I should have 2 Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 160GB SATA2 next week for my first raid setup. I'm running a DFI NF4 Ultra D, but I have no experience with raid. I've read some stickys but I'm still unsure about a couple things. With raid 0 will I get 320gb of space or would I be limited to 160gb? And when putting these drives in raid 0 would I set them both to master, or how does that work?
Buying two of these for Raid 0
- Thread starter bellylard
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RAID 0 will be the size of both the drives capacity added together (320Gb in your case 2x160)
Best to have both drives jumpers set the same.
Best to have both drives jumpers set the same.
or something lol
Man of Honour
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Can I ask why you want to use Raid0? It doesn't offer much in the way of benefits for most people and does have some significant downsides, particularly in the increased risk of data loss. If you want to do it simply because you can then that is fair enough but you should be aware that regular backups of important data will be necessary as it is far from infallible 
xtreme.BIN said:
awesome, thanks!
I want to put them in Raid 0 because I wan't faster loading times in BF2 mainly
The only important data I have are music, drivers, and favorite links, which I have backed up on another computer anyways.I have an almost identical setup, I have two 250Gb Hitachi drives in a RAID-o setup.
You need to install NVRAID drivers, set the SATA channels to RAID in the BIOS and create a RAID-0 array by pressing F10 at boot to initialize the NVRAID setup.
But game loading times are one of the things that isn't really ant faster with a RAID-0 array, Windows operation and file transfers are faster though.
Also you will not have 320Gb buy ~298Gb due to the way HDD manufacturers see 1Mb=1000Kb
You need to install NVRAID drivers, set the SATA channels to RAID in the BIOS and create a RAID-0 array by pressing F10 at boot to initialize the NVRAID setup.
But game loading times are one of the things that isn't really ant faster with a RAID-0 array, Windows operation and file transfers are faster though.
Also you will not have 320Gb buy ~298Gb due to the way HDD manufacturers see 1Mb=1000Kb
Dutch Guy said:
thanks for mentioning that.
my supplier was short on these drives so they sent me one and said I could expect the other next week, so is it safe to still install windows and everything on my one drive, while waiting for the other to get here?
btw could you please guide me to those drivers?
thanks
Yes it is safe, but when you want two of them in RAID that would mean you need to reinstall Windows again, you cannot add the drive to the current install to get RAID-0 (without using a program like Ghost/Acronis TrueImage)bellylard said:
As for drivers I think they are on a floppy you got with the mobo.
Actually this is possible (to RAID0 AFTER installation WITHOUT having to reinstall or use an imaging program). You will need to install the drive and enable RAID on it first. Then open up the RAID screen and setup a 1 drive RAID0. Then install the drivers using F6 and the RAID drivers when you install windows. Blah, blah, blah.Dutch Guy said:
When you get the new drive (i.e. the second one), you then run nVidia MediaShield from Windows and click convert array and turn it into a 2 drive RAID0.
I didn't believe this when I first read it either but apparently it can be done.
smids said:
Sounds like a lot of things could go wrong with this though... personally I would be patient and set up the RAID array from the start with both drives. This way you avoid having to install XP twice and all the drivers should the conversion fail.
SiriusB