First, you need to get a RAID compatible motherboard. This information can be found in the user guide or specifications of your motherboard. Newer motherboards will have SATA RAID. But, IDE RAID motherboards do exist.
Second, then you need to purchase two identical hard drives (size, model and brand). This will ensure reliability, performance and easy setup.
Most motherboard user guides will have sufficient documentation in getting your RAID setup. Your motherboard CD will have the RAID drivers for Windows to recognize it.
Once you get the hardware, then you need to figure out what type of RAID you want. There are many types of RAID, but two are the most common. RAID 0 and 1. RAID 0 is my favorite because you get the best performance. It will combine both drives to create one big drive. Others like RAID 1, which is also known as mirroring. This will create a duplicate copy of your drive, so that if one drive fails, you have a backup. But, it does not yield any performance compared to a single drive. In fact, it would probably be slower since you are writing to two drives.
While building a RAID array is fun and a good learning experience, will it really be worth the expense? In my opinion, I rather spend money in top performing single drives rather than RAID. I myself am guilty of spending money on two Raptor 10,000rpm hard drives and set them up in RAID 0. It works great for boot up time, office and multimedia apps.
Second, then you need to purchase two identical hard drives (size, model and brand). This will ensure reliability, performance and easy setup.
Most motherboard user guides will have sufficient documentation in getting your RAID setup. Your motherboard CD will have the RAID drivers for Windows to recognize it.
Once you get the hardware, then you need to figure out what type of RAID you want. There are many types of RAID, but two are the most common. RAID 0 and 1. RAID 0 is my favorite because you get the best performance. It will combine both drives to create one big drive. Others like RAID 1, which is also known as mirroring. This will create a duplicate copy of your drive, so that if one drive fails, you have a backup. But, it does not yield any performance compared to a single drive. In fact, it would probably be slower since you are writing to two drives.
While building a RAID array is fun and a good learning experience, will it really be worth the expense? In my opinion, I rather spend money in top performing single drives rather than RAID. I myself am guilty of spending money on two Raptor 10,000rpm hard drives and set them up in RAID 0. It works great for boot up time, office and multimedia apps.
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