Raid 0 help

joedeath332 · 19 Nov 2009 at 10:24

It had been a while since i last set up a raid for my o/s ( it was with xp )
I have now ventured into windows 7 which is currently installed on a single 74 gig raptor.
Due to the small size of the drive and the age of it i deceided to purchase 2 new drives , with the idea of creating a raid 0 to put my windows 7 instalation onto.
i ordered and have in my possesion 2 x https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-206-SE

I have installed them into the pc and they are showing up ok in device manager as "unallocated"
how do i create the raid ,,and will i have to do a new instalation ,, or can i use the likes of acronis to make an image of my existing "C" drive ,, and then use it to transfer the image to the new raid drives.
Or do i need to do a new install to make the raid

Thanks in advance

miniyazz · 19 Nov 2009 at 10:39

Just so you know, they will feel slower than your single Raptor because they have longer seek times.

ArtificialFoxx · 19 Nov 2009 at 11:02

You will need to enable raid in the bios - you'll then be given to option to setup the raid array on boot. This is how it worked on mine, you may want to look it up for your specific mobo.

Making images of your hdds will usually only allow you to restore them to the same size hdds - you could just backup the specific files you need from it.

Although as miniyazz says, potentially you may be better off by keeping your OS on the raptor and just using the other drives for data. This wouldn't require a reformat too.

joedeath332 · 19 Nov 2009 at 11:02

miniyazz said:
Just so you know, they will feel slower than your single Raptor because they have longer seek times.

If that is true then ill prob just keep them as extended drives and install all programs etc to them as the OS takes up like half of the raptor alone

Guest2 · 19 Nov 2009 at 11:10

Its better to keep OS with programs really. Install games and media on the 500gb drives

*** did you think you posted this joedeath332??? ***

joedeath332 · 19 Nov 2009 at 11:31

Guest2 said:
Its better to keep OS with programs really. Install games and media on the 500gb drives

This was posted by me,,for some reason posted it as a guest

I must say i am supprised that a HD 5 years old is still faster than a modern day sata II drive

Guest2 · 19 Nov 2009 at 11:42

joedeath332 said:
This was posted by me,,for some reason posted it as a guest

Sorry, i'm :confused:

miniyazz · 19 Nov 2009 at 12:07

joedeath332 said:
This was posted by me,,for some reason posted it as a guest

I must say i am supprised that a HD 5 years old is still faster than a modern day sata II drive

Only the access times are faster. Sequential read/write speeds will be faster on the Seagate due to increased platter density (a result of being 5 years newer) but the access times determine how quickly the HDD can locate a file (especially if fragmented) and therefore how 'snappy' the OS 'feels'. It's why SSDs are so fast - even if they don't have super-fast transfer speeds.

Guest2 said:
Sorry, i'm

Me too!

Guest2 · 19 Nov 2009 at 12:28

my head hurts, did you think you posted post #5?

Vesta_Man · 19 Nov 2009 at 13:30

joedeath332 said:
This was posted by me,,for some reason posted it as a guest

I must say i am supprised that a HD 5 years old is still faster than a modern day sata II drive

Well it's all down to physics, a hdd that only spins at 7.2k is never gonna be quicker than a Raptor that spins at 10k and even more so when compared to a u320 scsi that spins at 15k!
When it comes to OS partition it's all down to access time, transfer rate is no where near as important because the os is constantly accessing lots of little files! Hence why an OS flys on solid state drive as the access time on these is ridiculously low.

joedeath332 · 19 Nov 2009 at 16:00

Ok i am deff gonna keep windows 7 and my main instalation of WOW on my 74gig raptor,, that leaves me 25G , so guess ill have to be sure and install all apps etc on one of the 500gb drives

with the slower access times