torj

So I have a K8V SE with an 80mb Seagate HDD currently installed as only drive.(running XP PRO) I just purchased 2 Samsung 160gig SATA drives, because I wanted to protect myself against HDD failure with growing collection of digital photos and other personally valuable info, and I had envisioned creating a 0+1 array, foolishly thinking that 2 drives could be striped and that one could be the "mirror". I have since learned that to do a 0+1 you need 4 drives. I really don't want to go through the hassles of backing up all data to a different storage device and reinstalling OS, all programs, etc. Question is best possible configuration to use. Is it possible (advisable) to create a RAID 1 array using the Raid ATA connector(s) and simply migrating my data to the Raid array and leaving OS and programs on current drive? Or would I be much better off buying another drive and setting up a true 0+1 array. If I do go with the 2nd option will it be possible to simply change the socket from the primary IDE drive to the PRI Raid socket (adding a slave?) and not have to worry about data loss, configuration problems, etc?
Thanks in advance for your much appreciated advice.
tor

blackduck30

if you are happy with your O/S running were it is then you can just create a raid 1 on the promise controller ( sata raid 1 and 2 ) and store all your data on that.
you will then have 160G of drive space that is mirrored on the second drive

clintfan

Ditto to what Blackduck30 said. Best possible configuration for what you want to do --data storage of photos etc.-- is OS on the main chipset (eg. PRI_IDE) and a RAID1 array on the Promise ports. This will give you very clean data flow between the two. Note we're talking about storage here, not capture. RAID0+1 is overkill for this application, too little benefit, and too much maintenance overhead for what you want to do.

Go into the BIOS Advanced- Onboard Devices Configuration screen and enable the Onboard Promise Controller and set its Operating Mode= RAID. Then install the Promise FastTrak 378 RAID Driver. Attach your two SATA drives to the PRI_SATA and SEC_SATA connectors on the mobo. Boot and hit CTRL+F and do the Auto Setup (=1) to create an array optimized for Security (i.e. RAID1).

Once you've partitioned and formatted your new array, it will appear in MyComputer as a single drive.



No. You cannot create a RAID0+1 array without data loss during the process, AFAIK, it's not that friendly: creating a RAID0 with the two SATA's is the first phase, and that wipes out your data.

Fyi if done carefully the Promise can convert an existing drive to a RAID1, but running the OS on the Promise controller is not recommended due to PCI overhead, and IDE is not the best choice for Promise RAID either. We're not recommending moving your OS drive, so with only the 2 fresh Samsungs to worry about, there is no data to lose.



4 drives is correct, and you weren't foolish. RAID0+1 (aka. RAID01 or RAID10) is not well documented, and without the help of forums and other outside resources, there can be a lot of natural misconceptions about it.

Hope this helps,

-clintfan

torj

thanks
tor