Need help with RAID with new build.

[kraftmacincheese]

Hi everyone!
I was curious if any of you could help me figure something out here. Now bare with me because I've never done a RAID before, I'm still working my way from old legacy style build with IDE.
Anyways here we go..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811995017

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157189

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817814019

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115223

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226100

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136313

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835706015

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10087/cpu-tri-71/Thermalright_Venomous-X_CPU_Heatsink_w_Pressure_Vault_Bracket_System_Socket_LGA_77511561366_Ultra-120_Extreme_Successor_.html

And finally I am also going to be getting the 480 (Fermi) whenever it releases.

Ok so here is the deal...
That is the ruff build idea and I want to essentially max it out. I want to be able to run the 2 raptors as my sata3 6gig/s and also as my primary drives with NO raid.. just single drives.
Then I would like to take those other hard drives and have 6 running and run them as a raid. I want those mirrored to where I can have the most amount of space usable and at the same time be able to have the assurance that if one drive dies, I still have all of my data.

Also want to know if you all think that that 1100 watt power supply is going to be big enough to run everything I just listed.

So is what I said possible? How is it possible, how do I go about making that happen? And hoping that the power supply is gonna be big enough. Sure as hell don't want to have to get a 1500.
Reguards.. ~Jeff

 

[mikey5802]

Looks like you're gonna have one heckuva system to build. Sorry, but I can only help with a few comments. I've had a RAID 0 running for quite some time but nothing like you intend to build, but I can offer some advice.

You can evaluate your PSU requirements here:
http://www.antec.outervision.com/

Where did you intend to put your OS? Past responses to other RAID info requests have resulted in recommendations to NOT install the OS on a large RAID array, and there's some sort of limitation that I vaguely remember about RAID arrays larger than 2TB are not bootable but I believe there's some kind of work-around.

In the BIOS RAID setup for my BIOS, there's an option to define a non-raid disk/volume. You could look at that option for the two Velociraptors.

Also, I'll bet responders will recommend you use a RAID card for the RAID array in case of problems. With a raid specific card you could take the whole shebang and move it to another mobo or system if you had to.

I'll leave anything else raid related to other responders that have more experience in that arena. There are many knowledgable people here.

 

[kraftmacincheese]

Well I want to put Win7 64bit professional on one of the raptors, the raptors not being in a raid.. I just want them as single drives.
The second raptor would be for my games to play and to run gaming servers.
Then the terrabyte drives.. being total of 6.. all mirrored for data protection.
I am doing much video editing and will need the assurance that I won't have to cry about a drive dying.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The fermi cards are out ..... gotta be quick tho...they selling out in minutes after posting.

I would recommend an external RAID box for those other drives.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822122010

Each HD adds no more than 10 watts ...use the calculator mikey linked.

 

[kraftmacincheese]

Coool, only 10 watts eh? Nice
Yeah I wanna get probably 4 of those kick butt fans and have one pulling/one pushing on the venomous X heatsink. Then I want one blowing over the Fermi and another for the hard drives. As for the external raid box.. I already have a UFO cube case from XoXide and its a biggin, so I do have plenty of space for all of the drives.
I still haven't made the decision to upgrade to water cooling yet. I am just so nervous about hooking one up and it leaking and everything frys. That would be pretty gay indeed.
And also that calculator doesn't have everything I want to put, probably cause I got very very new parts. But anyways.. anything anyone can sudjest with which raid set I should use for the 6 mirrored? And also.. after mirroring six 1 terrabyte drives.. how much space would I be able to use total?