RAID 0 question, one raptor has OS, one clean....

Okay, Like the title says, I have one 74G raptor that I have been using (has XP and a few games on it) and
one new 74G raptor unformatted. I know I have to install both drives, load XP, hit F6, install raid drivers etc....
What I would like to know is this, do I need to format the drive that already has XP beforehand or will that be
overwritten when I go to set up the array. This is my first attempt at raid so any help is appreciated.

thanks,
Tom

why not go in and try... usually if it cant be done the setup will prompt you... lol

either way the data will be gone, it doesn't take long to format a 74gb high speed drive(my 250gb sata takes... 20-30min)...

Windows install will ask you if you would like to format. I usually pick "Quick Format".

First things first - you will have to BUILD THE ARRAY from BIOS. This essentially wipes both drives clean, and sets up the mappings. Then, you may Format and install Windows on it...

Randyman... said:

First things first - you will have to BUILD THE ARRAY from BIOS. This essentially wipes both drives clean, and sets up the mappings. Then, you may Format and install Windows on it...

Click to expand...

X2...
When creating the array in bios, after you add the drives to your striping array it will ask you if you want to erase data on the drives. Select yes. The operation is quick and painless. I do however recommend a full format in the Windows XP setup. During my initial installs a few weeks ago, xp would restart after the first "reboot and remove cdrom" install point and then BSOD.

After three or four failed attempts. I read a thread somehwere about some NVRaid setups requiring a full format in xp install. Everything worked perfect after that. Now you will only find me doing full disk formats on my raid arrays. Again, this could be motherboard specific.

Dom

yeah same thing happened with my friend. From now on if anyone asks, do a full format, it might take more time, but for the most part will save you time if any problems develop... plus you don't full format too often so its well worth the time

I never do or recommend a quick format. I have had similar problems happen to me in the past.

I have alwayus used quick format on every one of my drives and have never encountered a problem. I have not ever setup a RAID array tho.

Thank you for all the replies guys! This place is great!

I will get going on this tonight. BIOS first, that is exactly what I needed to know!
From what I've read in the stickies I will make sure that these are the only
drives I have connected when I set up the array.

thanks again,
Tom

Good Luck, Mang!!!

First, Thank you all for your help, RAID 0 up and running!!!!!!!

Now for my only problem..........

History,
Heres is how I started, One WD blank, One WD w/XP home, One Seagate w/XP home.
The Seagate has all of my mech design s/w on it and I don't want to take any chances
with it.

1. Disconnected the Seagate JIC I did something stupid.
2. Hook up the two WD's jump into bios and enable raid.
3. Load XP home, f6, load drivers, all good.
4. Boot from new raid array all good.
5. Hook Seagate back up.
6. Boot from new raid array all good, look in disk mgmt, sees all drives ok.
7. Now I hit f11, chose boot from Seagate (has its own copy of XP) starts to load XP,
wait, wait,, wait some more, here come the found new hardware wizards,,, 3 in all, 1 says
unknown device, the other 2 are looking for drivers for each WD HD.
8. Everything works on the seagate it just doesn't see the raptors. I'm thinking
I can live with this, then the funny stuff starts to happen, I can't do a normal
shutdown or restart from the Seagate any more, I have to shut the power off
to restart.

So do I load raid drivers on the Seagate to be able to see the raptors?
I'm clueless as to the shutdown problem????
I guess I just don't dare do anything until I hear back from you guys.
BTW raid is only enabled in bios for the 2 WD HDs
the other channels including the one for the Seagate raid is disabled.

Once again I look to the Wise Auricles of O/C forums to save my sorry butt....

Tom

P.S. I hope you guys are enjoying my white cane approach to the world of computers....

Yes,go into device manager and install the same drivers that you F6'ed during the OS install.The problem is it sees two seperate drives with no visible file system.Why it would hang, I am not sure unless it auto loaded regular sata drivers.Raid drivers must be present for OS to use or see them.

Thank You! I am all set now......