Raid 0 reliability?

[Gabb]

Now I know all the basics about Raid 0 ( any drive failing and you losing all the data etc ). What I don't know is if using Raid 0 lowers the life span of your hard drives overall?

The reason I ask about this is because I'm trying to decide either 7200 rpm HDs raided 0 or just 1 10k WD raptor. I know I talked about this before in another thread, and the limited space in the WD raptors really isn't an issue for me. I was just wondering about life spans of the drives.

 

[Apokalipse]

whatever you do, always use a hardware controlled RAID. then, they're going to be pretty reliable.

software is much more volatile, so software RAID's will be less reliable.

 

[BoysNightOut]

I don't think it decreases lifespan just by how they're configured. This way it would seem if they're setup and managed properly they'd last longer than normal maybe, due to only half the data being processed to each individual drive...but don't quote me on that lol. I've never done RAID on any of my 5 PC's yet lol, but plan to on my next one more than likely.

They're being used just as they would individually and if anything happened to them it could just as easily happen to a single drive I'm sure.

 

[Apokalipse]

yeah, a RAID doesn't reduce the lifespan of the drive. I don't know where that myth came from.

That is, unless you're gonna cram heaps of drives in a small space with nowhere for the heat to go.

 

[The General]

whatever you do, always use a hardware controlled RAID. then, they're going to be pretty reliable.

software is much more volatile, so software RAID's will be less reliable.

Meh, guess I'll argue that. If you use a hardware RAID, you can only use the hardware to rebuild the RAID in case of a drive failure. If your RAID controller dies, you might end up tossing the drives thinking you lost your data, whereas with software RAIDS you just plug the drives into another computer, and (well I do anyway) boot up Knoppix and test it.

With my RAID 5 at work, I can just take the drives and stick them in any computer, boot up Knoppix and rebuilt it.

I've never had a problem with software RAIDs. In fact, the software RAID at work out performs the Dell next door.

Gotta love Linux.

 

[Jumping_Bean514]

I have never in my life seen or heard of a RAID controller dieing. Software RAID's are much more vulnerable to corruption and I believe operate slower then hardware raids. Not to mention the additional programs that must run in the background to support them.