RAID questions not covered in FAQ

[prolfe]

Hi all I'm new to the Hard Disk forum, and I realize that some of my questions may have been answered already, but I think that other newcomers to the RAID arena may have similar questions to mine, and perhaps a thread that answers a lot of basic questions not covered in the FAQ (Which was exhaustive) is in order, so here goes.
If I want to install a RAID array after I've installed Windows, can I do so using my Windows volume, or will my Windows volume have to be reformatted?
Assuming the answer to question one is NO, can I set up a RAID array on, say, 2 other drives and call it drive D?
Assuming the answer to question 2 is YES, would that be practical, and if I do it, will I see increased performance, and would it make sense to install all my programs to that array and move my virtual memory to the array?
Is it possible to use software to set up a RAID array using one SATA drive and one IDE drive?
Are there any hardware RAID controllers that offer SATA and IDE connections?
While a variety of motherboards support SATA RAID with onboard chips, are there any that support IDE RAID natively?
Thanks in advance and if I think of any more newbie questions I'll post them!

 

[prolfe]

Hey everybody are my questions too hard, or just too dumb?
I realize they may be simple to some of you but to a noob they are important. Also I have done forum searches and these questions haven't been asked before; I hope someone can lend a few minutes
Thanks, Phil

 

[folken]

How many drives to use in the array would depend on the type of RAID you want to do. If you want a raid 0 (stripe) for performance you will need 2 or more drives. If you want a raid 1 (mirror) for redundancy you will need 2 drives. If you want a raid5 (pretty much striped mirror) for redundancy you will need 3 drives or more.

You could do a software raid using windows to use a sata and ide drive but I dont recommend it. I can't think of any raid controllers that have both ide and sata capability on the same card.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>