Software Raid0 SATA SSDs


GokAy

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Windows 11 Pro 23H2
My knowledge about RAID with SSDs is quite dated, something like 2014.

I guess TRIM and garbage collection is not an issue these days for SSDs in RAID 0? I will use Disk Management striped volumes.

I plan to Raid0 2 x SSD 3 SSDs to replace my current 4 x WD Black spinners. They are quite old by now (10-12 years), and can't get as much air as I would like in this case.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    7800x3D
    Motherboard
    MSI B650 Tomahawk Wi-Fi
    Memory
    2 x 16GB G.SKill Flare x5 CL30
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI GTX970 Gaming 4G
    Sound Card
    OnBoard Realtec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3 x Samsung 23"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB nvme // Samsung 850 Pro 512 GB // 4 x WD Black 2TB (SATA Raid0)
    PSU
    FSP Hydro G Pro 1000W ATX3.0
    Case
    Phanteks P600s
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15
    Keyboard
    Logitech G19
    Mouse
    Logitech G500
    Internet Speed
    35 Mbit VDSL
    Browser
    Firefox // Brave
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes
It's your choice, of course, but I wouldn't bother to use RAID with SSDs. SSDs are so much faster than spinning metal hard drives, that RAID becomes redundant ;-). It also adds complexity to the setup which can cause future issues (especially if one drive develops an issue).

It's a different matter if using RAID for an array of drives in a NAS for example, where the higher RAID numbers come into play.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Ryzen 3900x
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Aorus Master x570 rel 1.0
    Memory
    32GB (2x16) @ 3600 MHz Corsair Vengeance LPX
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte Windforce RTX 2080
    Sound Card
    No separate sound card.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell U2718Q
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160
    Hard Drives
    1TB WD-Black SN850; 1TB Samsung Sata 850 Evo; 4 TB WD Blue Sata SA510 2.5''; 4TB Samsung Sata SSD 870 EVO 2.5".
    PSU
    Be Quiet Dark Power Pro 11 750W
    Case
    Lian Li PC-8FIB
    Cooling
    CPU: Noctua NH-U12A; Case: BeQuiet + Lian Li fans.
    Keyboard
    Steelseries Apex 7 brown keys.
    Mouse
    Logitech (wired) G403
    Internet Speed
    940 Mb/s down; 105 Mb/s up
    Browser
    Edge (Chromium)
    Antivirus
    Eset Internet Security
    Other Info
    Pioneer blu-ray optical drive.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7373 2-in-1
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 8th Generation
    Motherboard
    Dell 0HG1FH (U3E1)
    Memory
    8GB DDR4
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Dell)
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio (on motherboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Touch screen generic monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    256GB Micron SATA SSD.
    Internet Speed
    400Mb/s (Wifi)
    Browser
    Edge Chromium
    Antivirus
    Eset Internet Security
    Other Info
    Dell says this system is not Windows 11 capable, but Microsoft seems happy with it.
Hey Senecio, I am aware of everything you mention. I got external backups. Speed is secondary than to have them show as a single unit anyway.

What I really wonder is "TRIM and garbage collection". Back in 2014 iirc these were problematic and we did not advice for in sevenforums. We even used some small 3rd party app to check TRIM since the cmd command was sometimes reported as enabled but in reality it was not. People that frequented sevenforums would possibly remember. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    7800x3D
    Motherboard
    MSI B650 Tomahawk Wi-Fi
    Memory
    2 x 16GB G.SKill Flare x5 CL30
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI GTX970 Gaming 4G
    Sound Card
    OnBoard Realtec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3 x Samsung 23"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB nvme // Samsung 850 Pro 512 GB // 4 x WD Black 2TB (SATA Raid0)
    PSU
    FSP Hydro G Pro 1000W ATX3.0
    Case
    Phanteks P600s
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15
    Keyboard
    Logitech G19
    Mouse
    Logitech G500
    Internet Speed
    35 Mbit VDSL
    Browser
    Firefox // Brave
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes
It appears that Intel RST drivers do support trim on RAID 0 ssds, but I don't know about other company's drivers.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Ryzen 3900x
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Aorus Master x570 rel 1.0
    Memory
    32GB (2x16) @ 3600 MHz Corsair Vengeance LPX
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte Windforce RTX 2080
    Sound Card
    No separate sound card.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell U2718Q
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160
    Hard Drives
    1TB WD-Black SN850; 1TB Samsung Sata 850 Evo; 4 TB WD Blue Sata SA510 2.5''; 4TB Samsung Sata SSD 870 EVO 2.5".
    PSU
    Be Quiet Dark Power Pro 11 750W
    Case
    Lian Li PC-8FIB
    Cooling
    CPU: Noctua NH-U12A; Case: BeQuiet + Lian Li fans.
    Keyboard
    Steelseries Apex 7 brown keys.
    Mouse
    Logitech (wired) G403
    Internet Speed
    940 Mb/s down; 105 Mb/s up
    Browser
    Edge (Chromium)
    Antivirus
    Eset Internet Security
    Other Info
    Pioneer blu-ray optical drive.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7373 2-in-1
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 8th Generation
    Motherboard
    Dell 0HG1FH (U3E1)
    Memory
    8GB DDR4
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Dell)
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio (on motherboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Touch screen generic monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    256GB Micron SATA SSD.
    Internet Speed
    400Mb/s (Wifi)
    Browser
    Edge Chromium
    Antivirus
    Eset Internet Security
    Other Info
    Dell says this system is not Windows 11 capable, but Microsoft seems happy with it.
Looks like Disk Management striped volumes won't work but I am reading Storage Spaces does support TRIM. Found this post on reddit.


Edit: I found the answer; In Windows 10, storage spaces with Simple resiliency are created with only a single column. Using powershell I was able to create a storage pool with 2 columns (for 2 disks), and the performance was doubled, as expected. It's even faster than creating a Striped Volume in Disk Manager. And most important of all -- it supports trim!

Here's the command I used: New-VirtualDisk -FriendlyName SuperSpeedDelight -StoragePoolFriendlyName SSDPool -NumberOfColumns 2 -Resilie ncySettingName simple -UseMaximumSize
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    7800x3D
    Motherboard
    MSI B650 Tomahawk Wi-Fi
    Memory
    2 x 16GB G.SKill Flare x5 CL30
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI GTX970 Gaming 4G
    Sound Card
    OnBoard Realtec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3 x Samsung 23"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB nvme // Samsung 850 Pro 512 GB // 4 x WD Black 2TB (SATA Raid0)
    PSU
    FSP Hydro G Pro 1000W ATX3.0
    Case
    Phanteks P600s
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15
    Keyboard
    Logitech G19
    Mouse
    Logitech G500
    Internet Speed
    35 Mbit VDSL
    Browser
    Firefox // Brave
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes
The author of that reddit post seems to have found the answer on MS site.

Storage Spaces - trying to create a Raid 0 with Powershell

Here are the exact steps:

If you want to stay away from the command line interface as much as possible;

- Search "Manage Storage Spaces" or find Storage Spaces in the control panel
- Click on "Create a new pool and storage space"
- Select the drives you want to use and click "Create pool"
- On the next screen that is to set up the way you want to implement the pool hit Cancel
- Now you have a Storage pool ready, if you want rename it to something you want like "Windows Storage on AMD-RYZEN-2700X-Desktop"
- Run PowerShell as Administrator and use the command you have but with parentheses around the names that have spaces in them

New-VirtualDisk -FriendlyName SuperSpeedDelight -StoragePoolFriendlyName "Windows Storage on AMD-RYZEN-2700X-Desktop" -NumberOfColumns 2 -ResiliencySettingName simple -UseMaximumSize

- Now to go Disk Management and right click on the new Disk just created and Initialize Disk (left side of the column), then Right click on the partition area and create a new Simple Volume, Boom! your done

1725311253858.png

I checked using fsutil and both NTFS and ReFS trim is enabled but I am not sure if that is enough to conclude that it is indeed working. I guess it is global and you don't run it on different drives?

Anyway I went ahead and found the little program I mentioned before, TrimCheck. According to it, TRIM is working.

Should I be worried or do anything about this btw?

1725311512085.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    7800x3D
    Motherboard
    MSI B650 Tomahawk Wi-Fi
    Memory
    2 x 16GB G.SKill Flare x5 CL30
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI GTX970 Gaming 4G
    Sound Card
    OnBoard Realtec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3 x Samsung 23"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB nvme // Samsung 850 Pro 512 GB // 4 x WD Black 2TB (SATA Raid0)
    PSU
    FSP Hydro G Pro 1000W ATX3.0
    Case
    Phanteks P600s
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15
    Keyboard
    Logitech G19
    Mouse
    Logitech G500
    Internet Speed
    35 Mbit VDSL
    Browser
    Firefox // Brave
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes
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