more on raid 5

[runLoganrun]

if i'm using a separate os disc and configuring 4 discs for raid 5, for storage, do i have to re-install vista in order to install raid drivers?

it doesn't configure data already on any of the disks into the array, right? i'll have to backup whatever i have on those discs, and then reformat? or another option- could i setup the array with 3 disks, then once i transfer the data add the fourth disk, will it integrate an additional drive into the array?

thx

 

[dbwillis]

"if i'm using a separate os disc and configuring 4 discs for raid 5, for storage, do i have to re-install vista in order to install raid drivers?"
You mean one HDD for the OS and then 4 others for the raid5?...that depends,..what are all 5 disks plugged into?
If you have the OS HDD plugged into the mobo and then you add a raid5 card, you dont have to do anything with the OS HDD.
Being able to migrate data from one HDD onto the others when creating a raid5 setup depends on the raid card type.

 

[runLoganrun]

"if i'm using a separate os disc and configuring 4 discs for raid 5, for storage, do i have to re-install vista in order to install raid drivers?"
1: You mean one HDD for the OS and then 4 others for the raid5?...that depends,..what are all 5 disks plugged into?
2: If you have the OS HDD plugged into the mobo and then you add a raid5 card, you dont have to do anything with the OS HDD.
3: Being able to migrate data from one HDD onto the others when creating a raid5 setup depends on the raid card type.

1: My latest plan, being that afaik less expensive raid cards use software raid anyway, i would try and use the onboard solution, use 4/6 connectors for raid 5 storage array, then get a sata expansion card from cables to go that has an external e-sata, and an internal sata II, i would use the extra internal for os drive.

2: If i set it up this way would i still not have to do anything with os drive? do i just set the raid drives up in bios and go, or do i still need to install drivers?

3: with the onboard solution, am i able to migrate data from one or more drives to the others in array once it's already set up, or does it reformat everything, and i need to keep whatever data i want on separate disks until raid5 is set up?

thanks

 

[Syntax Error]

1: My latest plan, being that afaik less expensive raid cards use software raid anyway, i would try and use the onboard solution, use 4/6 connectors for raid 5 storage array, then get a sata expansion card from cables to go that has an external e-sata, and an internal sata II, i would use the extra internal for os drive.

The advantage even low-end software cards would have over onboard cards is that they are designed for RAID, while many onboard solutions (*cough* NVRAID *cough*) are simply afterthoughts for marketing purposes so a motherboard can boast an "extra" feature. For RAID 0, 1, or 10 I would personally be fine with onboard RAID, despite its inflexibility, but it does the job fine, no much less performance than a hardware card anyways.
SATA expansion cards and the cables would probably run your cost to about the cost of a low-end RAID card that you can get on Ebay anyway, not to mention a performance dip in using RAID expanders to begin with.

2: If i set it up this way would i still not have to do anything with os drive? do i just set the raid drives up in bios and go, or do i still need to install drivers?

You shouldn't need to, depending on your operating system. If it's Windows, you'll be able to see the array (it won't be formatted yet) and Disk Management will ask you to initialize the array, in which point I recommend you choose GPT instead of MBR (if that option is even available to you, I believe GPT is only available for Windows Server 2003/2008 and Vista Ultimate only) so you can use more than 2TB.

3: with the onboard solution, am i able to migrate data from one or more drives to the others in array once it's already set up, or does it reformat everything, and i need to keep whatever data i want on separate disks until raid5 is set up?

No, you won't be able to migrate your data. Onboard RAID is notoriously inflexible in that respect; at least software-powered hardware cards would probably have many features to facilitate your needs, but onboard RAID is just that - shoddy and bare minimum

 

[MrGuvernment]

onbaord raid = garbage! it works, but is So slow for anything read and writes!

any raid array - it will delete your date, whipe the drives clean and start over, period, i have never seen any card (even $800 SCSI card we have) back up your data before adding a drive to an array

the ONLY time you can do this, and only sometimes, is making a raid 1 array it can often ask for a source drive to mirror data from, also some raid 0+1's can do this as well