How to raid HDD with ssd bootdrive?

[kmax86]

Hi all

Im new to this RAID stuff and need some help / guide.
At the moment I have a 64gb m4 as boot drive, 1x 160GB seagate and 1x 2TB samsung. Im planning on buying a 2nd 2TB harddrive to raid 1 with the other 2TB

Questions are:
How do I do this?
Do I need to do a complete reinstall
Does the hard drives have to be the same model when RAIDing?
Will trim still work on the ssd even with the raided HDD ?

Thanks

 

[wazza300]

yes
no
no

you need to set to raid or ahci/raid in the bios then install windows onto the ssd

trim wont work in raid because the ssd will be in raid mode too but not part of the array,not sure on that though but garbage collection will work and maintain the ssd

 

[Surveyor]

How do I do this?

Set the SATA mode to RAID in the BIOS.

Create a RAID array with the 2x2TB disks.

This will wipe the data so you'll need to have backed this up first and then restore it.

Do I need to do a complete reinstall

No because you're not touching the SSD with the OS on.

Does the hard drives have to be the same model when RAIDing?

No, but it's recommended that they are.

You really want 2 disks which closely match in performance.

Will trim still work on the ssd even with the raided HDD ?

Yes because you're not doing anything to the SSD.

It's not part of the RAID array.


May I ask why the RAID 1 plan?

If you want a back up then you should keep the second 2TB disk as an external disk and back up the existing 2TB to it.

 

[kmax86]

THanks for the detailed explanation

I chose RAID 1 since I always forget to backup manually.

Is external more effective than having raid ?

 

[Surveyor]

Is external more effective than having raid ?

RAID 1 isn't a backup solution.

If your PC was stolen, damaged in a fire/flood, infected with a virus, zapped with an electrical surge etc. etc. then you have no backup.

If you accidentally delete a load of files or format the array then you have no backup.

The second disk you have the data mirrored to will suffer the same fate as the first.

A proper backup would be to a disk stored away from your PC and ideally stored in a completely different location.

Ideally you should also have multiple backups.

 

[kmax86]

If you accidentally delete a load of files or format the array then you have no back up.

The second disk you have the data mirrored to will suffer the same fate as the first.

Thats a really a good point. Thanks for pointing that out.
Looks like external is the way to go. Cheers

 

[Surveyor]

You're welcome.

If you're going to be backing up a lot of data then you're better off with a USB 3.0/eSATA caddy or dock if your motherboard supports them.