raid 0 setup and configuration

cugine

Weaksauce
Joined
Jan 29, 2007
Messages
73
Hi,

I recently purchased two 150gig Raptor's for my new gaming rig. I plan to set them up in a Raid 0 configuration. Thing is, I have never setup raid before so I'm not sure what I need to do. These are also my first SATA drives. I've been running IDE lol. Could someone point me to a how-to guide with instructions/tips?

Thanks,
cugine
 
The general overview is:
1) install your SATA drives and if you have more then one SATA controller note which one you are installing to

2) Go into the bios and make sure that controller is set to RAID mode not IDE mode and then save and exit

3) after the POST but before it looks for something to boot from you should see a screen that says press cltr+F or some other key to enter the raid setup utility - hit that key

4) once your in the raid setup select the 2 drives you want to raid together and select which raid mode you want - save and exit

5) With windows XP you will need to put your raid drivers on a floppy, thumb drive, or you could always slip stream them into the install CD

6) when windows XP install tells you to hit F6 hit F6 and find the driver that you have on your thumb drive or floppy

7) VIsta is similar but there is a good chance that it will already have the raid drivers so you wont need a thumb drive. You don't have to hit F6 with vista. there will be an option to find the drivers if vista didn't have one
 
Thanks fire.

I'll be installing vista 64. According to the MB manual you set "raid" to enable. It then gives you a list of individual choices to enable.

SATA 0 Primary RAID [Disabled]
SATA 0 Secondary RAID [Disabled]
SATA 1 Primary RAID [Disabled]
SATA 1 Secondary RAID [Disabled]
SATA 2 Primary RAID [Disabled]
SATA 2 Secondary RAID [Disabled]

Which ones do I enable? I will be using SATA Connector 1 and 2 on the MB.
 
Sorry I can't get to specific because you haven't listed what motherboard you are using and even if you do I have probably never used it.

My guess would be that in the motherboard manual it has a top down view of the motherboard and will label each of the SATA. Then you will know which one.

Edit: You might also be able to find out which ones are connected when you go into the bios under Standard CMOS Features (for Award bios) it should list it there.
 
You might want to get a backup drive as well. In the case where one of those drives fail or, more likely, the array becomes corrupted you'll lose any and all data on the drives.
 
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