1st raid setup in 15yrs...2x 980-Pro NVME

[krag]

Hey brothers, its been quite some time since I have had a raid setup. The last one I had was comprised of 2 WD 500Gb Raptors. This time around I am looking to buy 2x Samsung 980 Pro 1T in Raid 1. I cannot remember which one is speed and which is redundancy. I want the speed setup. I have the rig in my sig currently and want to upgrade it to Raid. My mobo is Asus 570X-E Strix with Raid capabilities. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Q. Can I use Acronis and ghost my current drive to the raid? Dont see how I can do that.

Q. Will I have to buy another copy of Win 10 or can I call Microsoft and get a new OS code?

 

[bmwbaxter]

Raid 1 is redundancy.
Raid 0 is speed.

You should be able to install the image of your current drive onto it.
I haven't had to call microsoft until about 3 hw changes but YMMV.

 

[EarthDog]

RAID0 is for speed. That said, I ask WHY are you doing this? These are so fast, you don't need the 'hassle' and increased risk of going RAID0. If you frequently work with large files and such it can be beneficial, but otherwise, it's just a fun exercise too see big numbers (which is awesome too!!!).

Does your board have the ability to put the M.2 in RAID? Sometimes that is only a SATA thing...you may want to confirm that 100%......either reach out to Asus or check the google machine.

1. I believe so. You'd have to create the array first and blow down the image to the array.
2. Why would you need another Windows key? They are tied to the motherboard, not storage. Worst case is it doesn't activitate and you need to make a call...but it should work just fine with a simple storage swap.

 

[krag]

So with using my old image. I put one of the new nvme drives in a enclosure and use Acronis to copy the OS and then put that one with the other 980-pro into my machine and thru the bios setup the raid 0 config?

 

[EarthDog]

So with using my old image. I put one of the new nvme drives in a enclosure and use Acronis to copy the OS and then put that one with the other 980-pro into my machine and thru the bios setup the raid 0 config?

Nope.

You'll need to create the array first. There has to be a 'drive' for Acronis to write to. Building a RAID array destroys the data on the disk to make the it AFAIK. But yeah, build the array/drive first, then you Acronis should see it and blow the image down on it.

 

[krag]

RAID0 is for speed. That said, I ask WHY are you doing this? These are so fast, you don't need the 'hassle' and increased risk of going RAID0. If you frequently work with large files and such it can be beneficial, but otherwise, it's just a fun exercise too see big numbers (which is awesome too!!!).

Does your board have the ability to put the M.2 in RAID? Sometimes that is only a SATA thing...you may want to confirm that 100%......either reach out to Asus or check the google machine.

1. I believe so. You'd have to create the array first and blow down the image to the array.
2. Why would you need another Windows key? They are tied to the motherboard, not storage. Worst case is it doesn't activitate and you need to make a call...but it should work just fine with a simple storage swap.

Thats some good info bro! Yes, they are smokin fast already. And from your comment I really do not need to raid-0 my setup. Just one drive should be good. Maybe Ill get the 2T model instead? My rig is for gaming and word docs only. so yer right, one will be good enough.

- - - Auto-Merged Double Post - - -

Nope.

You'll need to create the array first. There has to be a 'drive' for Acronis to write to. Building a RAID array destroys the data on the disk to make the it AFAIK. But yeah, build the array/drive first, then you Acronis should see it and blow the image down on it.

Well, how exactly can I do that, seeing I only have one rig. Take the old drive out and put it in a enclosure and after I have my raid and OS all set up, then blow the OS to the rig from the enclosure? I did not know that could be done.

 

[EarthDog]

You can still run 2... or put them in R0... it is up to you.

What I do, where possible, is to use multiple drives. For example, my OS is on one NVMe drive and paritioned off from the rest of the drive. The second NVMe drive holds all my games and such. This way, if my OS borks, I can reimage without having to DL my games and such all over again... and they are on fast storage (for what little that is worth).

EDIT:

Well, how exactly can I do that, seeing I only have one rig. Take the old drive out and put it in a enclosure and after I have my raid and OS all set up, then blow the OS to the rig from the enclosure? I did not know that could be done.

Get your image on the recovery USB stick

install modules in the motherboard, go into bios and create the array. Boot from recovery USB stick and image the array.

 

[krag]

But I cannot have a OS with out the old drive

 

[EarthDog]

See edit above.

 

[krag]

Q. Is Acronis proprietary? Will it work with a non-Sabrent drive like the Samsung 980-Pro?


Eidt...thanks EarthBro. Good info my man!

 

[EarthDog]

Acronis is drive brand agnostic. It's 3rd party software, not a [insert brand here] utility.

 

[krag]

Nice! i came to the right place for accurate and proper knowledge!!!!!!

 

[freeagent]

If you are worried about not having a key when you reinstall winderz, you can select the I have no key option at the beginning, and once you are in you can sign just using your ms credentials, like in outlook for instance.. Unless you need that image.. Outside of that windows take about 2 minutes to install now a days, so its not a huge hassle.. I got my image from ms direct and let them put it on my usb for me, so you don't need to use a third part app like Rufus.

 

[EarthDog]

Yep. I'd personally do a fresh install where possible as well. If not, imaging FTW!