Raid

[imported_Will]

Well, i've read in a PC magazine you can link HDD's through RAID. Being curious, i've looked it up, and seen theres different kinds of RAID. Then I got that feeling that I get when a teacher calls on you in class, but you've been sleeping so you don't know whats going on aka LOLTARD syndrome, as I like to call it. Now I heard its reliable and fast, but i still don't get it. I tried looking it up but got confused. I saw something like RAID 1, Raid 2 Raid 3, Raid 4, Raid 1+0, Raid 0, Raid 0+1. WUT?

Then I remember this video and somethinga bout RAID

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96dWOEa4Djs[/media]

Before you say, I know, SSD is not HDD. Or anywhere near as fast. But i just wanted to know what kind of raid this guy did.

So first off all, What's raid.
Next, How do I do it?
Third, Do I have to reformat my HDD in anyway?

[[MyIS]Dan]

Re: Raid

Redundant array of inexpensive disks is RAID, depending on what RAID you pick you need x amount of disks ideally the same make/size I think with some RAID controllers you can mix drives, but not totally sure.

This really shows the way RAID works; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID#Standard_levels and how many disks are needed and how many can be used.

RAID0 & RAID1 are the most common used in home PCs and supported by most chipsets:

RAID0: Speed but greater risk of data loss.
RAID1: Keeps a mirrored copy of everything on drive a to every other drive in the array.

How to do it, depending on your chipset, this is how I did mine:

Went into BIOS, set HDDs to RAID, then went into the Intel Matrix Storage Controller on boot up and made the array. You normally need to have the RAID drivers installed when you install Windows, so reinstalling may be needed altho I was able to add the drivers to my OS, image my OS drive, format, make the array then re image and it worked. :)

[imported_Will]

Re: Raid

So Raid0, makes 2 disks into 1, giving greater speeds but if 1 of the disk fails, then your scrwd? amirite?

and Raid1, is basically a backup?

Is it possible to Raid0 and Raid1 at the same time?

[[MyIS]Dan]

Re: Raid

You are right. Sure you can have RAID0 & RAID1 (You would need at least two drives for each) if your chipset supports doing two RAIDs, if not, RAID card time.

[imported_Will]

Re: Raid

what do you mean by chipset? Processor? Mobo?

[[MyIS]Dan]

Re: Raid

Chipset of your mobo, looking at yours, X58, it has the Intel ICH10R southbridge which will do RAID0 & 1 and more; http://www.intel.com/support/chipset.../cs-028610.htm

[imported_Will]

Re: Raid

Oh cool. Thanks dan :awes