Partitions in RAID

[xilocient]

I'm planning on setting up a RAID 5 array for data storage in the near future and I was wondering if it is possible/worth partitioning the drive.

When I only have one hard drive in the machine, I usually create a system partition for the OS and commonly used programs. I was under the impression that doing so would improve the overall system performance (if only through data consolidation) I was wondering if the same thing holds true for a RAID array.

I know that I won't really need to worry about performance for a data store, but I'm just curious.

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by xilocient

I'm planning on setting up a RAID 5 array for data storage in the near future and I was wondering if it is possible/worth partitioning the drive.

When I only have one hard drive in the machine, I usually create a system partition for the OS and commonly used programs. I was under the impression that doing so would improve the overall system performance (if only through data consolidation) I was wondering if the same thing holds true for a RAID array.

I know that I won't really need to worry about performance for a data store, but I'm just curious.

Partitioning a drive has absolutely no effect on performance and the only reason to do this is for emergency scenarios.

And no there will be no benefit to partitioning drives in a RAID array.

[MARSTG]

It is possible to partition the created array. After installing the driver for the OS it will simply appear as a regular drive. You can create partitions like on a regular drive, nothing stops you to do that. The drive creation is done at controller level and with the driver for the OS, the OS will see it as a regular drive and then you can do what you want. If I were you I would not partition the drive, keep it as simple as possible.

[JD]

I did it on my RAID10 array mainly just for organization. Set aside 320GB for my games and the remaining 1.5TB for storage.

But like noted above, has no effect on performance at all, and I guess could become problematic if you end up filling up 1 partition but not the other(s).

Do whatever works best for you

[xilocient]

Thanks for the info guys. I probably won't partition the rive, but might mount folders as drives to make some things easier.