RAID, Backing Up, Questions etc

[ex_reven]

Ok, Ive done a search for RAID related articles on the forums and Ive read through them.
I'd like to RAID my hard drives very soon.

This is what I have:
1x Seagate 7200.10 Perpendicular - 320Gb
1x Seagate 7200.10 Perpendicular - 250Gb

Id like to set them up in a RAID 0 configuration.
Ive backed up my Music, downloads, main applications and photos.
Basically Im ready to go though the steps to RAID my drives and reinstall windows.

Now...I have some concerns

1) Do I format the drives? Or will formatting occur during the setting up of the RAID?

2) How to actually configure the RAID. So if I was to do this now, what are the steps I would have to follow to setup the RAID correctly? I know them vaguely, like having the RAID drivers ready on a CD/Floppy and booting and hitting F6. What else is there?

3) Striping size. Ive heard that a higher stripe size is good for moving/using large files. Ill definately be doing this (Photoshop) so can anyone suggest a stripe size?

4) Can anyone suggest any other concerns?

 

[thebeephaha]

Usually the drives need to be the same size, most raid controllers cant use mixed drives. Emphasis on most. Some can.

I run two 80's in raid 0 and 4 320's in raid 5, it was fairly painless to setup.

You format after you set up the raid array.

To set it up is different for every raid controller, sooo you'd need to look into which model you have. And then yes, put the drivers on a floppy to load into the Windows installation.

As for the rest, lets see what others say.

 

[ex_reven]

I'll get those drivers onto a cd so I can do it as soon as I get some more info.
Thanks for your post !

I have an Intel ICH8R southbridge, if thats what your asking by raid controller.

 

[t_ski]

On XP you'll need them on a floppy, but IIRC Vista will take them on CD or USB.

Stripe size depends on file size. I would guess 32k or 64k should do you allright.

I would see if you could pick up another drive (probably a 320GB) and put those in Raid together. If using this with important data you should try to use raid 5 for its fault tolerance. In Raid 0 if one drive dies, the array dies. With Raid 5 you can rebuild it.

 

[ex_reven]

I think with regards to backups, il just use an older drive to store my files.
I'll just plug the drive in when i need to backup newer versions of the same file (images).