RAID O setup question

[hipster]

Hey everybody...... I'm new to all this stuff so bear with me. I do video work/encoding also. Mount OS on a 80gig ide and use for general stuff. setup Raid O with 2 seagate 160gig for video stuff. Does that sound OK? Raid won't crash on me or anything will it. Then I have a dvd/rw and a dvd player which are also ide, set the rw one as master on secondary and the player as slave on primary? what do you think? Opinions

[Top Hat Theater]

Yes, your setup sounds fine for your purposes however you must realize that if either drive in the RAID0 array fails, the entire array will be destroyed. I've had very good luck with Seagate drives thus far in RAID arrays as well as singly.

~THT

[Quick69GTO]

It sounds almost perfect.
One thing though. If you plan on storing data on the RAID 0 array, back it up religiously.
RAID 0 is not noted for being the best for storage. It is, however, excellent for video encoding (fast).
If storage is a must, leave them connected as is, just don’t set them up in any kind of RAID. They will be seen as a “bunch of drives” by the controller (two separate drives).
Essentially, C: 80gig, D: 160gig, E: 160gig.
The choice is yours.

[hipster]

If storage is a must, leave them connected as is, just don’t set them up in any kind of RAID. They will be seen as a “bunch of drives” by the controller (two separate drives).
Essentially, C: 80gig, D: 160gig, E: 160gig.

What do you " leave as is" You mean just on the normal ide channel or is there a way to physically connect non-raid other than ide or SATA?

[Quick69GTO]

I will try and explain this as best I can.
I basically have the same hard drive setup as you do.
I have a WD 80gig drive set as master (cable select for WD drives) on IDE 1 with Windows XP installed.
A DVD-RW (master) and a CD-RW (slave) on IDE 2.
I have a WD 120gig drive on IDE 3 and another WD 120gig on IDE 4 (both set to cable select). These two drives are not configured in the RAID BIOS. It simply detects them, tells me they are not configured, and continues to boot to XP on the 80gig.
In “My Computer” it shows a C: drive (80gig), a D: drive (120gig), an E: drive (120gig), and then it lists my optical drives.
If I where to RAID 0 those two120gig drives, I would not have a hard drive listed as E: drive. I would have a D: drive listed as 240gig (or close to it) and then my optical drives would be listed.
Now, when I encode video, I only use one of the 120gig drives while the other sits idle. RAID 0 will work both drives to encode the video. This maybe faster but it doubles the chance for a hard drive failure.
I presume each of your 160gig drives are setup as master on they’re prospective IDE ports (3 & 4) or SATA ports.
By letting the RAID BIOS detect the drives, and not configuring those drives in the RAID BIOS, windows will simply continue to boot and see those extra IDE ports as,………..extra IDE ports.
RAID 0, on the other hand, makes Windows see those two drives as one big one (320gig).
One bit of advice, if you haven’t loaded Windows on the 80gig yet, disable the RAID and disconnect the power plugs from the two 160gig drives. After you have finished loading Windows on the 80gig, shut down, connect the power back to those drives, and enable the RAID ports, Boot, and change the drive letters if you like.
I do this because it creates less confusion for both you and Windows.
I hope this helps.

[hipster]

Quick69GTO, I don't even have the box setup yet (waiting for fans due tomorrow or Tues.) All my stuff is just setting here unopened. I've been reading some links provided by donny paycheck and since I store alot of stuff I should probably use Raid 1 for security and not even worry about additional speed since I'll be moving to a P4C from a P3 anyways? I was just inquiring to this Raid stuff which my Asus P4P800D has anyways? I guess ideally Raid 0+1 is the way to go but requires 4 hdd which I don't have nor are considering. This Raid stuff is just a big can of worms in my head right now, so many configurations.

Or maybe I should just forget the whole Raid deal, take back 1 of the seagate 160's and run it the way I always have?
OT,BTW I remember as a kid 14-15 yrs.old hangin'out w/ 5 beautiful sisters(goin'w/1)and their neighbors (5 dudes/gear head partyers,all with performance wheels. Anyways, "Neil" had a 69'GTO red w/a white softtop use to take us cruisin' from time to time, boy was that coooool!LOL

[Quick69GTO]

My ‘69 is silver, a judge spoiler on the truck lid, and a black interior.
She’s very quick.
Sorry to confuse you even more.
You’re right. RAID can be very hard to understand and is really reserved for folks who want speed. You’re also right in presuming that you don’t necessarily have to use it with your board. The extra ports on your board allows you to run all the drives you bought without having to configure them in any manner.
Keep both 160gig drives. The more hard drive space you have the better.
It looks like your board as connectors for both serial ATA RAID and IDE RAID.
Read all the manuals carefully, then put the system together, but leave the power connecters off the big drives.
I would just connect the 80gig and load Windows on it.
Worry about the other drives later after you decide what you want to do with them.
Good luck!