It's RAID!

[srgalahad]

OK, the new computer arrived (off-the-shelf, not ordered to spec).
It comes with one 640 GB drive, Vista 64 and a RAID controller.

I was thinking of going RAID 0 (since I do regular backups). Question is:
If, before installing any extra software, I install two 320-500GB drives to be the primary OS drive(s) what does it take to re-install the OS in a RAID config - assuming I'm going to reformat the 640 to use as a data drive.
Also, does the array show up as just "drive c:"? and does it backup as one drive or two?

-no, I can't afford solid state drives :rapture:
Anyone have data on the performance 'increase' of RAID 0?

Rob

[Odie]

Hey Rob,

On my Falcon box I've got 2 80gig drives that are set in RAID 0. They show up in Windows Explorer as one drive "C".

Four years ago when I bought the box, RAID was a new animal to me and I asked Falcon why they defaulted to that setup and they said it was for speed (figures since they build gaming rigs!) since it writes across both drives.

For backups I do mine manually to an external drive. I use XP's default defrag tool for defrags.

Sorry I can't provide any of the technical details beyond that (not too techy for my part), but it runs most everything I throw at it although it's beginning to show its age.

[srgalahad]

Tnx Odie.

Ongoing thoughts:
On an OS install I assume once the drives are configured is just installs as normal?

I assume the OS install should be from scratch, not imaged over from the existing install...

[hey_moe]

If you are going to use Raid0/128 stripe/ you have to do a complete reinstall and at the very begining start tapping on the F6 key and it will come to a part where you have to to install storage drivers. In Vista this shuld do it auto for you. You also have to go into your BIOS and make sure you are set up for Raid there first. Also when you rebbot you have to go inot a Raid menu and select how you want Raid to be done and which drives you wanna conbine. >>>> http://www.legitreviews.com/article/454/1/

[GT182]

I could be wrong but I believe you must use the same size drives as you have for your main drive in order for RAID to work.

[srgalahad]

Yep GT182. The plan is for two new 'matched' drives. The supplied 640 will become one of the data drives ( or partitioned into two as I have a long-standing drive/folder layout I'm happy with (c:= OS; D:=data; E: extra stuff; F: FltSim) . all the FS stuff goes to a separate physical drive.
Backup is to a Maxtor external using Acronis True Image.

Moe, thanks for the tutorial. It looks just perfect and along with the good RAID info in the manual ( yes, I read those) it should work fine.

System is a Dell XPS630 Q9300/6GB RAM/ 9800GT. Good as I could afford :typing:

Rob

[GT182]

System is a Dell XPS630 Q9300/6GB RAM/ 9800GT. Good as I could afford :typing:

Rob

Looks to be a darned good system to me Rob.... well, all except the OS. Just picking on ya. ;) You shouldn't have to worry about running out of room on HDDs for awhile. :d

[srgalahad]

Looks to be a darned good system to me Rob.... well, all except the OS. Just picking on ya. ;) You shouldn't have to worry about running out of room on HDDs for awhile. :d

Yeah, yeah.. I know, but I didn't have the choice. Was a Boxing Day special pre-built. I may go grab an extra copy of XP in case I decide dual-boot is the best route.

Rob

[GT182]

I may go grab an extra copy of XP in case I decide dual-boot is the best route.

Rob

That's a very good idea. God knows you've got enough room for it. ;) :costumes:

[hey_moe]

I've got mine in Raid0/128stripe/ using Vista with no problems....works fine in Windows 7 too.

[srgalahad]

I've got mine in Raid0/128stripe/ using Vista with no problems....works fine in Windows 7 too.

I have a copy of Windows 3.1 here... is 7 something like that but newer?

:173go1:

[srgalahad]

After a brief hiatus.... (a head cold and learning new system stuff is not a good mix) I have a further question.

Assume 2 x 500 Gb drives - set as RAID 0 for performance. Anyone see a downfall in this:
Partition the RAID drives as 300/200 each - first partition for the OS. second partition for FS

Would the FS performance be helped, unchanged, or hurt by being on a RAID 0 array - as the second partition?