4 drives: 2 SSD, 2 HDD. Questions about raid, and random other things.

[iaacp]

Hi guys! So for the first time in pretty much ever, I have more than 1 drive in my computer. I believe I want to do some kind of raid setup, but I've never done it before. Here's what I currently have:

• 1x OCZ Vertex 3 SATA III 120GB SSD
  
• 1x Corsair Nova 2 SATA II 60GB SSD
  
• 1x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 7200 RPM 3.5" HDD
  
• 1x Some 250GB 5200RPM 2.5" HDD

I know this much: I am interested in security (not losing everything if one drive should fail) and speed.

• My OS (Win7) is going on the Vertex 3. Steam, Origin, and other games are going on as well. Maybe MS Office too.
  
• I plan to put IDE's such as Visual Studio, Eclipse, and... I don't know what else on the 60GB.
  
• Documents, pictures, movies, videos, etc on the 500GB?
  
• I have no idea if anything will go on the 250GB. Maybe backups?
  
• What RAID setup would you recommend for me, across which drives?
  
• Do I need to format the drives a certain way for RAID?
  
• Can RAID be setup after OS/programs are installed, and each drive has some amount of content? Or do they all need to be bare?
  
• Which drive should drivers go on? I'm thinking the 120GB, since drivers are small.

Thanks for any help or input you can provide.

 

[Automata]

I wouldn't suggest RAID at all. Those are completely different drives, so putting any of those in any type of RAID would be a Very Bad Thing.

RAID has to be setup before data is put on the drives as information is wiped ("initialized" is the proper term they use) when you create the array.

What you have here looks good. The only difference is that I would put the IDEs on the Vertex. There really is no need to put them on the second SSD and it just complicates the setup. You could use the second SSD for other Steam games using a program that moves games to other disks (don't know the name). Either that or sell it.

• My OS (Win7) is going on the Vertex 3. Steam, Origin, and other games are going on as well. Maybe MS Office too.
• I plan to put IDE's such as Visual Studio, Eclipse, and... I don't know what else on the 60GB.
• Documents, pictures, movies, videos, etc on the 500GB?
• I have no idea if anything will go on the 250GB. Maybe backups?