how to add one more HDD to my raid 0??

[Raventon]

i already have 2xWD 6400AAKS in raid 0 now.however i wish to add one more WD 6400AAKS to the raid 0.i am hoping that it can be done without having to format and reinstall windows as it is very time consuming..is there anyway to do it? i am using the onbaord RAID from the rampage formula(i assume its the intel matrix storage and its a software raid,please correct me if i am wrong)...thanks

 

[BlueAcolyte]

You know what? I would not add it to the RAID array, I would use it as a backup drive for your RAID 0 array.

 

[Raventon]

i already have 2x 1TB external harddrive for data backup.so back up data is not a problem for me yet

 

[Raventon]

anybody knows of anyway?

 

[Nothinman]

Unless the controller lets you add the drive and then restripes all of the data, which is very doubtful on those cheapo onboard controllers, you're screwed.

You can probably backup, recreate the array, restore but that's about it. Although trying to setup a 3 drive RAID0 array already says that you don't really care about the data on there anyway.

 

[dorion]

Get an image of the raid(you could use ghost, store it on your backup array), recreate your array with the 3 drives, put the image back on the array, and use a app to resize the partition?

 

[Sheninat0r]

You're going to have to rebiuld your RAID array, methinks, unless you have a very nice controller.

 

[Blazer7]

Originally posted by: dorion
Get an image of the raid(you could use ghost, store it on your backup array), recreate your array with the 3 drives, put the image back on the array, and use a app to resize the partition?

+1 :thumbsup:

That's the way you do it.

In order to add the new drive you'll need to ?declare? it from within the controller's BIOS and that means that you'll have to erase the existing array and set a new one from scratch. It is guaranteed that you will lose your data.

The image strategy is probably the best there is. Once you make a ghost image then you can proceed with setting your new raid array. All you need to do from there is create an active primary partition that will let you boot your OS from. If memory serves, if you are using Norton Ghost you do not need to format the partition in order to put the image back.

Anyways, once you are done with the image, and as dorion said, you can use an application like partition magic to resize your partition and manage the rest of your disk space quickly and easily.

 

[Raventon]

thanks everyone i will try doing the image way

 

[mooseracing]

If you use acronis true image, you can resize the image as you are restoring it, to save a step