RAID IT!

TheDean · 3 May 2007 at 13:58

Hi all,

I'm wanting to 'raid 0' 2 identical, 320GB WD drives - See here. I'll be buying a 500GB Samsung drive to use as storage - see here. My rig is in my sig below.

Would anyone be able to help me with this as I have nerver done anything like this before and am quite aprehensive? Cheers!

semi-pro waster · 3 May 2007 at 14:12

I don't have a DS3 so I can only give you generic advice on how to Raid the drives I'm afraid. You need to enter the Raid 'bios' to build the array, you enter the Raid bios normally by pressing a key combination (ctrl + f for the Fastbuild utility on my motherboard) but your motherboard manual will tell you what it is. Once inside the bios you build the array and you may have to set the stripe size (64k/128k is a fairly decent size for most sizes), this will wipe whatever is currently on the drives.

Then with that completed you can start to install Windows on them if that is your intention. If it is then you will need to press F6 during the installation process when prompted to install the Raid/SATA drivers. Select the right ones from the floppy disk and after that it is just the same as every other Windows install ever.

TheDean · 3 May 2007 at 14:22

1) I'll be installing Vista x64
2) I don't have a floppy drive

semi-pro waster · 3 May 2007 at 14:24

Not tried Vista 64bit so I can't help with the OS as I don't know if it comes with Raid drivers built in but the bit about building the array still applies.

rpstewart · 3 May 2007 at 14:33

You'll still need to supply Vista with the RAID drivers but you don't need them on a floppy, the Vista install will read them from USB keys, CDs etc as well as a floppy.

TheDean · 3 May 2007 at 14:51

rpstewart said:
You'll still need to supply Vista with the RAID drivers but you don't need them on a floppy, the Vista install will read them from USB keys, CDs etc as well as a floppy.

Excellent! I've got a USB pendrive that will do. This 'building' of the array - Is it quite simple? Also is there a stripe size that is best for gaming/performance?

Buffalo2102 · 4 May 2007 at 10:36

It is quite simple.

Once the GSATA controller is set to RAID in the BIOS, you are prompted to press CTRL-G on boot up to set up the RAID array. Press CTRL-G to go into the RAID BIOS and then just select the two WD drives. Select RAID 0 and the stripe size - 64K is a pretty good all-round size but you can read up on what works best for your particular usage patterns (there are plenty of articles on the internet about this).

When you exit the drives will be in a RAID and will appear as a single drive to the OS (once you have loaded the RAID drivers).