RAID using a partition?

[mcwildcard]

I recently came into possession of a 40GB SATA drive thanks to an error by a supplier and am pondering what to do with it.
I currently only have a single 250GB SATA drive which I have partitioned 50GB/200GB for Windows/Media, so my first thought was to have it as a windows drive to free up 50GB for more media space. My second thought (and the reason I'm posting on here) is to shrink the windows partition on my existing drive to 40GB, then link it up to the new one and set them up as a RAID drive.
Is this actually possible using a partition?

I'm guessing no, but I don't have the slightest clue about RAID or how it works, so I thought I'd check on here!

 

[rpstewart]

There are a number of issues with this which realistically make it a non starter:

The only controllers which I am aware of which can create arrays like this are the newer Intel Matrix RAID controllers, the other ones will allow you to create an array of the two drives but you'd lose access to 210Gb of the big drive.

Regardless of the controller creating the array is likely to wipe the content of the drives.

The benefit to be gained is debatable anyway. The 40Gb disk is likely to be at least one generation older than the 250Gb disk and hence will be slower. The RAID controller would then have to continually wait for it to provide its data so the overall performance could be worse than the 250Gb drive on its own.


As a result I would recommend using the 40Gb as a backup drive, either internally or in an external caddy.

 

[mcwildcard]

Thanks for the info, Windows drive it is then!