RAID 0 SSDs or get a larger capacity SSD?

[rugox]

I have the OCZ Vertex 2 50GB SSD as my OS boot drive right now with WD black and green as subsequent storage drives. The 50GB is almost full and I'm trying to weigh the cons and pros of the options of expanding the OS drive space.

First option I have is to RAID 0 the 50GB SSD with another exact same SSD which will give me about 90GB useable space for a price of about 90 dollars (vertex 2 50 GB on sale at 90 at NCIX).

Second option is to purchase a larger capacity SSD around 60-120GB (next gen or not) and replace it and use the 50GB as special storage for performance requiring applications like games. I could choose to sell it as well I guess. However, the price would be the issue here.

The Kingston SSD Now V100 64GB is on sale at NCIX for 85 bucks, and Corsair Force 60GB for 95 bucks. The cheapest 120GB on sale is the OCZ vertex 2 at 190 bucks. Now I don't think it is that efficient to buy another sub 70GB SSD as it doesn't provide that much improvement so if I go with option 2, I would be looking at at least 100GB. For this reason, option 1 looks really feasible right now.

Of course, I would have to consider the fact that RAID 0 will increase the rate of the drive failure and risk of losing my data. I will be backing up my drive though. However, I've also read that RAID 0 will also compromise the longevity of the SSDs including the loss of TRIM support. Can anyone well informed shed some light on this matter?

If I were to spend about 100-200 dollars for this upgrade, what would be my best option? This is given that I want to spend the least amount of money possible.

 

[Skychan]

Well, I'm not the most informed, especially considering I've never done RAID before.

I would totally do the 50GBX2 in Raid0 ONLY IF Raid supported TRIM. Although maybe garbage collection is good enough. Though I did read one comment somewhere where the person expressed an understanding that the Sandforce SSDs have worse garbage collection than indilinx. Whether that person was well informed I do not know.

So, I'd rather continue to have TRIM support. I'd say bite the bullet and get a 120GB SSD. Going from 50/60GB to 120GB is supposed to have a decent increase in performance too. You could stick your 50GB into a laptop or sell it.

I have a 60GB Agility that I want to stick in my laptop once I finally decide on a 120GB Sandforce to buy.

cheers

 

[Sagath]

Upgrade to a bigger drive, sell the old one, or throw it in your laptop

SSD's are by nature highly parallel, and although RAID does increase the speed of the drives, the drawbacks limit you a lot as well. When you take in to account the fact that (by the natural parallelism) larger SSD's are inherently faster anyways, it makes little sense to raid 2x60gb vs getting a 120+gb drive.

 

[Charloz24]

Sorry no answer for you here, but I'm also in the same boat as you, right now I have a 30gb Vertex drive running the OS only. I was wondering if putting in a larger one (60gb for example in my case) so I could install a couple of games on it (like the witcher). Would I see improvements in game loading? (the witcher loads time is kinda low some times)

 

[CMetaphor]

If you're using SSDs with good or better ITGC then you don't really need Trim and therefore you can go Raid 0 if you want. Personally, I use 4x Crucial C300 64Gb SSDs in Raid 0 and have no problems with it thus far, just have to remember to let the system idle (without letting the hard drives power down mind you) for a couple hours each week. Thats all

 

[Addictedtokaos]

Sell the Vertex 2 and get C300 64 or 120 depending on your budget.

From what Ive read the difference in performance with Single SSD and Raid0 is not noticeable in real world applications, literally a second or two for launching games or large apps. Plus, you run a higher risk of failure in Raid 0.

Also, by going with a SATA 6Gbps drive you can always move it over when you build a Sata 6Gbps build.

Currently 64GB capacity is going for $1.95/GB and 128GB for $1.73/GB. I have the 64GB but Im running pretty much all my apps and games on my WD 640GB RAID1. If you can afford it, I would go with a 128GB capacity.

 

[francisw19]

Good suggestions so far...TBH, I don't think it's worth RAIDing the 50GB SSD at this point. If you do, I can guarantee you'll be going through this issue again. 90GB formatted can be chewed through quite quickly after installing the OS, some games, etc... I mean, it's doable, but you'd have to really watch how much capacity you're using. Also, keep in mind that you don't want to fill your SSD too much.

Personally, I'd get a 120GB SSD now and maybe think about getting another for RAID0 down the road when the 120GB's get cheaper and you get a chance to save up a bit more money. I can personally vouche for this setup...the 120GB Vertex2's in RAID0 have been treating me well. The total capacity seems to be good for my needs and they are crazy fast! My system boots very quickly, programs open instantly and games load very quick. :thumb:

On the flip side, if you don't want to do the RAID0 thing, I'd just keep your 50GB and use it for the OS only and try to keep your OS install quite lean. i.e. disable system restore (as you mention you are backing up - presumably disk imaging?), move the system temp folder to your mechanical disk, install large programs on your mechanical disk, move the page file, etc... With that you can use the new SSD for games as they are going to be taking more space in the long run.

 

[ipaine]

Sorry no answer for you here, but I'm also in the same boat as you, right now I have a 30gb Vertex drive running the OS only. I was wondering if putting in a larger one (60gb for example in my case) so I could install a couple of games on it (like the witcher). Would I see improvements in game loading? (the witcher loads time is kinda low some times)

Speaking from experience, yes you will see a big difference with the witcher, I know I did.

As for the original question, go with the 120GB ssd. Even more so, I would, if you can afford to that is, go with one of the new generation of drives like the Vertex 3. Then not only will you see more space but more performance as well.

 

[CptBen]

Raid 0 will give you the performance boost. I am currently have two 60G SSDs in raid 0, loading win7 under 40s from cold boot

 

[Chris]

If the 50 GB SSD is getting full, why can't OP install another 50/60 GB SSD and load his applications on it? Raid 0 (in the HDD world) is only to get them work faster, which is not needed in the case of SSD.

BTW, I have the OCZ 50 GB SSD, but I am running Linux, and it is not even half full, and I have a server running my Gallery2 program, GIMP, RawTherapee (photoediting program). I do not use it for storage, just programs and Linux.