Beginning RAID...help?

[Mico]

Alrighty...well. I just got 2 120GB 7200 rpm ATA/100 8 meg cache WD HDD's.
My Highpoint RocketRAID 100 card should come in the mail today or tomorrow, and I once again turn to these forums for guidance. I have a 40 GB Maxtor with Windows XP pro on it right now...here's what I want to do:

Have the 2 120G WD's in RAID0
Have the 1 40G MAXTOR in normal IDE coming of the Mobo.

I want to make the WD's the main boot drives, and have the maxtor for backup.
Can you guys tell me what I need to do in order to make this happen, this is my first time trying RAID, and I don't want to mess it up =)

 

[wquiles]

I did the oppsotive: Main OS drive was the non-RAID and have my Data in the RAID-0 array, but my Promise RAID Card said that in order to boot from the RAID array you had to first load the RAID Drivers before attempting to boot from the OS.

Since the RAID-0 is a new array I would assume that you will simply install WinXP from scratch. If so, note that when you are loading the OS from the CD for the install, there is a note at the bottom of the screen that says something like "PRESS F6 to load SCSI / RAID drivers". You definitely want to do that!

Also, note that your 2x 120GB = 240GB drives are bigger than the 137GB limit that most ATA/100 systems can handle, so you might want to consider partitioning this huge drive into OS and DATA (120GB each).

When your RocketRAID card comes, make sure to check the installation manual to double check if you need to do something special about both booting from the RAID-0 and handling drives larger than 137GB.

Good luck!

 

[Mico]

Yeah, I have read through the manual and it does support large disks over 137. Thanks. Are there any special precautions I need to make? Like...I can run the MAXTOR off the mobo, right?

 

[mrgreenjeans]

yes, no problem. Just have the RAID drivers on a floppy so after hitting F6 during the windows install you be able to insert when prompted.

 

[Mico]

Yeah...they are nice enough to include the drivers on floppy, and on CD =)

 

[disk11]

If your board is anything like mine, it will try in vain to boot off the 40 gig drive. Disable it in the BIOS where it shows what's hooked up to the onboard IDE channels and Windows will pick it up.