Tom's Hardware > Forum > Windows 7 > XP to 7 Install - Maintain my current C: RAID setup?

XP to 7 Install - Maintain my current C: RAID setup?

Forum Windows 7 : XP to 7 Install - Maintain my current C: RAID setup?

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!
Ask the community Add a reply
Word :    Username :           
 
Big Jeff   10-26-2009 at 09:44:50 PM

I have Windows XP Pro 32 bit and am planning to upgrade to Windows 7 Pro.

My current C: drive where Windows XP is installed is set up with 2 10,000 RPM raptors and is visible as one drive (2 x 150 GB Raptors = 1 C: drive 300 GB). I have the RAID set up for the extra speed for gaming, etc...

When I install Windows 7 I realize I need to do Custom install and it will wipe my C: drive. Will it maintain my RAID setup?

Side question that I think I know the answer for....but just in case. I also have a D: drive (data storage) that has no programs installed on it, just data. The Windows 7 install should not touch that drive, correct?

Thanks for any help.

Message quoted 1 times
Add a reply
Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.
Bronze Win 7 badge Zoron   10-26-2009 at 10:05:48 PM

Well if another poster here is any indication, your best bet is to disconnect that data drive... as Windows 7 might create a restore partition on that drive as part of the set up, which would likely delete your data. As for the RAID array... as long as it's a hardware and not a software RAID, then your array will remain intact.

------------------------------ Desktop: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit; Intel Q6600 CPU; E-VGA 780i SLI motherboard; E-VGA E-GeForce 8800GT; OCZ Vista 4GB dual-channel kit; Ultra X2 750W power supply; 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB in RAID 0. Laptop: Acer Aspire 8730-6314;
 Reply to Zoron
JackNaylorPE   10-26-2009 at 10:49:15 PM

Big Jeff wrote :

I have the RAID set up for the extra speed for gaming, etc...



Do you measure actual gaming performance w/ and w/o the RAID ? Haven't seen anything published as yet which contradicts storagereview.com's analysis which showed a 1.9% performance improvement in gaming way back in 2002.

http://faq.storagereview.com/SingleDriveVsRaid0

SR Gaming DriveMark 2002 519 IO/sec 529 IO/sec

Not much better here:

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/s [...] i=2969&p=8
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/s [...] =2101&p=10

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/s [...] i=2969&p=9
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/s [...] =2101&p=11

"However, RAID 0 is just not worth the trouble or cost for the average desktop user or gamer, "

"If you haven't gotten the hint by now, we'll spell it out for you: there is no place, and no need for a RAID-0 array on a desktop computer. The real world performance increases are negligible at best ......."

With SSD's dropping, and expecting to drop even further in early 2010, I'm wondering if the following couldn't meet both the performance needs and storage needs of a person with a large gaming inventory.

1. Disconnect your SATA drive, install the SSD and your OS.
2. Install Game "A" on the SSD to C:\MyGames\[your game's foldername on HD]
3. Delete Game "A" folder from SSD (do not uninstall ... you want to keep all registry edits etc)
4. "Rinse and Repeat" for all your games.
5. Connect your old SATA drive, delete OS from HD.
6. To play any game at peak speed, simply copy the entire game folder from HD to SSD.

You should be able to keep at least 4 games or so on an 80GB SSD at a time an simply swap em back and forth when you wanna switch.

(2) 150 GB Raptors in RAID 0 = $360
(1) Intel 80 GB SSD and any 1 TB drive = $379

------------------------------ If a man speaks in the forest and no woman hears him, is he still wrong ?
 Reply to JackNaylorPE
Big Jeff   10-27-2009 at 12:18:30 AM

Jack, thanks for the information.

When I build my next rig the solid state drives will certainly be installed. The unit in question that I referenced here is 3 years old and I am just installing Windows 7 to try and extend it's life a bit. At the time I built it the 10,000 RPM raptors were all the rage and everyone was RAID'ing them up, so I did also. I really don't have any complaints to date but certainly going forward there are better options (like SSD).

Thanks for the comments. Hopefully I can get 7 installed without any hitches.

Reply to Big Jeff
apache_lives   10-27-2009 at 09:40:14 AM

blaaarrrrrggggg dont do an upgrade thats the most messy dodgy way to do things - do a clean install please!

------------------------------ Q6600@3510/1560 + TT BigTyphoon+Mod
8gb Kingston 800mhz
Gigabyte EP35-DS3P
XFX 8800GT/512
 Reply to apache_lives
Big Jeff   10-27-2009 at 03:23:32 PM

I think the only way to go from XP to 7 is to do a clean install. You can only "upgrade" in going from Vista to 7 (from what I have read....I plan to venture into this later in the week on 3 different rigs).

Reply to Big Jeff
Ask the community Add a reply
Tom's Hardware > Forum > Windows 7 > XP to 7 Install - Maintain my current C: RAID setup?
Go to:

There are 1058 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Forum map
Bestofmedia Forum ©
2000-2009 Bestofmedia Group
Page generated in 0.393 seconds
Sponsored links
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
Related Topics
See all relatives topics
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them