A question about raid 0

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andrewsvalesen

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I tried RTDM but it leads me to a website that is no longer available.

I cant figure out how to install raid 0.
Im assuming i do it in bios, but I cant find it anywhere.

my specs:

2x 250gb WD (16mb 7200rpm) SATA
tforce550 mobo, (it says it has raid 0)

I tried looking at the driver cd, but like i said it brings me to an invalid website.

I know this is probably an easy question, but I need to be a little more careful with my things now, since I actually paid for it this time. :]
 
I think you should RTFM :p

First thing is to determine which ports on the motherboard support RAID0. RTFM for this info.

Then connect two disks to it. At startup some utility should show up with something like "press CTRL-H" to enter BIOS...". This is not the same as the "press DEL to enter BIOS" which comes earlier in the bootup process.

In there you can configure RAID. After that, it just acts like a regular single hard disk.
 
I dont understand when you say "what port".
Ah, I think I should have stated that these are SATA drives.
ITFM it just tells what raid is, the different types, and what its drawbacks are. It tells me to goto an nvidia website for more information, but that is impossible.

The website is gone.

Also in bios both of my Sata Drives are set to Master drives. I know there is no jumper settings for SATA, but shouldn't one become a slave?
 
With "port" I meant "SATA connector".

You shouldn't worry about Master or Slave. It will assign the disks manually. If there is nothing ITFM, you should enter the BIOS by pressing "DEL" at startup, and check if the SATA controllers are set to "RAID". Sometimes you have to do this to make the RAID menu show up "press CTRL-X to enter...".
 
I Couldn't find any raid function in BIOS.
I went back to the driver CD, and read a bit of the Raid "Tutorial".
Its entitled "Creating a Raid f6 Floppy Disk".
Is this what I need to get raid to show up? Because I remember whenever I try to install windows, it asks "press f6 for raid setup."
 
You need that floppy to install Windows. But you will first need to create the RAID array. The drivers on the floppy are used for Windows setup, so it can detect the hard disk(s).
 
Oh, I see. I'm going to keep looking in Bios to try and find out where the Raid utility is.
Is bios the only place I can create the Raid array?
 
The first thing you get when starting up your computer is the BIOS. You can enter this by pressing "DEL".

A few seconds after this you should get some sort of a second BIOS, which can be accessed using a different key/combination. This is where you can set up RAID.

Sometimes this second "BIOS" doesn't show up, unless RAID has been enabled in the first BIOS.

Can you post your motherboards brand/model? Somebody on this forum may have the same board.
 
Ok I think I figured it out. I needed to RTFM on the CD much much more closely.
Raid>>>Enabled
Raid 1 Primary >>Enabled
Raid 1 Secondary >>Enabled
Raid 2 Primary >>Enabled
Raid 2 Secondary >>Enabled
Is this ok?

I got to the second bios, by pressing f10.
It's asking me to configure my raid now, but the options are:
mirroring (i think thats like raid 1)
striping (Raid 0, right?)
Spanning (No Idea.)
And Stripe mirroring (0/1 ?)


where do I get the f6 floppy disk?

Oh and another thing... If I reset CMOS, what will happen to my Raid array?
 
After setting up the RAID array in the chipset BIOS utility (the second one), all you have to do is boot from the XP CD and install Windows. Press F6 when asked to and select the SATA RAID driver from the floppy disk.

To create this floppy diskette, use the CD-ROM that came with your motherboard. It should have a utility to create a floppy.

RAID1 & RAID2 probably refers to two different SATA/RAID controller. Try only enabling RAID1, so you can still use the other SATA connectors for stand-alone drives later on.
To find out which connectors are the ones that will have RAID on them, you just have to try and see. Connectors that can be used as RAID are mostly of the same color.

To be honest, I don't know what will happen if you reset the BIOS. On my system it doesn't reset the SATA controller's BIOS, so the RAID array keeps working.
It could however disable RAID in the main BIOS. I don't know what will happen if you boot like that. It probably just wont boot, until you enable it again.
 
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