[Kylt]

Hi everyone. I'm putting together a new computer (P5K-premium) and have some questions about hard-drives. Please note I have never used RAID so this is probably some basic stuff, I just can't find the info I'm looking for.

My current harddrive inventory is as follows:
hd1 - 74.3gb wd740gd-00fla1
hd2 - 500.1gb wd5000aaks-00tma0
hd3 - 200gb wd2000jd-22hbb0

Booted Vista off the Raptor on my old system. Now I'm thinking about *maybe* adding a second raptor and striping the two together. Here's my questions:
1. Is it worth it for the $200 CDN to add a second raptor running raid umm (insert here). Will it significantly impact performance?
2. Is it possible to do this *after* I've installed the O/S. I.e. install Vista on the single drive I already have, bench it, then add a second drive in a couple weeks if I feel the urge. Would I have to reinstall Vista?

Thanks and sorry about the newbishness!

[bing]

Asnwer for your 1st question is heavily depends on your "typical" usage on the rig, and what are you expecting from Raid.

Fyi, Raid has many different type, not only for performance improvement, but also other type for protection and etc, check sticky thread.

For 2nd question, assuming you're going to use the ICH9R raid at your mobo, then it is possible to migrate from single drive into raid at "certain" types without OS re-installation.

[Joeteck]

When looking to do any type of RAID setup, it is recommended to have the same model & type drive(s).

[aja]

Originally Posted by Joeteck

When looking to do any type of RAID setup, it is recommended to have the same model & type drive(s).

That is so true.

I have tried to mix and match, different sizes, different makes, different cache sizes etc, and it never works as fast as it should....