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How to raid HDD's

B

burned-ati

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 27, 2006
Messages
427
Hey guys, im putting some money aside for a SSD. Although for now, I want to setup something a little faster. Ive got 2, 160GB Sata hardrives. I would like to raid them together and run windows 8 on both of them for faster HDD speeds. Im purchasing a SSD this monday, to run my main OS on. And I will use the 160's in raid for extra storage. So, it will be 320GB of storage.

Both HDD's are the same brand and model. Ive never setup a raid before. Is there anything special ive got to do? I would like to do this today. I just want to gain a little extra performance out of these drives raided together.

So, now what do I do. To get these things running in RAID? I want to go ahead, and raid them and install windows 8 pro 64 on there today.

Thanks for all the advice and help!!!
 
burned-ati said:
Hey guys, im putting some money aside for a SSD. Although for now, I want to setup something a little faster. Ive got 2, 160GB Sata hardrives. I would like to raid them together and run windows 8 on both of them for faster HDD speeds. Im purchasing a SSD this monday, to run my main OS on. And I will use the 160's in raid for extra storage. So, it will be 320GB of storage.

Both HDD's are the same brand and model. Ive never setup a raid before. Is there anything special ive got to do? I would like to do this today. I just want to gain a little extra performance out of these drives raided together.

So, now what do I do. To get these things running in RAID? I want to go ahead, and raid them and install windows 8 pro 64 on there today.

Thanks for all the advice and help!!!
Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with Windows 8 software RAID options, but most enthusiast motherboards have SATA controllers that can handle basic RAID levels (you'll hear this referred to as fakeRAID ). Basically you boot in to the bios, switch the ports your HDDs are one over to RAID mode and then add them to a RAID0 array.

Its been a long time since I've used fakeRAID, back in the WinXP days you used to have to load special driver during Windows install to make it work, I don't know how Win8 handles that, it may not even be an issue anymore.

It's worth noting there drawbacks to this method, first being that if either drive fails you will lose the entire array. Also there is no guarantee that the array will work if you move it to a different system later on.
 
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Ok, ive got another HDD here. Ive got a Seagate Pipeline 320gb 5900 RPM sata II 3.0gb/s Its about a year old.

And ive got the two 160gb Wester digitals, that are 7200 rpm regular sata. There a few years old. Maybe 4.

Would it be faster to run the 320gb , or the 2 160's together?

Im pretty sure my mothertboard has those options. It has just about any plug, or setting you could ask for out of a motherboard lol
 
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The best speeds come with the faster RPM drives.

You do not want to use RAID for storage.

Don't bother, just wait for your SSD.

You'll want to use the Intel drivers unless you have an AMD board.
 
Old Hippie said:
The best speeds come with the faster RPM drives.

You do not want to use RAID for storage.
Click to expand...
Why do you say that?

Don't bother, just wait for your SSD.
Click to expand...

I have several TB of photos and music. It would be way too expensive to store all of this on SSDs, and there would be operational issues with these files spread across a whole bunch of drives. But I would still like faster access, particularly when editing the photos.

You'll want to use the Intel drivers unless you have an AMD board.
Click to expand...

This is for SSDs or also HDDs?
 
RAID0 on mechanical drives will not help much for your needs and it's not worth the risk without a backup.

Intel drivers will only work with Intel based MBs.

Go for it if you want but it's not worth it. :)
 
Old Hippie said:
RAID0 on mechanical drives will not help much for your needs and it's not worth the risk without a backup.
Click to expand...

Well I do back up anyway. For me, if I do RAID0, I get fast transfer rates on large files. I also "convert" two 1 TB drives into one 2 TB drives. Simpler than spreading out all those files over two different drive letters, and I don't need to buy another drive.

Intel drivers will only work with Intel based MBs.

Go for it if you want but it's not worth it. :)
Click to expand...

I use only ASUS motherboards. For my reasons above, for me, it may be worth it.
 
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