Raid

[Dtere]

What is RAID when it comes to motherboards?
Is it needed for a home/gaming pc?

 

[MnkyOf[-]ate]

RAID is not required for the average gaming user.
raid is when 2 hard drives exactly the same, (in terms of model # / brand name and capacity) are networked together to form one super hard drive that runs twice as fast.

RAID is extremly fast, but also pretty expensive and complicated.
RAID requires a special controler built into your motherboard, or PCI card.


so basicly, RAID is like IDE x2

I don't know much else about raid, other than that... just stick to IDE unless you learn alot more about it.

 

[Rapmaster]

Well sort of

You can use raid for mirroring (useful so you have a backup in case of a hard drive failure-- but it won't help if you accidentally erase something.)

Or you can use it for striping. Striping means splitting the hard drive activity across two (or more) disks-- its faster because it can do multiple things at the same time without needing to wait as long for the hard drive's internal parts to spin into place. You won't see a massive boost in an IDE-based RAID system.

It is really designed for SCSI systems, especially servers.

You can also combine mirroring and striping, you would need at least 4 hard drives for that though.

 

[Dtere]

heh damn i just paid for something i didn't need, ugh oh well...