Building RAID 0

[StraightPipe]

I've got 2 WD800JB's (7200 8MB 80G). I want to put them on RAID 0 but I still need a card.
I've seen an Adaptec ATA RAID 1200A for about $59 and the PROMISE FASTTRAK TX2000 for $79. Is there a difference for for the extra $20?

Also If you have any advice on seting it up I would aprreciate it. I current ly have:
60G Master
80G Slave (I realise I will have to format this drive to setup for striping)

I would like to:
60G master
160G RAID0 slave
or
160G RAID0 master
60G slave

the second option would probly be better, but I'm concerned it will be harder to do because I'd have to reinstall windows. so for now the raid will be slave.

Thanks for any help you have to offer.

Ps, Primary use will be for sharing files with other users on my home network, and storage for alot of video files and music.

 

[T9D]

..

 

[Sheriff]

The Adaptec will suffice (so would a Silicon Image, Highpoint, or Promise) and I would go ahead and get the RAID Card of choice, meanwhile put the OS and Mein Vein on the 60 Gig HD and then make your RAID0 with the 80Giggers. All the HD's will be set as Masters on their own Channel and you will choose which to Boot from within the BIOS...Once set-up, it's a piece of cake but I would think of a backup for all of them. If you do decide to use 1 of the 80 Giggers then Ghost it to the 60 Gigger and go for the RAID0 so you won't have to reinstall.

 

[StraightPipe]

Is Ghost free? Where can I get it?

So I set all the jumpers to master and set boot order in bios.

Do the cards usually come with 2 IDE cables? I will need a total of 3 cables, one for the 60 gb to the mobo, and 2 for the 80 gb's to the raid card. What is this about round cables, is that SATA/PATA/SCSI? Do I need them? Do they help perfomance?

What about mounting the extra drive in the dell box? I think I might have another 5.25 bay under my 2 optical drives (fingers crossed) . Cant I just get some fancy rail set to convert to 3.5?

Im about to back up 80 Gb of video thats already on the 2nd drive in the box, will be copying most all of it to CD's and DVD's and transfering some to store on my little bro's box until the RAID is striping. Any body that knows where I can get some large (750-850MB) CD-R's it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Sheriff]

I beleive you can get a trial Ghost Progie @ Symantec or just by Norton Uts as it's cheap and has Ghost included.

Yes on RAID you can configure bit Drives set as Master , each on their own Cable, cards vary but most Retail sets do come with the cables which are cheap anyways. Regular IDE ATA100's will work and will give the same performance as round ones.
You can mount the HD under the cage with L Brackets or straps or just lay it on the bottom. If you do have that extra Bay the 3.5 Convertor Rails are available.

Go for Quality CDR's (ie Taiyo Yuden) over quantity in MB's if you plan on keeping them as a back-up for a while as 8 long termed CD's are better then trying to cut corners and having 7 that may not be worth a damn next year.

 

[chocoruacal]

The following is what I would probably do...

60 master
--10 part OS
--10 part backup image (Ghost it over)
--40 part programs

160 slave
--everything else, though for what you're doing you won't see any real difference with RAID. Though it does make organization easier to have one less HD to look at in Explorer

 

[StraightPipe]

RAID 0 wont help with reading large (750mb) mpg and avi files. also transfering the files to other users on my 100mb network?

do you think a controler car with JBOD would be better? It would simplify thinkgs if I didnt have to clean off this 80 GB thats already in there, but I would prefer to go raid even if it's just a minimal increase in performance. I would like to eventually get the OS onto RAID, but I will probly just wait till the next time I reformat.

 

[StraightPipe]

Originally posted by: Sheriff
Go for Quality CDR's (ie Taiyo Yuden) over quantity in MB's if you plan on keeping them as a back-up for a while as 8 long termed CD's are better then trying to cut corners and having 7 that may not be worth a damn next year.

The reason I've been looking for bigger CD's is that I need to put some large video files on them. (ie: 720MB) I really dont want to try and split the files, it's just much more convenient to have it all on 1 disc. any files I can fit on my 650 discs will be burnt first, but most of the movies are larger than that. (oh yeah, the CD's from meritline are High-Quality CD-R 24X Certified 90 Min/800 MB Silver CDR Media in Bulk, 100-pack. @.39 cents each, here. the add actually claims that they will last 50+ years (not that I believe it)

How does ghosting work? how much space does it need to back up 160 GB? does it need to be on it's own partition? Id rather keep it on 1 part, since I already have my OS installed on the 60GB drive.