New RAID'er....Help

[sai111]

Hi Every One.....

I want to setup my hard disks into Raid mode and i have a few queries:

I know that Raid has to be setup for two identical disks but i hv 1 seagate 500 GB 7200 RPM drive and 1 seagate 2 TB 5900 RPM drive..... can i setup RAID 0 on these drives without any issues.....?

What is the best strip size for gaming and normal use(occasional video editing).......?

I don't have a floppy drive so I'm integrating the RAID drivers into the win XP CD, can I integrate more than 1 controllers drivers i.e., can i integrate both Intel and gigabyte's RAID controllers drivers into the existing Win XP CD so that i dont need to burn another CD separately

Can I install Win XP 32-bit(RAID drivers are for 32-bit) and Win 7 64-bit in RAID 0 mode.....?

 

[Wamphryi]

Well you could raid those drives but your 2 TB will only offer 500 GB capacity. Stripe size is quite complicated to explain so I suggest you research it for all the ins and outs. As for your question around Win XP 32 and Win 7 64 if you are considering a dual boot then it is possible with a certain amount of configuration but there is little gain to be had there. Stick with Win 7 64. Until you get matching drives I would recommend you don't bother with RAID.

 

[geofelt]

I think you should rethink why you want raid-0 in the first place.
If your objective is improved performance, you will not see it except in synthetic benchmarks.
It is not worth the hassle, and other issues.
Read this:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/1371/11