Questions re IDE RAID 1

[CWind]

I am charged with putting together some PCs for the little company I work for. I've been considering setting them up with two IDE drives configured in a RAID 1 arrangement (the motherboard I have in mind is the Gigabyte GA-8IEXP). So here are my questions:
1. I understand from the specs I've read this motherboard has an onboard RAID controller; so do I need anything else?
2. Does the system take care of setting up the HDs; or is it a bit more involved than simply installing and formatting two HDs?
3. If a drive fails, what happens to the system?
4. How does one recover from a drive failure?

Thanks in advance,
Chris Windsor

 

[MrGrim]

I have the GA-8IHXP (i850e chipset) that has the same Promise controller I think. All you have to do is setup the HDs as master, each on its own channel. Then you enter the controller's BIOS and select the type of RAID you want.

All your questions are answered by a manual that comes with your motherboard, all easy stuff but I will answer your questions anyway.

1. No you don't need anything else.
2. You have to select the hard drives you want to use and the type of RAID you want to use (0 or 1). You also have to load the controllers drivers if you want to install windows on your RAIDed hardrives.
3. You have the other hard drive. You can run of that one until you get yourself a replacement.
4. You can rebuilt the RAID1 array at any point. If one hard drive dies, you replace the dead one and rebuild the array.

 

[CWind]

Thanks MrGrim

That's what I needed to know