Question about RAID cards, and this setup.

Yesterday I had to purchase a new HD because I'm suspecting that my main data drive is about to go.

This has gotten me to wonder about a RAID setup, and I'm new to RAID, but based on what I read on here its something I want in my computer. So I'm asking some questions.

First, I've heard that "Stripping" splits the data across multiple HDs (at least 2) and it improves performance significantly. So theoretically, this would be a good setup for the OS. Right?

Also, I'm looking into mirroring my data on at least 2 drives.

Would I be able to do this with one card, or will I need to get two cards to do this setup. I also heard that stripping (RAID 1???) has the stripping on one HD, and if it dies, your data gets corrupted. How would one avoid this? (RAID 5 or was it 0+1???)

I'm not sure exactly each type of raid does so I'm probably a little off, or have them switched around. Correct me if I'm wrong. Question about RAID cards, and this setup.

Anyways, in short here's what I'm wanting to do...
Stripping the OS for speed.
Mirroring my data for redundancy (at least 2 drives, ideally 3).

Can I do this with one card, or will I need to buy two? I know I'd need a serious PSU, and case, and several identical HDs for mirroring and replacement drives. What is a good card from your experiences based on what I want to do. BTW, I'm doing this with IDE. I know I could go SCSI, but I ran out of space for 50GB of my data drive and the cost currently prohibitive of me going SCSI.

Any comments?

 

 

 

 

Top