID, we need to talk about the differences between RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10.
RAID 0:
RAID 0 is all about faster read and write times, and is preferred when using two or more SSD's (Solid State Drives). Since SSD's by their very design are much faster than mechanical HDD's just running normally, you can imagine running an array of SSD's in RAID 0 will make them run blazing fast.
Truer words have never been spoken!
RAID 0 contributes nothing to reliable storage though. RAID 0 is all about wicked fast read and write times. It accomplishes this by taking two or more SSD's and striping the data across the drives, rather than putting them onto the drive as normal.
This means you can keep all of the capacity and, in theory with two drives, double the read and write performance.
The major drawback of RAID 0 is if one of the drives undergoes a hardware malfunction, you lose all of the data.
So RAID 0 isn't reliable, but the massive performance boost of running two SSD's in RAID 0 more than outweighs the risks. Especially considering that SSD's are pretty damn tough to begin with, moreso than any mechanical HDD I've owned and used to date.
If you're doing reliable backups, as well as going for raw performance, RAID 0 is pretty damn tough to beat, as well as safe.
RAID 1:
Whereas RAID 0 was all about raw performance, RAID 1 is all about reliability. How RAID 1 differs from RAID 0 is that instead of doubling the performance and in theory capacity, using two drives in RAID 1 gives you the speed and capacity of only one drive.
Likely what you're thinking right now.
Well, while you might not see a massive performance boost, what you get is the redundancy of however many drives you're running in that array. Say if you're running two 3.5" 3TB mechanical HDD's (Hard Disk Drive), you're not going to get the performance of two of these drives together, but the performance and speed of one, with the redundancy of two drives.
What this means, practically, if one of the drives experiences a hardware malfunction, all of your data will still be there, unlike with RAID 0. This is because RAID 1 is mirroring the data from one drive to the other.
This is why that in enthusiast grade PC's, most enthusiasts have four drives, two SSD's in RAID 0, and two HDD's in RAID 1. You get the wicked read and write performance of RAID 0 with the SSD's, while having the redundancy and reliability of two HDD's running in RAID 1.
RAID 10:
RAID 10 combines the best of both worlds with RAID 0 and RAID 1. Hence the name.
I used this before, but dammit, I love this movie!
RAID 10 stripes the data across two drives, like in RAID 0, and you're mirroring that data to two other drives, as in RAID 1. This is important in applications where you need the awesome performance of a drive array, and redundancy.
Normally, this is used in data centers that have multiple large drive arrays. Coders, 3D modelers and animators usually have a drive array at work that they save their data on, and normally in these applications, there's a backup array of drives running in RAID 1, if nothing else for redundant storage.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO RUN YOUR DRIVES IN RAID:
What you'll need to run your drives in RAID depends on the type of RAID you're running.
For RAID 0, I heartily recommend at least two SSD's.
For RAID 1, at least two mechnical HDD's. Preferably at least 1-2TB capacity.
For RAID 10, at least four mechanical HDD's. Preferably, 7200 RPM HDD's, and ones at least 3TB in capacity.
In any of these cases, RAID works best when the drives in the array are identical in speed, as well as capacity, and with the same firmware. In other words, if you're planning on running your drives in RAID, make sure each drive in the array is identical.
The reason for this is that in a RAID array, the speed of the array is determined by the slowest drives, which is not what you want, especially in RAID 0. I mean, why would you want to handicap the raw performance of RAID 0 with a slow ass drive right?
HOW TO DO IT:
Normally, I don't recommend starting a RAID on a computer with an OS installed. In my experience, RAID is easiest to set up with a freshly built computer. It is perfectly safe and completely doable, but for the sake of simplicity, and because that's a topic for a different thread, best to start with a freshly built PC for this.
Now, normally in the past, one might have had to purchase a separate RAID controller, but these days, motherboard manufacturers have their own onboard RAID controller.
So in this case, all you really have to do is plug your drives in and turn the computer on.
On a freshly built PC, it should automatically boot into the motherboard's UEFI BIOS. From here, follow the CPU overclocking guide I did in this thread, enable XMP mode (or DOCP mode if you're using an AMD CPU), and then move to the motherboard's chipset settings.
In this area of the BIOS, you should see something called "SATA" or "SATA Config," and in that field, you should see it listed as AHCI by default. If you're running in RAID, obviously, you want to switch it to RAID.
Now, this will sound freaky, but at this point, after you're happy with the changes you made in the firmware, hit "Save & Exit."
While the computer is rebooting, press and hold CTRL + R to to launch the RAID Controller User Interface.
Ah! It looks like an MS-DOS nightmare! I'm scared Daddy Cthulhu!
From this point, select Create Array then simply select the drives you want to use for that RAID configuration. The drives available should be listed on the right hand side under Disks.
Use the A or the Ins key to select the drives for that array and then hit enter once you're done.
After you've selected the drives, the screen will switch to this.
From here, simply select which RAID configuration you're using for that array. For two SSD's, I heartily recommend RAID 0, and for two HDD's, I recommend RAID 1.
Afterwards, you simply select the size of the array you want to build.
I would recommend keeping the default setting of using All Available Space. After this you will select the caching mode, I personally recommend keeping the default caching system of Read/Write.
Repeat the previous steps for creating a RAID 1 array, if you have two identical 3.5" HDD's for mass, redundant storage.
After you're done, simply press C to create the array. After you've created the array, press Esc and Y to restart the computer with your new RAID configuration.
Once you inevitably get back to the UEFI BIOS, simply select the RAID array you want to boot from, and install the OS of your choice as normal.
CONCLUSION:
Sure, this may sound like advanced computer voodoo, but setting up and configuring a RAID array these days is much less painful than it used to be. Not only that, but the benefits to running storage drives in RAID are many, including redundant and reliable storage, blazing fast read and write performance, and many others.
Now, I should say that RAID is not a substitution for backing up data! Backing up your data should be something you do regularly. Some persnickity people back up to three drives: the original, the copy, and the copy of the copy (and for extra redundancy, copies, of copies, of copies are stored off-site, like in a safe-deposit box). While this is tedious, backing up data makes it extremely hard to lose important and sentimental data.
Even in a safe RAID 1 array, redundancy is not the same thing as a backup.
On top of this, a RAID array is still prone to the same computer woes, such as viruses and malware, accidental data deletion, corruption, and human error. To minimize these things, I always recommend doing a regular backup of your important data, even in a safe RAID array.
Even with this caveat, running your drives in RAID is very safe, very reliable, and the redundancy measures as well as the better performance of a RAID array is reason enough to run your drives in RAID.
Hope this guide helped! If you have any questions, please, drop me a question in the comments! Happy RAIDing!
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