Going to raid, need info

Rockster2U ...

You're right, of course ... ehauff hasn't yet installed an OS on one of the 40GB drives (so far as we know), so he can't copy that drive to the other. I must have been thinking of my own situation a year ago, when I set up several different RAID arrays over the course of a week or so, using identical drives. And, as I read his original posts, he doesn't want to copy the OS from his 2GB drive, just his files.

• Quote:
  
  "So, you didn't save us all that typing after all. "

No need to gloat.

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  "A Raid configuration...requires matched drives. "

To use your own words, "Time Out - Not so."

RAID levels 0 and 1, those most commonly available to the single user, don't require matched drives, but they operate most efficiently when the drives are identical. Scroll down to Hard Disk Requirements: at RAID Level 0 and RAID Level 1.

 

JSS3rd - guess you got me on a technicality but I quote from your reference.

Shall we now move to confuse with dynamic discs, simple volumes and JBOD spanning? Hehehehe ..... have to say though, I always appreciate those who have the strength of their convictions. I enjoy your comments.

 

• Quote:

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  "...I quote from your reference. "

Which just proves my point ... "Any type may be used, but they should be of identical type and size for best performance and to eliminate 'waste' ".

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  "Shall we now move to confuse with dynamic discs, simple volumes and JBOD spanning? "

I've about reached the limits of my "expertise" for awhile, but go ahead if you must.

• Quote:

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  "I enjoy your comments. "

Aww, shucks ...

 

Right now the only thing on my 2gb hd is music files.My current hd is a 40gb maxtor. I bought a second identical one for my raid setup. If i go raid 1 no need to reformat just plug and go? If i do raid 0 i have to reformat? Could i just set it up for raid 0 and boot from the cd with xp without reformating? thanks for answering my1000's of ?

 

• Quote:
  
  "My current hd is a 40gb maxtor. I bought a second identical one for my raid setup. If i go raid 1 no need to reformat just plug and go? If i do raid 0 i have to reformat? Could i just set it up for raid 0 and boot from the cd with xp without reformating? "

To clarify, you already have XP set up on a 40GB HD, correct?

• (Aside, to Rockster2U ... that was my original understanding, before the waters got muddied. )

Whichever RAID you use, 0 or 1, it's not a matter of just plugging two hard drives into your RAID card ... you may have to install drivers, and you have to create the RAID array, using the provided software, before you can do anything else. The software should ask which RAID array you wish to use, and then proceed accordingly.

It's been a year since I experimented with RAID installations, so my memory is a bit fuzzy. I had three identical HDs (let's call them #1, #2, and #3), with XP already installed on #1, so I didn't have to worry about losing the OS or my data while experimenting.

First, although I didn't intend to keep it, I built a RAID 0 array, just so I could see what was involved. Then I proceeded with the permanent RAID 1 array.

When I built the RAID 0 array, using #2 and #3, I formatted both before beginning the process. That probably wasn't necessary, because I think formatting was part of the array building process (but I honestly don't remember). Then, a complete installation of XP would have been required (I didn't bother, as I wasn't keeping the RAID 0 setup).

During the building of the RAID 1 array, the OS and data on #1 were copied to the second HD (either #2 or #3) in the array. No advance formatting of the second drive was required.

I hope this answers your questions. Again, please post back to let us know how it went.

 

O.K. first attempt is a failure. Installed raid card hooked up drives and started computer. I entered raid setup and set to 0. Asked how many drives i said 2. Asked number for drives and i set it at 0 and 2.Exited and it gave me a boot failure. "boot failure reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device, press any key when ready ". Put windows xp cd in drive and set boot order to match and get same failure. Took raid card out and hooked everything back up the way it was before and same failure. Now all i get is that boot failure message no matter what. Whats wrong? Thanks
Raid card is silicone image and mobo is msi kt4v and hard drives are (2) Maxtor 40gb. Im lost!

 

Did you install the RAID BIOS and drivers?

See this Silicone Image page.

 

mmmm....no. never saw the option. It gave me the option of pushing f3 for setup and i did that. Tried your link and nothing happens. Its wierd that it wont even boot from my origanal hd. Course it wont boot at all.

 

Hehehe ........ You have no OS - of course you're going to get a boot failure. When you went to Raid 0, your former OS on a single drive became history. Its gone. You have to build the Raid, something like control-H, then set to have your Raid be the first hard drive to boot but boot to the XP CD and do your formatting and installation - and be quick on that F6 key so you can load your Raid drivers.

 

Bad thing of buying stuff off of ebay...no manual. So when i initailly did the setup it ******* my os? No biggy i backed up my important files. Just trying to figure this out will kill me! So i need to install the drivers for the raid card? then boot to xp cd? thanks. Just checking, im kinda tired right now and on a computer at work.

 

ehauff ...

Sigh ..... Welcome to the School of Hard Knocks. I'm sorry you're having problems, and I hate to be the one to say "I told you so ", but you'll recall that, in a couple of earlier messages, I tried to warn you away from RAID 0.

Rockster2U is right ... you wiped your original hard drive, so I hope you backed everything up. Had you gone the RAID 1 route, instead, you would have just copied everything on that drive to the second one, and would have lost nothing.

Try to think of this as a learning experience, and keep plugging away at it until you succeed ... and you will, I'm sure.

 

Im not worried about losing any info....i just cant get past the boot failure error.

 

Raid Setup

Hello from the new kid on the block!! I have been reading this forum for quite awhile and not only found it enjoyable, but very informative. You people are entertaining!!
Question??? I am considering the RAID setup and am curious on the best hardware and software to purchase, what is the best way to go??
Who, where and what is the best products to buy???
Thanks Bill

 

ehauff:

Suggest you set boot order to Floppy,CD, Raid then boot to the XP CD. When prompted, hit F6 and wait for the prompt to install drivers rom a floppy. Just follow instructions and think logically.

Becros 52:

Personally, I would stay away from RAID Cards and go with an onboard Raid controller - my preference is Highpoint, but there are several good ones. I'm an Athlon fan and one of the boards I really like is the DFI Lan Party II with the NVidia chipset it's a dual channel board that requires very good memory. Has Raid capabilitied for IDE Drives and also has a SATA header. Another great board is the Abit with the NVidia which gives you SATA Raid with the SIS controller. There's a bunch of options and a slew of great boards out there. All of my personal machines are RAID capable, but none are running Raid 0. In fact, none running RAID 1 right now either. Am instead using Karen's Replicator to auto backup selected files, folders and data and have made ghost images of all system drives. In the process of setting up auto backup dumps to one removable drive on one machine from all others.

 

O.K. one 40gb hd has windows xp on it, the other is formatted. Should i format both? I went to silicon image site and the only directions there are for win95 and its for a pci to ata host. Wish i could find real directions. Thanks

 

If you are still planning on doing a stripe, you are going to once again lose the operating system and there is no need to format until you have "built" the stripe - then you can format and install your OS and it will be installed, some on the first drive and some on the second - thats what your RAID 0 is all about. Go back and re-read - your two drives will act as one.

 

I feel it's my duty to stick my 2¢ worth in here again ... if you're doing RAID 0 just for the bragging rights, so you can crow about it to your friends, it's NOT worth it.

You're far better off either setting up a RAID 1 system, or using the second hard drive to back up the first one, using a program like Ghost, Drive Image, or Karen's Replicator.

I'm outta here!

 

Why 2¢ makes Sense

I'll take that 2¢ and raise it another 2¢ playing the exact same cards - try if you must, but you'd be better off following what we are all trying to tell you. JSS3rd is going to make book on this one - his 2¢ is a winner.

 

Another 2¢

ehauff

You have been in the wrong pew in the wrong church - SIS is Silicon Integrated Systems. Silicon Image is what one finds a lot of in and around Beverly Hills.

 

Raid setup

Rockster2U
Thanks for the info!!!! From your response, I think I would like to edit my question.
I recently suffered some hard drive damage and replaced the drive. It has got me thinking about how to improve our backup procedure in order to prevent loss of data.
We have several terminals and valuable business info that we would hate to lose.
The other challenge is that my office manager, also my wife, is notoriously terrible at backing up with any discipline whatsoever!!
We have been using a external hard drive for additional backup, yet in reading this forum, I have been in interested in the concept of the automatic backup in the raid mirror configuration.
From your comments, which I found quite interesting, I got the impression that you were using different methods for protecting your data.
Perhaps, it is not necessary for me to go to the RAID setup to achieve my goals.
I would appreciate your thoughts on this. Thanks so much-Bill