Format Raid Drives?

Pheral · 03-16-2005, 07:28 PM

I'm about to install a matched pair of Seagate SATA 160s configured as a RAID 0 for data only on a P4C800-E Deluxe, utilizing the Intel controller. These are brand new drives.

My question - Do these drives need to be formatted using, or does that happen somehow during the building of the RAID? If they do need to be formatted separately, how do I do that?

Thanks in advance,

P>

andrewburnet · 03-16-2005, 09:04 PM

Hey Pheral,

The drives don't need to be formatted, configure the raid-array using the intel raid bios and create your partitions during the windows setup process. When you create a raid array it wipes the file system off those drives anyway so there's no need to have them pre-formatted. Windows will format the install partition for you.

Also make sure you create a raid driver disk and have it in the drive when you start windows setup. Press F6 at the beginning of windows setup to select the right drivers for your raid controller.

I hope I've made sense :) good luck

Andrew.

Pheral · 03-17-2005, 03:04 AM

Thanks Andrew! I appreciate it.

03-16-2005, 07:28 PM	#1 (permalink)
Pheral Registered User Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 14 OS: Win XP	Format Raid Drives? I'm about to install a matched pair of Seagate SATA 160s configured as a RAID 0 for data only on a P4C800-E Deluxe, utilizing the Intel controller. These are brand new drives. My question - Do these drives need to be formatted using, or does that happen somehow during the building of the RAID? If they do need to be formatted separately, how do I do that? Thanks in advance, P>

03-16-2005, 09:04 PM	#2 (permalink)
andrewburnet Registered User Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 6 OS: Windows XP	Hey Pheral, The drives don't need to be formatted, configure the raid-array using the intel raid bios and create your partitions during the windows setup process. When you create a raid array it wipes the file system off those drives anyway so there's no need to have them pre-formatted. Windows will format the install partition for you. Also make sure you create a raid driver disk and have it in the drive when you start windows setup. Press F6 at the beginning of windows setup to select the right drivers for your raid controller. I hope I've made sense :) good luck Andrew.

03-17-2005, 03:04 AM	#3 (permalink)
Pheral Registered User Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 14 OS: Win XP	Thanks Andrew! I appreciate it.