1.5 tb drive filling up, looking to replace it with 2 3tb Drives in Raid-0...

themadhatterxxx · 01-15-2013, 01:46 PM

So I decide to get 2 of these:

Seagate Barracuda 7200 3 TB 7200RPM SATA 6 Gb/s NCQ 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive ST3000DM001 $137.43

I have no clue how to even go about this, but is it possible to move all my games over from my old 1.5tb drive to a new Raid 0 without having to download/re-install?

I was thinking disconnect my old 1.5 tb drive (currently known as E

to Windows), then connecting the 2 3TB and going into bios and configuring the Raid 0. I would think this would now become the E

drive. Then once this is done I would have to reconnect the old 1.5 TB drive and somehow transfer all my games from that drive over to the 3tb Raid 0? How do I do this?

Nothinman · 01-15-2013, 03:15 PM

I would recommend against RAID0 in pretty much any instance, but I would really, really recommend against it with drives that large. All you need is one little problem and you potentially lose 3TB of data.

Since you're not talking about the OS you should just be able to setup the new drives, copy the data, remove the old drive, make sure the new drives have the right drive letter and go.

GlacierFreeze · 01-15-2013, 03:18 PM

Configuring 3TB worth of disks in RAID 0 for storage is a horrible idea.

corkyg · 01-15-2013, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlacierFreeze

Configuring 3TB worth of disks in RAID 0 for storage is a horrible idea.

And that makes a lot of sense.

dagamer34 · 01-15-2013, 07:30 PM

I am really, really, really, really hoping you meant RAID 1 (data duplication). And please remember, RAID of any kind is NOT a backup. You need to keep a separate copy elsewhere. Deleting data on a RAID drive means its hosed forever.

RAID protects against drive failure, not file deletion/corruption.

themadhatterxxx · 01-16-2013, 04:04 AM

No I meant Raid 0. I'm doing it just for my games drive, which really isn't critical data since i could just download them again if anything happens, and I would most likely get a third drive 3tb and use it as a backup drive incase anything does happen...

GlacierFreeze · 01-16-2013, 09:12 AM

How much space do you need for your games? If you really need a couple TB worth of space for games, then damn that's a ton of games. haha

If so, I'd personally just keep them separate and have multiple drive letters. F:, H:, I:, J:, etc. That way if one drive fails, then you won't have to reinstall and update every single game you had. You'll just have to do one drive's worth. I think the general consensus for *games* is that the speed increase of RAID usually isn't worth the extra effort. Now if you were only talking about a dozen or so games, then I'd say go for it, but near a TB worth? Nah, not me at least.

And as far as moving already installed programs/games to other drives, it might be possible but I've never done it. Probably some software out there that can do it, but maybe I'm misremembering something I've seen on here.

groberts101 · 01-16-2013, 09:32 AM

a disk image is just a copy of the data that currently resides on that volume.. and as long as you reletter the new volume to match the one the system disk is tied to.. then you'll be fine.

set up the new raid volume(if you stay that course)...
clone the data from the old drive...
reletter that old drive to something other than what it was..
reletter the new one to match what the old one originally was..
done deal

themadhatterxxx · 01-16-2013, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlacierFreeze

How much space do you need for your games? If you really need a couple TB worth of space for games, then damn that's a ton of games. haha

I have 1.4 tb worth of games, on my 1.5 tb drive I only have about 50 gb of free space left.

I haven't even installed all of my newly purchased steam games yet!!

sm625 · 01-16-2013, 02:06 PM

RAID0 is like collecting pennies in front of a steamroller. I wouldnt even use RAID1. The best thing to do is to clone the entire thing once a month and keep it in a safe, or the closest thing you have to a safe.

GlacierFreeze · 01-16-2013, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by themadhatterxxx

I have 1.4 tb worth of games, on my 1.5 tb drive I only have about 50 gb of free space left.

I haven't even installed all of my newly purchased steam games yet!!

Nice. lol

Well hmmm. Since you have that many games installed already, my previous recommendation would have you reinstalling them again now, although it might would be better down the road. I guess if you're dead set on RAID 0, I mean it's just games after all, to keep from having to reinstall them again, then go for it I suppose. Then just clone that onto one larger disk (have to make sure your setup will recognize such large partitions, BIOS limitations? I forgot.) as a backup incase the RAID 0 dies at some point.

Diogenes2 · 01-16-2013, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Then just clone that onto one larger disk (have to make sure your setup will recognize such large partitions, BIOS limitations? I forgot.) as a backup incase the RAID 0 dies at some point.

A larger disk ? 6tb ?

groberts101 · 01-16-2013, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diogenes2

A larger disk ? 6tb ?

what?.. you didn't hear the news?

The new Hitachi drives now have 3TB platters!