NEver Run Raid, so.......

ademcg · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:53

please be gentle

Ok, I have the gaming Rig in Sig (see below :cool:

)

Having last year had my Samsung spin point die on me......................................... and yes, I have never , EVER run in raid so I lost everything :eek:

I replaced that drive with a brand new WD 1TB Black edition SATA II drive:
similar to this (but the 1TB version):

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-275-WD&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1279

Now remember I have never run in any raid configuration
Originally, I just wanted to get back up and running as quickly as possible, following the disaster of last year................ but now I am thinking of a fresh install (just spring cleaning) and perhaps I should think about running in a some kind of raid array ( again please be gentle, I don't know which Raid config to do or how to do it...so any tips most welcome) with the primary aim to limit any loss of critical data.

Oh,..and I am working my way through this reading matter:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID :confused:

But OcUK no longer stock the WD Black 1 TB SATA II drives, so I was thinking of adding one of these instead...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-336-WD

I know it is a SATA III drive, but it state it is backward compatible with SATA II

Would this work with my existing SATA II drive or do I need two identical drives for a raid set up?

Sorry if these are silly questions, but hey....its a learning curve

95thrifles · 31 Jan 2011 at 21:00

you want RAID1 for mirroring, very easy to set up, press Ctrl + I after POST and it should let you into RAID set up (the key combinations do very with some mobo's)

Yes you will be able to use that HDD

ademcg · 31 Jan 2011 at 21:10

95thrifles said:
you want RAID1 for mirroring, very easy to set up, press Ctrl + I after POST and it should let you into RAID set up (the key combinations do very with some mobo's)

Yes you will be able to use that HDD

Phew....glad I can use the SATA III version with the SATAII version as I just picked up one of the former (SATA III WD 1 TB Black) for a sweet £49 delivered

I will look into my mobo instructions and see what I need to do...I am sure it will require a jumper change or something....it isn't the most user friendly of motherboards...and being an early adopter it is a learnning....let the dust settle before jumping in !!

Thanks for the info...most appreciated

joeyjojo · 31 Jan 2011 at 23:06

As I've always said, I don't think onboard raid solutions are the answer. A robust backup strategy is much better, and raid only makes sense for 5+ drives on a dedicated card.