Can i reformat ssd into raid 0

rbbb

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I loaded win 7 on an OCZ Vertex 3 120 and did not load the raid drivers. I had planned on raid 1 on 2x 2TB WD Black Caviar. I just purchased another vertex 3 120. I now would like to reload win 7 on the SSD as Raid 0 and use the WD Black Caviar for storage. Will this allow me to load raid drivers and format the SSD that has win 7 on it? System: Asus P867 Deluxe MB, I7 2600K CPU, Cooler master Hyper 212+ CPU cooler, Thermaltake TR2X 850 W PSU, EVGA GTX580sc GPU, 16GB 1600 Corsair vengeance ram, Creative X-FI Titanium HD sound card, White Corsair 600T case, Plextor PXL-890SA DVD drive. I plan on using this for Photoshop and Auto cad.
 
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And yes you should be able to have multiple arrays, 1 RAID 0 for your SSDs and 1 for RAID 1 for your WD Blacks. I would confirm that your RAID controller supports TRIM passthrough otherwise performance will degrade voer time completly negating any performance gain by using RAID 0.
When you create a RAID array it deletes all of the data on the drives you are adding to it.

When you create the RAID-0 with the 2 Vertex 3s it will delete the data on drive that had the Win 7 on it so backup any needed data.

When you install Win 7 on the newly created RAID it will automatically format and install drivers so you don’t have to do anything. After the Windows installation completes you can install the RAID drivers that came with your motherboard which may increase performance.
 

rbbb

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I am new to Raid, so I create Raid on the the 2 Vertex 3s which will wipe clean Vertex #1, then install win 7 & drivers?

I have read a lot of different comments on Raid 0 versus no Raid for SSD due to trim support, since the Vertex 3 has the new Sandforce controller and recent tech may have solved these issues, are there better alternatives?

Possible alternative, can 2 SSD drives be combined as 1 C:Drive? Do I need to reinstall win7?
Alternative: 1 SSD with OS and drivers, office applications and peripherals Drive C:, the other SSD as a work drive with Photoshop and Auto desk. Drive J:, 2 HDD drive Raid 1 for storage Drive H:, Optical Drives Drive D/E,: Flash Drive Drive:F?

Can the 2 WD Black Caviar be set as RAID1 for data storage with the Vertex 3s in Raid 0 or as Alternative 1
(if possible)?

Open to any possible suggestions.

 

tokencode

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Install the RAID driver, image your existing SSD to another drive (like your WD Blacks), setup your new RAID 0 array using both SSDs and image your old SSD back to the new RAID 0 volume. If you use decent imaging software you should be able to grow the partition to utilize the full space of the drive when you image back.
 

tokencode

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And yes you should be able to have multiple arrays, 1 RAID 0 for your SSDs and 1 for RAID 1 for your WD Blacks. I would confirm that your RAID controller supports TRIM passthrough otherwise performance will degrade voer time completly negating any performance gain by using RAID 0.
 
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rbbb

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This is a new build, don't really have a lot on the SSD. Can I just do a reinstall win 7 64 OEM and reload drivers, instead of image the drive (never imaged a drive before)?

I plan on Raid 0 using the Intel Rapid Storage Tech on the SSD, as they are connected to the 6.0 Gb/s ports. Raid 1 using the Mavell Raid utility on the WD Blacks, they are connected to the Mavell 6.0 Gb/s ports.
Is this the way to go, could the Intel Raid work with the Mavell ports on the MB? Any suggestions greatly appreciated

There are 4 3.0 Gb/s ports left which 2 are dedicated to DVD & BR optical drives.