Could I Set Up RAID?

[Jagged.Edge]

Although being slightly proficient with other tech-stuff, I still don't understand what RAID is.

And whether or not I could set it up with the SSD + Hard Drive I'm getting.

Could any y'all help?

My general understanding of RAID is that it combines your storage drives into a 'virtual' drive, allowing for easier data transfer, and faster transfer speeds? I doubt that's what RAID actually is, so could someone enlighten me?

And what would RAID actually do, in terms of improving system performance, etc?(Other parts I'm getting in my sig)

Here's the SSD:Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
And The HDD: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Thanks in advance!

 

[Puddle Jumper]

There are various types of RAID which serve different purposes but the type you are discussing is RAID 0.

Yes, technically you could put those two drives in RAID 0 but I wouldn't advise doing it. RAID works best when all of the drives in it are identical, in your situation it would basically cause horrible performance and if I'm not mistaken limit you to only using 120gb of the larger drive.

Essentially you don't want to put those drives in RAID 0 since the results won't be pretty.

 

[Thomas]

He is correct that if running raid-0 you will only have 240gb as you can use the 120 and 120 from the larger drive. This will make a large portion of the drive unusable. However I can confirm from experience that using two different drives as long as they are both 7200rpm will not degrade performance. It will improve it as the information written to and from the drives is striped. Since it only has to write half of the information to each drive it is in theory twice as fast.

 

[Jagged.Edge]

There are various types of RAID which serve different purposes but the type you are discussing is RAID 0.

Yes, technically you could put those two drives in RAID 0 but I wouldn't advise doing it. RAID works best when all of the drives in it are identical, in your situation it would basically cause horrible performance and if I'm not mistaken limit you to only using 120gb of the larger drive.

Essentially you don't want to put those drives in RAID 0 since the results won't be pretty.

He is correct that if running raid-0 you will only have 240gb as you can use the 120 and 120 from the larger drive. This will make a large portion of the drive unusable. However I can confirm from experience that using two different drives as long as they are both 7200rpm will not degrade performance. It will improve it as the information written to and from the drives is striped. Since it only has to write half of the information to each drive it is in theory twice as fast.

Okay, thanks for all the help.

I won't RAID my two drives. xD