RAID1 - Pre-format drives?

rhysduck · 21 Jul 2010 at 17:06

I have 2 WD Caviar Blacks that I need to setup in a RAID 1 array.

Question: Should i format them first with NTFS through Partition Magic, Partition Manager etc before setting up the Raid Array or not?

I've had trouble with Windows 7 seeing the RAID, (or I just hadnt completely set it up properly).

Any thoughts?

lurkio · 22 Jul 2010 at 09:58

Do you have a mate who knows about computers , who could look at it for you ?

rhysduck · 22 Jul 2010 at 11:19

Not needed my friend. I'm an ICT Engineer.
I was just curious as to how other people setup their RAID with W7.
I've now formatted the drives and will set up the RAID1 array tonight after work.

chowks · 22 Jul 2010 at 11:26

lurkio said:
Do you have a mate who knows about computers , who could look at it for you ?

odd advice...or am i missing something?

rpstewart · 22 Jul 2010 at 13:25

rhysduck said:
I have 2 WD Caviar Blacks that I need to setup in a RAID 1 array.

Question: Should i format them first with NTFS through Partition Magic, Partition Manager etc before setting up the Raid Array or not?

I've had trouble with Windows 7 seeing the RAID, (or I just hadnt completely set it up properly).

Any thoughts?

There's no need to format the drives first, you will need to format the array once it's created though.

There shouldn't be any problems getting Win 7 to recognise the array as long as all the right drivers are in place (7 comes with most of the popular ones built in so you may not need to do anything).

lurkio · 22 Jul 2010 at 13:40

chowks said:
odd advice...or am i missing something?

I just thought because he was asking this as a question he probably didnt know much about PC's thats all