Hi, Iam having a raid 0 problem. I currently have two 160gb maxtor 7200 rpm hard drives, I set up the striping in the bios and the bios tell me that the raid currently contains about 300 gb. Then when I try to install xp on this raid 0 drive it only shows another drive that I have which is 500 gb. Also Im not sure how to install the raid drivers. I dont even have a floppy drive anymore. Any thoughtsss? Thanks

You have to track down the driver disk app for your controler:

-Verify the controler you have your raid on
-Download from the MB vender or directly from the maker of the controler the driver disk application
-OEM XP install disks allow you to press f6 during installation to install 3rd party drivers
-If you are using an install supplied by Dell or another builder you have to figure out how to walk around there install and get that driver on your system

Basicly you are able to see your raid via the bios but your OS install has no way of communicating with it. Without connecting the OS to the controler via a driver your OS will ignore its existance.

Its usually good to use the chipset controler on your MB for raid btw. I use raptor raid-0 myself and have no problems with it. Without it gaming just plain sucks.

b>7. How do I setup/partition a level 0 RAID array, and install my OS on it?</b>
The easy way:

1) Attach the drives to the RAID controller. Each drive should be master on its own channel (separate cable) for maximum performance.
2) Enter the RAID controller bios (usually you press CTRL+H after powering on the PC). Setup the RAID0 array with your preferred stripesize. The exact way of doing this depends on the controller. Note: Some controllers (e.g. the Promise-lite) does not allow you to change the stripesize.
3) Make sure you have a floppy with the RAID drivers. Boot from the OS installation CD, and when prompted press 'F6' to install third party RAID or SCSI drivers. Insert the floppy.
4) Using the installation program partition and format the drive.
5) Proceed with installing the OS on the boot partition.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/43125-32-raid

Raid 0 sucks.

The drivers that these guys are talking about should be found on the motherboard CD (for onboard RAID controller) or obviously on the RAID controller card's CD (if it is a seperate addd on card).

If you browse the CD you should look for the oemsetup files - this is what windows looks for on the floppy when you press F6. I am not sure whether Windows would let you supply these drivers on a CD or another hard disc / USB drive. If not then you can always get hold of an old floppy drive from somewhere and just plug it in temporarily just to load the drivers.

I have used this procedure successfully on an ASUS board with a Promise RAID controller.

Just remember when you talk about your hard disc partition size that you will never get a partition the same size as the the drive's rating (it will always be smaller). For example the PC that I am currently using has a 120GB hard disc (capacity stated on the drive) but in windows you get 114GB. This is due to the method of using 1000k for 1MB rather than 1024k plus there are other factors.

Hope that helps.