SATA Question: HDD, CD/DVD, RAID ??

[YanBooth]

Q1) I was wondering if I could put two 74 GB estern Digital 10,000 RPM Raptor's in RAID (Which type of RAID is best?), and if I can, how do I do this?
Q2) If I can put the two WD's in RAID, can I have a mass storage hard drive that is also SATA that is NOT in RAID in the system?
Q3) Will there be any compatability difficulties if I do have RAID, a mass storage Hard Drive, and then a Plextor SATA CDRW/DVDRW there too?

Note: I am planning this system on Nvidia nForce 4 SLI (Multi GPU), and that has 8 SATA connections, so no need to worry there...

Thanks in advance for help!

Yan N. Booth

 

[TheMajor]

A1) Yes, you can. You need a RAID controller to do this. Hook up the drives, and install drivers in XP. RAID0 (striping) is best for performance. RAID1 (mirror) is for backing up)
A2) Yes
A3) Dunno

 

[YanBooth]

Thanks Major!
Q4) Do you think that I should opt for another 250 GB SATA Drive?

Anyone else know about Q3?

Thanks in advance, again

Yan N. Booth

 

[TheMajor]

A4)Why not. Depends on your budget.

 

[YanBooth]

RAID0 (striping) is best for performance. RAID1 (mirror) is for backing up)

With RAID 1, does it make a copy on both drives? I know that in RAID 0 if one drive dies you may kiss your data goodbye, but what is the differance for RAID 1?

I like the idea of RAID 0, but I can't set up RAID before I install XP then?

Thanks a 3rd time in advance

Yan

 

[TheMajor]

RAID0. The data is divided over both drives for faster acces/read/write speeds.

RAID1. A copy from disk A is saved on disk B in realtime. U screw it, don't lose it.

RAID0+1. Backs up 2 drives from a RAID0 array on 2 drives in a RAID1 array.

You need a floppy with drivers to install XP on a RAID configuration.

 

[YanBooth]

RAID0+1. Backs up 2 drives from a RAID0 array on 2 drives in a RAID1 array.

So, could I have the 10,00 RPM drives in RAID 0, and then have the two 250 GB Hiatachi's in RAID 1 backing the RAID 0 drives up, AND acting as mass storage device?
Sorry about all the questions, but this is something I have been wanting to know for a long time, and I finaly found someone (you) that actually knows something about it!
TY
Yan Booth

 

[TheMajor]

You can if your motherboard (RAID controller) supports it. The drives need to be same size and you will only have 250GB, not 500. Should work. I am not a pro on this. Maybe someone else can give more info on setting up a RAID0+1

 

[YanBooth]

Well, put it this way, is there any point bothering with RAID 0+1? Or would RAID 0 be fine?
Thanks
Yan

 

[TheMajor]

I would rather use RAID1 unless you need high performance. Or don't use RAID at all if you want to have more space.