Mixing IDE and SATA drives with RAID0

[bruce10]

The system I'm about to put together will have 2* SATA HDs in RAID0. I would also like to add an addtional IDE HD from an older system with data that I wish to pull over to my new one. This IDE drive may become redundant later, or I could maybe use it as a backup for some files on the RAID0 array. I will also have 2 DVD drives interfacing to one of the IDE ports.

My question is regarding the HD hierarchy. I wish to install the OS onto the array, and will no doubt partition the array into C: plus other partitions. Assuming that I set up the RAID0 array correctly when I install the OS, and in BIOS, what will the PC want to do with the single IDE HD? I had read somewhere that someone found that the IDE drive automatically got assigned C: (as the FD gets assigned A in a similar system as I am proposing, but I'm not sure if there were other RAID0 setup issues involved.

Ideally I would want the IDE drive to be a higher drive letter than all the SATA/RAID0 partitions and both DVD drives, but I'm not sure how to ensure that- or how to ensure that the IDE drive doesn't get assigned C:.

Thanks for any help,

Bruce.

 

[Guest]

Simple, just dont plug the IDE hd while you install. Once windows is install, if you plug a new HD you can choose whatever letter you want.

Even if you install widows with the IDE drive I doubt it will be a problem

 

[bruce10]

Simple, just dont plug the IDE hd while you install. Once windows is install, if you plug a new HD you can choose whatever letter you want.

Even if you install widows with the IDE drive I doubt it will be a problem

Great, thanks.

Bruce

 

[piratepast40]

Working on something similar myself and ran across a few stumbling blocks. Like the others have said, keep the IDE drive totally out of the system when you set up your array. Once you load the OS and BEFORE you load any drivers or do any updates, check to see what drive letters were assigned. If necessary, you can change them by following the directions here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223188.

The thread I started shows my progress and the excellent help others are giving:http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/put-MS-apps-partition-OS-ftopict213580.html

If the IDE drive has an OS, it'll probably cause all sorts of problems since it's probably also designated as C:. I'm not quite sure yet how to address that issue. I suspect that I'll need to make a DOS boot disc and remove or modify windows on the IDE drive so I can retrieve the data. Again, I'm still not sure how to do this but researching.

Hope this helps.

 

[bruce10]

Thanks piratepast40. that's some good info and a great MS reference.

I'm trying to relate your experience to mine, just to see if there's any risk of the same outcome. I have a RAID0 array, and have yet to introduce the PATA drive, so my system at this time knows nothing of it.

Did you have an OS on your PATA drive when you introduced it- and had you introduced the PATA drive to the system prior to (re)-installing the OS, so that BIOS had some knowledge of it's pre-existence? My own situation is that this is a brand new build, and the PATA drive will only be introduced at a later time, and then only to transfer data (no OS is on the drive, it's a slave at the moment in an older system) to my array. I may then re-format the PATA drive and keep it for misc. archiving and/or backups.

Thanks- Bruce.

 

[piratepast40]

I've got my system up and running now. Yes, the old PATA drive had a complete OS on it. I unplugged it and removed it from the computer prior to the new install. When I reintroduced it to the system, I made sure it was removed it from the boot disk list in bios first. Not sure if that was necessary but I didn't want to take the chance of a drive letter conflict.

When windows loaded, the drive showed up as a new device and was installed by windows as drive F. All data is available for transfer or whatever you want to do with it. The only thing I can't quite get yet is importing favorites from the old IE list but that's not a big deal. That minor issue could have easily been avoided by copying them to a thumb drive or floppy first.

That's how it finally worked for me after making some stupid mistakes in the beginning.

 

[bruce10]

Thanks for thie helpful info.

Bruce.