RAID Newb Help

JayEm · Aug 30, 2010, 02:24 PM

I've never set ones of these up before so need some help!

Currently I've got three hard drives split into nine partitions with none of them apart from my music backed up; so I'm thinking of buying a couple of 1TB or 1.5TB drives and setting up a RAID1 array. How do I do it? Can I mix non-RAID and RAID drives? My motherboard is an ASUS M4A78 Pro.

OSWiz · Aug 30, 2010, 03:21 PM

Holy Partitions Batman -- and RAID arrays too. In this day and age, with HDDs so cheap and super fast SSDs, there's really no need for partitioning nor RAID arrays. Ignore your partitions and RAID array -- what are you trying to achieve?

JayEm · Aug 30, 2010, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OSWiz

Holy Partitions Batman

lol, it wasn't entirely intentional. At first I had an 80GB hard drive split into 3 for Windows XP, Ubuntu and storage. That quickly filled up so I added a 250GB drive and reinstalled XP onto it, leaving the first drive as it was. When that was full, it was about time for a major upgrade (the old Sempron 3k had seen better days) and I ended up buying a 500GB drive and a copy of Windows 7.

Now all the drives and partitions are in a mess, none of it is backed up which is my major concern. So RAID arrays are a no-no?

newtekie1 · Aug 30, 2010, 03:49 PM

It should be as simple as setting the SATA controller to RAID mode, then going into the RAID configuration during boot and configuring the array.

You will likely have to re-install Windows to do this properly though, as all the drives will likely switch to RAID mode, even if some of the drives are not actually part of a RAID array.

Yes, you can have drives that are just single drives mixed with drives that are in a RAID array.

JayEm · Aug 30, 2010, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by newtekie1

You will likely have to re-install Windows to do this properly though, as all the drives will likely switch to RAID mode, even if some of the drives are not actually part of a RAID array.

Hmmm, if that's the case, I might have to ditch the idea and just plug a couple of drives in... Can't be bothered reinstalling the OS.

OSWiz · Aug 30, 2010, 07:48 PM

Geez, yup, you got a real mess there, LOL. Just get a 2TB HDD and back up all the partitions on to it using Acronis True Image Clone.

Bo$$ · Aug 30, 2010, 07:50 PM

thats a lot of music

Aug 30, 2010, 02:24 PM	#1
JayEm Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 3 (0.00/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts System Specs	RAID Newb Help I've never set ones of these up before so need some help! Currently I've got three hard drives split into nine partitions with none of them apart from my music backed up; so I'm thinking of buying a couple of 1TB or 1.5TB drives and setting up a RAID1 array. How do I do it? Can I mix non-RAID and RAID drives? My motherboard is an ASUS M4A78 Pro.

System Name:	Mariella
Processor:	AMD Athlon X2 7750+ BE
Motherboard:	AMD M4A78 Pro
Cooling:	Stock
Memory:	4GB DDR2 (Corsair CM2X2048-6400C5 x 2)
Video Card:	XFX 5750
Hard Disk:	Various 2.83TB Total
Optical Drive:	Sony DVD-RW
CRT/LCD Model:	Digimate 19" + 42" LG TV
Case:	Antec 300
Sound Card:	Creative Audigy 7.1
PSU:	OCZ StealthXStreme 500W
Software:	Windows 7 x64

Aug 30, 2010, 03:21 PM	#2
OSWiz Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 42 (0.04/day) Thanks: 2 Thanked 5 Times in 4 Posts System Specs	Holy Partitions Batman -- and RAID arrays too. In this day and age, with HDDs so cheap and super fast SSDs, there's really no need for partitioning nor RAID arrays. Ignore your partitions and RAID array -- what are you trying to achieve? __________________ CPU-Z validation sig pics temporarily blocked

System Name:	The Money Trap
Processor:	i7 930
Motherboard:	P6X58D-E
Cooling:	Swiftech H2O-220 Ultima XT
Memory:	G.Skill 3 x 2GB DDR3 2000 6-9-6-24
Video Card:	2 x EVGA GTX480SC SLI
Hard Disk:	OCZ Vertex Turbo 60GB SSD
Optical Drive:	2 x Samsung 223
CRT/LCD Model:	Dell U2711 2560x1440 27"
Case:	Cooler Master HAF 932
Sound Card:	X-Fi
PSU:	Antec TPQ-1200
Software:	Win7 Ultimate x64
Benchmarks:	[url=http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1335019][img]http://valid.canardpc.com/cache/banner/13

System Name:	Mariella
Processor:	AMD Athlon X2 7750+ BE
Motherboard:	AMD M4A78 Pro
Cooling:	Stock
Memory:	4GB DDR2 (Corsair CM2X2048-6400C5 x 2)
Video Card:	XFX 5750
Hard Disk:	Various 2.83TB Total
Optical Drive:	Sony DVD-RW
CRT/LCD Model:	Digimate 19" + 42" LG TV
Case:	Antec 300
Sound Card:	Creative Audigy 7.1
PSU:	OCZ StealthXStreme 500W
Software:	Windows 7 x64

Aug 30, 2010, 03:49 PM	#4
newtekie1 Semi-Retired Folder Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Indiana Posts: 17,753 (6.48/day) Thanks: 780 Thanked 5,116 Times in 3,707 Posts System Specs	It should be as simple as setting the SATA controller to RAID mode, then going into the RAID configuration during boot and configuring the array. You will likely have to re-install Windows to do this properly though, as all the drives will likely switch to RAID mode, even if some of the drives are not actually part of a RAID array. Yes, you can have drives that are just single drives mixed with drives that are in a RAID array. __________________ Rig1: System Specs. Rig2: A8-5600K@4.4GHz / AsRock FM2A75 Pro4 / 8GB Corsair DDR3-1600 9-9-9-24 / HD7560D / Samsung DVD-Burner / 1.5TB WD Green + 3x3TB WD RED in RAID5 Rig3: Athlon X2 4200+ / M4A79 Deluxe / 4GB G.Skill Pi DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 / GT430 / Sony DVD-Burner / 500GB WD Rig4: Phenom II x6 1605T @ 3.6GHz / Asus M5A99X Evo / 8GB PNY DDR3-1600 9-9-9 / GTX470 & GTX470 / Samsung DVD-Burner / 1.5TB Seagate

Processor:	Intel Core i7 875K@4.0GHz(200x20)
Motherboard:	eVGA P55 FTW 200
Cooling:	Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme w/ Corsair SP120 High Performance Edition
Memory:	8GB Corsair DDR3-1600 7-7-7-20
Video Card:	ASUS GTX 670 4GB DirectCU II @ 1015/3600
Hard Disk:	1TB Seagate 7200.12(OS), 3x 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 in RAID 5
Optical Drive:	Lite-On Blu-Ray Combo Drive IHES108
CRT/LCD Model:	HP 25" 2509m 1080p LCD
Case:	Lian-Li Lancool Metal Boned K7 w/ Windowed Side Panel
Sound Card:	Onboard is good enough for me
PSU:	Corsair HX850
Software:	Windows 7 x64 Professional

Aug 30, 2010, 07:48 PM	#6
OSWiz Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 42 (0.04/day) Thanks: 2 Thanked 5 Times in 4 Posts System Specs	Geez, yup, you got a real mess there, LOL. Just get a 2TB HDD and back up all the partitions on to it using Acronis True Image Clone. __________________ CPU-Z validation sig pics temporarily blocked

Aug 30, 2010, 07:50 PM	#7
Bo$$ Join Date: May 2009 Location: London, UK Posts: 3,670 (2.48/day) Thanks: 444 Thanked 770 Times in 679 Posts System Specs	thats a lot of music __________________ Live in the UK? Join the UK TPU Group! Caution! This is Sparta! Im Looking For... Im Selling

System Name:	Storm \| Server
Processor:	Intel i5 2500k \| Dual Xeon E5320 1.86GHZ
Motherboard:	Gigabyte Z68X-UD4 \| HP XW6400
Cooling:	GeLID Tranquilo \| Custom Water
Memory:	Corsair Vengence 2x4GB RED 1600MHZ\| FBDIMM 4gb 667mhz
Video Card:	Gigabyte GTX 570 WindforceX3 OC \| 2x MSI Twin Frozr III 6950
Hard Disk:	2x WD5001AALS RAID 0 \| Western Digital 500GB Caviar Blue
Optical Drive:	22x Samsung DVD +/-RW/W \| 20x LG DVD +/-RW/W
CRT/LCD Model:	Asus VE276Q
Case:	NZXT M59 \| CM 690 II
Sound Card:	Creative Audigy 2 w/Otone Stilo 5.1 and Creative Fatal1ty headset
PSU:	ThermalTake Toughpower 850w \| Cheiftec A135 850w
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