RAID 1 in XP or Vista?

[odannyboy000]

So I installed xp and vista on a 74gb raptor within separate partitions. I have a wd500aaks and am buying another one for a raid 1 configuration.

This is going to be simple right? Just install the hard drive and manually config raid in BIOS?

my sig has my hardware specs.

[Paul Komski]

Adding the two 500s to the same array in the relevant BIOS and adjusting any other BIOS settings should be straightforward. After that you will need to have the correct RAID/SCSI drivers installed or else you may still see both drives as separate entities or not at all. If installing directly to the RAID the drivers would also need to be ready on a floppy (unlesss there is the rare event that the RAID drivers came natively with the OS) in order for windows to see the RAID in order to install onto it after pressing F6 during the initial setup.

[odannyboy000]

Are you saying I need to install (by pressing f6) when I boot with the Vista CD, or can I do it when Vista is running?

After that you will need to have the correct RAID/SCSI drivers installed

Would I get these drivers from my motherboard manufacturer?

If installing directly to the RAID the drivers would also need to be ready on a floppy

I don't have a floppy drive, is this a problem?

[Paul Komski]

If you are configuring a RAID array to be a 500gig storage array in addition to your Raptor with the XP/Vista dual boot, you wouldn't be installing to the array. In that case you would only need to install the drivers from within Vista and/or WinXP if the array showed as a problem device in device manager.

Clean installing to the array would be different - but its not sure if this is what you intended. Its the F6 option with a floppy (or a slipstreamed CD) for WinXP and different methodology for Vista (http://vistasupport.mvps.org/installing_raid_sata_drivers.htm).

[odannyboy000]

Oh OK, thanks.

I did NOT want to do a clean install, but instead keep all my files from the 500gb and basically copy it over to the other 500GB, and still keep the benefits of having an array.

[Paul Komski]

and basically copy it over to the other 500GB,You would never manually copy the data. The two drives are first combined into an array and in the case of a RAID 1 Mirror the method is to "rebuild the array/mirror" which is done automatically by the RAID's own firmware.

It is much the easiest to setup the array first and then copy data to it. Turning two drives into a Mirror when one already has existing data is not nearly as straightforward as it might seem. Sometimes it is indeed straightforward, like replacing one hard drive after an array has been broken by a failure of one of them, but at other times there needs to be certain attention to detail. With some sets the array must be rebuilt before you can restart the system; in others you can continue booting and the array gets rebuilt in the background.

So read the specific mobo or PCI card manual carefully beforehand and consider backing up any critical data elsewhere before creating the RAID array at all.

If you could even borrow, esp an external, 500gig drive that could be the best way to go. Copy all data to the external, create the RAID array, add any necessary drivers within windows and copy back the data to the array.

Reconsider that the main reason for a mirror is to prevent downtime when a hard drive fails because one carries on working. It is not a substitute for backup since a virus or file deletion etc will destroy data on both drives of a mirror simultaneously.

[odannyboy000]

Do I need to format the new hard drive before I install the RAID array?

[Paul Komski]

Do I need to format the new hard drive before I install the RAID array?
The normal practice is to partition and format the array and not any individual drives. The array, once created and with the correct drivers, behaves just like a single hard drive as far as the user is concerned in both disk management and my computer.

The exception to this is when one sets up one HDD in whatever way one likes and then rebuilds/crates an array onto the second hard drive with those RAID BIOSes that support this.

[odannyboy000]

So I put my hard drives in RAID but both drives dont show up in vista. They are both unallocated, which is ok I can format them both, but I don't know how to. I'm not booting from disk because I don't want to reinstall my OS.

[Paul Komski]

Where are you seeing the drives in Windows. When you say unallocated do you mean that they contain unallocated space or that both drives were unallocated to an array.

Or have you given up on creating an array?

If you want to partition and format the two individual drives as separate non-RAID drives then you should be able to do that from Disk Management. If you want to have a RAID they must be allocated to an array of the type that you want and then let the array be built; this usually takes place outside of windows.

[odannyboy000]

I gave up on the array, I think the RAID on my computer is broken. It kept crashing as soon as the windows logo appeared. Same with XP and VISTA, so I think its hardware related.