RAID Question

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infiltrator7

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Hey guys. I'm currently running windows vista with 2 250 gb hard drives, with a total of 4 partitions. I'm planning on reformatting and upgrading to windows 7 soon. Would it be possible/a good idea to do a RAID 0 array with one partition (for the OS)? Is this partition for the OS even necessary? Also, I have a 500 gb external HD that I plan on using as a backup tool so I'm not too worried about the failure rate. Is there a way to use this USB external hard drive to mirror the RAID array, essentially creating a RAID 10 (or 01, whichever it is)? Thanks
 
Thanks for the reply. I guess I could just run a backup via windows every few days just to keep everything up to date then.

Here's my second questiont though: Is it possible and a good idea to do two partitions over the RAID 0 array? One for windows and one for everything else?
 
Not entirely sure what you mean. Are you going to split one drive into two partitions and RAID 0 them together? I don't even think that's possible, let alone a good idea.

OR are you going to partition each 250Gb drive with two partitions per drive, then RAID 0 a partition from one with a partition from the other? I suppose you could do that...I wouldn't say it'd be a good idea though.
 
You can create a raid0 array and then partition it if you like. It acts like a single drive and can be partitioned as a single drive can. Set up the array first then partition it.

Performance improvements will not be too much but it will be a fun project.
 
Thanks for the reply. I guess I could just run a backup via windows every few days just to keep everything up to date then.

That's a better plan anyway.

Here's my second questiont though: Is it possible and a good idea to do two partitions over the RAID 0 array? One for windows and one for everything else?

Sort of. There's not much point separating data from OS on a RAID 0 since you shouldn't really have your data there anyway. It's entirely possible (as Hefe said) but I would make this one big drive for windows and whatnot and store my "real" data somewhere else entirely.
 
There is only one reason to partition a raid drive. So you can reinstall Windows frequently without messing with data files. Keep in mind all data should be backed up anyways and really have no reason to be on a raid0 array anyways.
 
The only reason that I was planning on doing RAID is because then I wouldn't be limited to 250gb/drive/partition if I didn't RAID them together. I figured the weekly backup would take care of the data that I could potentially lose. It sounds like a lot of you guys are against this though so I think I might just leave the two drives as is essentially leaving me with two 250gb partitions. I hope I'm making sense...
 
If you have your data backed up then go for it. It will give you a little performance increase and will be a good learning experience for you.
 
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