How exactly set a hdd as raid 0?

Milk Rulz · 10-13-2009, 10:28 PM

I am still pretty new with hardware and have just finished ordering the final parts to complete my compter. My quad core and 2 hdd's.

I was told that I should raid one of my new hdd's and to also get smaller hdd's because they are faster then the bigger ones. So instead of ordering a 1TB hdd I ordered 2 500GB Wester Digital SATAII drives.

I already have a 190GB Maxtor HDD but I have no idea which drive I am meant to 'raid' or how to do it. I read that my ASUS P5Q board is compatible with raiding.

Also I intend on using the 2x 500GB drives for gaming and I have an external 1TB drive for storage. Also should I keep my OS on my 190GB drive or do I raid that one? :S

and my final question is how do I enter my hardware details into techsupport forum like everybody else how they have it under their avatar so I don't have to say what hardware I have every time.

Thanks.

**raptor_pa** · 10-13-2009, 10:35 PM

Raid requires a minimum of two drives so you would have to use the 2x500GB drives as the RAID Raid0 will give you effectively 1 1TB logical drive with no redundancy RAID1 will give you 1 500GB logical drive, but complete redundancy for your data ... here is an article that explains the different RAID levels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID
I always ask - so here goes. What do you want to achieve with your Raid?Different levels of raid offer different advantages and disadvantages.

Milk Rulz · 10-13-2009, 10:54 PM

I will be pretty much be using these drives to run games off and that's it.

For things like music and movies I will keep stored on my external 1TB drive.

edit: as for setting it to raid is this all done through the BIOS?
edit2: I managed to find this video, is setting up RAID 0 that simple?

**raptor_pa** · 10-14-2009, 05:24 AM

Yes, it is in BIOS and exactly how depends on your BIOS. Just want to make sure that you unserstand that with RAID0 there is no redundancy, if one drive fails, all the data on the logical volume ( both disks ) is lost. operations will theoretically be faster if the OS is also on the RAID volume. Putting the page file on your 190 will probably help performance also.

Milk Rulz · 10-24-2009, 08:18 AM

ah thanks for your reply. It is no big deal if I happened to lose information off my RAID0 drives as all important information will be stored on my external 1TB HDD.

So I'm better of installing my OS to the RAID0 drives? Do you know where I can get the drivers to do this on Windows 7 x64?

thanks.

**raptor_pa** · 10-24-2009, 01:42 PM

Should need no drivers. Yah I would run the OS from the raid.

**grimx133** · 10-24-2009, 08:42 PM

If you're keeping stuff like music on the external, sounds like you're going to have it connected all the time. Isn't a good plan. An external hard drive should only be used as needed, I rarely plug mine in. It will fail much earlier than an internal drive, even though it is an internal drive in an external casing.
Make sure you backup to more than just the external, anything you really don't want to lose should also be on dvd's, you need a backup for the backup.

Milk Rulz · 10-25-2009, 04:55 AM

thanks for the advice grim, I guess I'll just keep my music and such on my 180GB and probably just store movies and scheduled backups on the external then.

10-13-2009, 10:28 PM	#1 (permalink)
Milk Rulz Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Location: Queensland, Australia Posts: 123 OS: Windows 7 (7600) x64 MSDN /legit	How exactly set a hdd as raid 0? I am still pretty new with hardware and have just finished ordering the final parts to complete my compter. My quad core and 2 hdd's. I was told that I should raid one of my new hdd's and to also get smaller hdd's because they are faster then the bigger ones. So instead of ordering a 1TB hdd I ordered 2 500GB Wester Digital SATAII drives. I already have a 190GB Maxtor HDD but I have no idea which drive I am meant to 'raid' or how to do it. I read that my ASUS P5Q board is compatible with raiding. Also I intend on using the 2x 500GB drives for gaming and I have an external 1TB drive for storage. Also should I keep my OS on my 190GB drive or do I raid that one? :S and my final question is how do I enter my hardware details into techsupport forum like everybody else how they have it under their avatar so I don't have to say what hardware I have every time. Thanks.

10-13-2009, 10:35 PM	#2 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,883 OS: XP	Re: How exactly set a hdd as raid 0? Raid requires a minimum of two drives so you would have to use the 2x500GB drives as the RAID Raid0 will give you effectively 1 1TB logical drive with no redundancy RAID1 will give you 1 500GB logical drive, but complete redundancy for your data ... here is an article that explains the different RAID levels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID I always ask - so here goes. What do you want to achieve with your Raid?Different levels of raid offer different advantages and disadvantages. __________________

10-13-2009, 10:54 PM	#3 (permalink)
Milk Rulz Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Location: Queensland, Australia Posts: 123 OS: Windows 7 (7600) x64 MSDN /legit	Re: How exactly set a hdd as raid 0? I will be pretty much be using these drives to run games off and that's it. For things like music and movies I will keep stored on my external 1TB drive. edit: as for setting it to raid is this all done through the BIOS? edit2: I managed to find this video, is setting up RAID 0 that simple? Last edited by Milk Rulz; 10-13-2009 at 11:21 PM.

10-14-2009, 05:24 AM	#4 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,883 OS: XP	Re: How exactly set a hdd as raid 0? Yes, it is in BIOS and exactly how depends on your BIOS. Just want to make sure that you unserstand that with RAID0 there is no redundancy, if one drive fails, all the data on the logical volume ( both disks ) is lost. operations will theoretically be faster if the OS is also on the RAID volume. Putting the page file on your 190 will probably help performance also. __________________

10-24-2009, 08:18 AM	#5 (permalink)
Milk Rulz Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Location: Queensland, Australia Posts: 123 OS: Windows 7 (7600) x64 MSDN /legit	Re: How exactly set a hdd as raid 0? ah thanks for your reply. It is no big deal if I happened to lose information off my RAID0 drives as all important information will be stored on my external 1TB HDD. So I'm better of installing my OS to the RAID0 drives? Do you know where I can get the drivers to do this on Windows 7 x64? thanks.

10-24-2009, 01:42 PM	#6 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,883 OS: XP	Re: How exactly set a hdd as raid 0? Should need no drivers. Yah I would run the OS from the raid. __________________

10-24-2009, 08:42 PM	#7 (permalink)
grimx133 Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Canada eh Posts: 3,151 OS: xp mce sp2, xp pro sp2, windows 7 beta My System	Re: How exactly set a hdd as raid 0? If you're keeping stuff like music on the external, sounds like you're going to have it connected all the time. Isn't a good plan. An external hard drive should only be used as needed, I rarely plug mine in. It will fail much earlier than an internal drive, even though it is an internal drive in an external casing. Make sure you backup to more than just the external, anything you really don't want to lose should also be on dvd's, you need a backup for the backup. __________________

10-25-2009, 04:55 AM	#8 (permalink)
Milk Rulz Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Location: Queensland, Australia Posts: 123 OS: Windows 7 (7600) x64 MSDN /legit	Re: How exactly set a hdd as raid 0? thanks for the advice grim, I guess I'll just keep my music and such on my 180GB and probably just store movies and scheduled backups on the external then.