newb RAID questions

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creepcolony

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 4, 2003
Messages
362
Hi all, I'm new to RAID and I have a question.
Currently my computer is using a seagate 300 gb SATA drive, but it's running out of space so I ordered a WD 640 gb SATA drive. My question is, can I run these in RAID so they'll show up as one hard drive on my computer? If I can, how can I do this? Thanks.
 
Hi.

First, you need to do a little research on the subject. I suggest finding the Wiki article on Raid. Raid arrays have some advantages, and some drawbacks. RAid 0, Raid 1, and Raid 5 are the most common types you may see.

The problem you will run into is you won't just be able to add the new disk and expand your system drive. You would have to save your install, build the new array, and then restore your system to the array.

The easier and in my opinion better option is to just add the new drive, use the install program from Western Digital to transfer your system to the new drive, and just use the old drive for storage.

Also, you did not mention this, but do you have some kind of backup for your 300 gig of data. Any hard drive can fail at any time for no apparent reason.

Don
 
yeah I have an external 320 gb that I backup to.
Thanks for the info, kinda sucks that I can't just add it. I think I might just add the new hard drive and install any new games to it.
 
creepcolony said:
Currently my computer is using a seagate 300 gb SATA drive, but it's running out of space so I ordered a WD 640 gb SATA drive. ... can I run these in RAID so they'll show up as one hard drive on my computer?
Click to expand...
The size of the RAID is based on the smallest drive in the array, so you would lose 640gig of space.

If you're using Windows I think you can install the new drive and mount it as a folder instead of as D:. So that, for instance, the new drive is "C:\Documents & Settings\Owner\Porn"

Check out Disk Management for the options for this.
 
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