Need help setting up raid PLEASE!!!!

[tommywakefield08]

I've had a really hard time finding some Descriptive info on the internet about how to set up raid 0 and i really want to try it. my mobo suports it i have a 1tb hd and a 500 gb hd that i want to do it to. i've read that i'll only be able to use 500 of the 1tb hd which wouldnt really bother me. but if there is a way to use that extra 500 gb off the 1tb drive that would be amazing. to be honest with you 1.5tb is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overkill .

 

[Meow9000]

Setting up raid is easy, all you needs is the correct drivers x32 or x64. Boot from the windows cd, when you get to the screen to create/format your hard drive there should be a "load drivers" button click that, put your usb/cd in, select them all and hit next.

Dont forget to switch the storage mode in the BIOS to Raid first. Then you will have to build the array. Should get a prompt to hit F10. Your motherboard manual should explain the options in this area.

so to make it simpler clear;
1. Go into Bios and switch storage mode to Raid
2. When prompted hit F10(might be different for you) and build the array (set to Raid0/stripped)
Consult your manual for this.
3. Reboot
4. Insert and Install windows and load drivers at partition screen
5. Profit ?

Hope that helps,

 

[Kreij]

With the configuration you described, why in the world would you want to do this?
If the 1TB drive is you boot drive and you partition off 500GB to RAID to the other drive, you are going to gain just about zero.
If you repartition the drive so it is only 500GB, you will waste a ton of potential storage space.
The gains of going to RAID 0 in your care are tenuous at best. I doubt you would see any kind of noticable increase in anything by doing that, especially if one drive is lower than the other.

As always, just my opinoin.

 

[tommywakefield08]

With the configuration you described, why in the world would you want to do this?
If the 1TB drive is you boot drive and you partition off 500GB to RAID to the other drive, you are going to gain just about zero.
If you repartition the drive so it is only 500GB, you will waste a ton of potential storage space.
The gains of going to RAID 0 in your care are tenuous at best. I doubt you would see any kind of noticable increase in anything by doing that, especially if one drive is lower than the other.

As always, just my opinoin.

not sure exactly what ur saying. if i use half of my 1tb hd and my other 500 gb hd i still should get a performance boost???????? like i said i really dont care about the wasted 500 gb just wondering.

 

[Kreij]

I guess the question is, "a performance boost for what?"
You have 4GB of RAM, so most applications are going to use what they need (up to 2GB for a 32 bit OS per app).

What are you trying to speed up?

 

[tommywakefield08]

I guess the question is, "a performance boost for what?"
You have 4GB of RAM, so most applications are going to use what they need (up to 2GB for a 32 bit OS per app).

What are you trying to speed up?

i dont no im just bored and it sounded like fun. by the way my system specs are kinda out of date a little.

 

[Woody112]

not sure exactly what ur saying. if i use half of my 1tb hd and my other 500 gb hd i still should get a performance boost???????? like i said i really dont care about the wasted 500 gb just wondering.

What he is saying is that the 1tb drive has a greater areal density than the 500gb drive. So the performance that you do gain by going raid 0 will not be much greater than just using the 1tb drive as your primary drive. So in using the two together you will be a mismatching. You should really only raid 0 two identical drives. Or two drives that have the same cache, rpm, and capacity.

 

[Kreij]

Thanks Tommy, I lol'd at your comment.
Yes, if you are just bored, go for it. Learning about setting up RAID arrays is always something you can use anytime.

Note: I'm still laughing because thats the kind of thing I would do if I were bored.

Since you are bored, if your RAID controller will handle it, partition the 1 TB drive into 3 partitions (500 boot, 250 (a), and 250(b), then partition the 500GB drive as (250(a), 250(b)).
Create two RAID0 (striping) partitions for the 250GB partitions (drive 1.a and drive 2.a, drive 1.b and drive 2.b) and then put the RAID0 partitions into a RAID1 configuration so that the RAID 0 partitions mirror themselves.

When it works, I can guarantee that you will know RAID.

 

[tommywakefield08]

So i guess ill have to go out and buy another one of the same 1tb hdds and i should have no problem whatsoever. so what would i do with my extra 500 gb hd. would there be another Raid option or would i just be better off using it as spare....... does windows 7 64-bit even support 2.5tb lol.

 

[Woody112]

Don't get me wrong you can do what Kreij just posted above as long as the two drives are the same rotation speed, which I'm sure they are. It's just that you won't be getting the most out of it since the 500gb drive is slower than the 1tb drive. Same goes for cache if one is 16mb and the other is 32mb well you get the idea.
But yes it is possible with the drives you have I just know you'll be a lot happier with another 1tb drive.
Yes you can still use the other drive as a storage drive which is what I do. My two raptors are raided and I use my 500gb drive as a storage drive for all the important stuff like porn.

 

[Kreij]

Nah, don't buy anything (unless you are bored and want to go shopping).
Figure out if there is a valid reason to RAID for you, and then decide. (eg. What do you want to speed up).

I had my pair of 320's in RAID0. When I switches the to RAID1 for data security instead of speed, there was very little difference. But it depends on what you are doing. A RAID0 array can give you boosts of up to approx 30%, but that is under ideal condition.

My applications started about 1 seconds faster in RAID0. I chose the saftey over the speed.
It made absolutely no difference in gaming as almost everything the game(s) needed was in RAM already.

 

[tommywakefield08]

Nah, don't buy anything (unless you are bored and want to go shopping).
Figure out if there is a valid reason to RAID for you, and then decide. (eg. What do you want to speed up).

I had my pair of 320's in RAID0. When I switches the to RAID1 for data security instead of speed, there was very little difference. But it depends on what you are doing. A RAID0 array can give you boosts of up to approx 30%, but that is under ideal condition.

My applications started about 1 seconds faster in RAID0. I chose the saftey over the speed.
It made absolutely no difference in gaming as almost everything the game(s) needed was in RAM already.

ya i wasnt to big into the shopping thing. man i would have to be really bored to do that. i would much rather just mess around with what i got. lol. thanks a lot for ur help.