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Need help setting up, formatting and installing on RAID

MrChad

MrChad

Lifer
Hi guys,

My new computer parts are about to arrive today, and I'm planning on setting up a RAID 0. I'm getting an Epox 8K7A+ motherboard and two 40 GB IBM 60GXP harddrives. The Epox board has an onboard High Point HPT370 RAID controller. The OS I'll be using will be Win2K. I've been trying to find some good resources on setting up a RAID, but I haven't found much luck. Here are my questions:

  1. Is there a detailed, step-by-step procedure I can reference for setting up a RAID 0 configuration?
  2. What stripe size should I use? I think the default is 64, but I'm not sure what that means. Do I have to use a special z switch (/z:32 or something) when formatting?
  3. Would I be better off going with FAT32 or NTFS on a Win2K-only system? How does that affect question #2?

Thanks
 

your mobo will come with a manual for raid setup
the hi-point is the easiest setup - it takes you step by step through the install
 
There isn't a big difference between FAT32 and NTFS in win2k IMO, I have used both. I'm pretty sure Win98 machines won't see those NTFS partitions over a network, so if that matters to you, use FAT32.
 
Yo,
Stop! Do not pass go, do not collect $200, DO NOT set up a RAID0.

As old techie that takes care of servers for a living and has lots of RAID systems, never ever set up a RAID0 for home use unless you are using a data backup in conjunction, such as a tape drive. RAID0 is a disaster waiting to happen.

The performance gain you'd get from striping two HDD's is noticable, but minimal. The only reasonably safe IDE RAID is RAID1, or RAID0+1. I think there are IDE RAID5 cards now made, but that would be expensive and truly a waste of money.

IDE drives for the retail market are not as reliable as $1000 SCSI drives one buys for business systems, they are not built to the same tolerances. Once a single HDD dies or is disconnected from a RAID0 system, all data is dead. RAID5 and even RAID0+1 can avoid this, but in general if you want better performance, spend your money on a faster video card, faster CPU, or faster RAM.
-PCM


 
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