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Raid or no Raid (Read 353 times)

May 8^th, 2009 at 11:08am

fox956 Offline
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Hi.

I have a few questions about using a raid configuration. I'm looking to start to build a new system and I plan to use 2 V-Raptors in Raid 0 for only FSX and I plan to use a dedicated controller board.

From what I've read, I should put the OS on its own drive.

For scenery and terrain mesh and the likes, eg. GEX, REX, UTX , etc would be put on the drive with the OS.

And now finally my questions.

1) Is there any advantage to putting the OS and scenery on its own Raid setup as opposed to a single drive? I would have 2 raid setups in this case. ( One for FSX and the other for OS and etc. )

2) Is there any advantage to putting the OS on a small hard drive by itself and putting the scenery and the likes, UTX, GEX, etc on another hard drive like maybe another V-Raptor?

I'm thinking performance!!!!!

Thanks,

Larry

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Reply #1 - May 8^th, 2009 at 11:36am

ozzy72 Offline
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Keep all your FS stuff together on ONE HD as this makes for smoother performance. Also make sure both your HDs are the same speed Wink

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Reply #2 - May 15^th, 2009 at 12:32am

HarvesteR Offline
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If you're using a dedicated RAID controller, you should be fine... the problem lies in using motherboard RAID

Just keep in mind that RAID can be somewhat tricky... my friend and my brother both had RAID setups in their machines, and both ended up losing them...

my friend had a fried HD... my brother had a corrupted OS installation and had to reformat... he is using RAID again, but this time the OS has it's own drive

But I imagine you should be fine leaving the RAID drives just for FS... there being no OS in there to mess it up... I don't see why it should work Wink

Good luck on that... I wish I could get VRaptors for myself Roll Eyes

Cheers

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Reply #3 - May 15^th, 2009 at 6:24pm

NickN Offline
Colonel
FSX runs fine... the problem
is you or your system

Posts: 6317

no RAID

UTX must install INTO FSX.. REX, FEX, GEX are just database programs you launch to SEND textures to FSX and can bo on the OS drive

Yes.. one drive for OS and one for FSX... A Vrap for FSX and installed addons is the way to go

DO NOT over fill the FSX drive... keep it under 70% full MAX

The only time RAID works for FSX is if you are using professional PCIe RAID cards.. and not those 100 dollar specials either.. a good one starts at 350 bucks

Big photoscenery type addons can benefit from a RAID array if it is set up right AND on the right controller card but I would not put FSX on it.

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Reply #4 - May 19^th, 2009 at 12:03pm

fox956 Offline
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I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Posts: 25

Hi.

Thanks for the responses.

Is there any advantage to using a Raid 0 array with 2 WD V-raptors and it's own dedicated controller card as opposed to single WD V-raptor for FSK only? The controller card I was looking at is the 3ware 9650-4LPML PCI-e. I don't mind paying the extra cost if the if I get the performance increase.

The OS would be on its won HDD. Most likely a WD 1 or 1.5 T byte HDD.

Thanks,

Larry

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Reply #5 - May 19^th, 2009 at 9:52pm

NickN Offline
Colonel
FSX runs fine... the problem
is you or your system

Posts: 6317

Larry the right controller card if set up correctly will enhance the result however running them in RAID for a typical installation is not gaining you much over the single (both RAID and Single running on the card)

Now.. if you use a lot of photoscenery or other addons that have huge database files then yes, the RAID array can help.. it requires a 256K STRIPE when being set up and if you do decide to run RAID you will need the battery backup module for the card

you must also know how to set that card up for performace.. single or RAID

http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=28350&PID=161336#161336

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Reply #6 - May 20^th, 2009 at 7:58am

fox956 Offline
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I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Posts: 25

Hi NIck.

Thanks for the info.

Right now I don't have much in the photoscenery area for FSX but I'm looking to expand that quite a bit, so I think I will go with the Raid 0 option.

MY PLAN:

I'm looking to run 3 monitors and a projector, with the projector displaying only scenery.

I have a lot of decisions ahead of me, like the motherboard, processor, whether to go with 2 computer networked or 1 computer with 2 -dual head video cards, etc.,etc.

I will have more question to come. I know when it comes to hardware it's constantly changing but I need to think about today and not what will be available in a year.

I do appreciate any and all information and suggestions. ( Be nice now ).

Thanks to each and all of you who have responded. I will continue to pick your brains.

Larry

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