Tom's Hardware > Forum > Storage > NAS/RAID & Technologies > RAID 0 help - Where do I start?

RAID 0 help - Where do I start?

Forum Storage : NAS/RAID & Technologies - RAID 0 help - Where do I start?

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Hi guys,

I want to set up RAID 0 on my system after reading how faster it can make your boot/load times and general use faster, trouble is, I don't know where to start.

I have two SATA Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drives,
MSI P7N SLI Platinum (750i chipset)
Q6600
4gb RAM
8800GT SLI

Can someone tell me how I go about setting it up?

What I've got so far-

1, Plug both HDD's in to the motherboard
2, Go into main BIOS and enable RAID, set both drives to RAID function

Then I don't know what to do from there. As I have an nForce chipset do I need any drivers or programs or anything from nvidia?

Add a reply

It says I'm "not allowed to edit this message".. so I'll have to double post.

I just wanted to add that I have Windows Vista 64bit Home Premium, I don't know if its relevant but I just wanted to include it.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to FireYoshi

FireYoshi wrote :

Let me just say its worth it big time - RAID 0, dont listen to anyone else that says otherwise!

to set it up, check your manual for exact settings in the bios but somewhere in the bios it will enable it (eg "STRIPE" or "RAID0" etc), next is installing it onto the new hdd's (which will then show up as one, take note it will wipe everything off the hdd's etc) - sometimes even with vista it might not detect the raid array/device and will require a driver disc (supplied with motherboard) and from there all normal

------------------------------ Q6600@3510/1560 + TT BigTyphoon+Mod
8gb Kingston 800mhz
Gigabyte EP35-DS3P
XFX 8800GT/512
Reply to apache_lives

So you're saying I don't need any 3rd party drivers as the motherboard disc will have them on?

Reply to FireYoshi

1st off ive never even installed vista let alone setup raid on it - so I can only talk from an XP point of vue.

Your mobo driver cd probably contains a programe to create a driver disk - yes 3.5 floppy drive.

you need to load this file to a disk (windows install will prompt for it)

durin boot there will be a hot key to load your raid manager - normaly J or I after inital post screen.

create a strip (RAID 0)

proceed to windows install

XP will prompt "press F6 to load 3rd part SCUSI/RAID drivers" (again no idea for vista

follow on screen instructions to add the driver so windows install can see your stripe and create the primary partition to install to.

Hope that helps

V

Reply to vibe

Heya,

As mentioned above, it's pretty simple.

Bios:

nVraidmedia: select which drives you want to include in the RAID array. Enable RAID0 on them. Select your cluster size. Array will be created and display as healthy.

Note on cluster size: 32k is good for quick access to lots of smaller files and general use. 64k is the default, but isn't that optimal. I'd even go as low as 16k on faster drives for general windows use and games. 128k and higher (upwards of 1mb to 8mb) is good for things like large file use, video editing and saving, etc. So adjust your cluster size to reflect your use of the array.

Before anything can happen, it'll need to be formated. This can be done manually, or your OS installer can do it. If you're doing Windows XP or Vista, it will format it for you. When installing XP, it will need the drivers for your RAID/storage device and it will need to be on a floppy drive (it will prompt you as windows xp installs via F6). Vista is easier than XP, as it doesn't need the floppy and will allow you to install the drivers from optical source, ie, CDROM/DVD. Once loaded, Windows will format your array and it will from then on be treated as a single drive and you're done.

Note: changing any settings of your Array like cluster size, etc, requires a whole new format. So adjust your settings first the way you want them or you'll have to start over.

Cheers,

Reply to malveaux

Thanks for that, exactly what I needed

Clears up the confusion about needing a floppy, as some people said they don't. Good old vista

Reply to FireYoshi

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