SSD RAID 0. Questions.

[Sable]

I've just bought a second Samsung 830 and want to set them up in a raid 0. The original SSD is my system disk and my plan was to use the Intel Rapid Storage software to create the raid 0 keeping the data from the original disk.
I know when I setup the original disk I used the samsung magician software to set 23GB as unallocated as it recommends for over provisioning.

First question is will this actually work and not destroy my system disk? It worked fine when I created a RAID 1 of my data disk but I realise that was a mirroring of data and not a system disk whereas this is a striping and will have my OS on it.

Second question is, in the Intel RSS there's the option to set the volume size so should I set the array allocation to 90% (440GB) to allow for over provisioning or do I do it in the magician software after creating the RAID.

Third question, what data stripe size should I use? The default is 32KB.

Thanks.

btw the Intel RSS 11.2 driver now supports TRIM over raid, otherwise I wouldn't be bothering with a raid.

 

[Coup27]

I am certainly not a RAID expert but I have 2 x 830 in RAID0 now so can help a little.

Firstly you want to make sure your BIOS is the latest. This will ensure you have the latest OROM on your motherboard. Also make sure both 830's are running CXM03B1Q firmware.

To my knowledge, you will not be able to make a RAID0 from a disk without destroying the contents and then merging it with another disk. The whole point is everything is split 50/50 between the disks. This isn't possible without starting blank. The way I did it:

1. Firmware update both disks and secure erase both disks.

2. Set BIOS to RAID instead of AHCI.

3. On boot, press ctrl+I to open Intel Rapid Storage OROM

4. Create an array of the required size. My array was 188GB so I left the rest unused for overprovisioning.

5. I chose a stripe size of 128KB based off forum users recommendation. They also said it was not that crucial unless I was doing something specific, which I don't.

6. Boot the Windows 7 installer and when at the partition table editor, load the latest RST F6 driver from a USB stick.

7. After installation, install the latest chipset and .exe for the latest RST.

I also don't think the Magician is any use on a RAID.

 

[_Rick_]

I would just use Disk Manager to set up a striped volume, and boot off another volume on one of the devices. That way you have no driver troubles.
Not like RAID 0 will make much of a difference during boot either. It might even be possible to boot off of really small partition and then have the System on another striped volume - not sure how powerful the NT boot loader has gotten lately. You can define separate boot and system volumes though. Might be worth a try.

Also have a look at JBOD, as it has slightly less risk than RAID0, if you're going to use the disks for anything other than scratch disks. As scratch disks, just use volume striping in Disk Manager.

 

[Old Hippie]

First question is will this actually work and not destroy my system disk?

Nope, it will destroy all the data.

Either image your origional disk to a separate disk and deploy the image after a clean install or just do a complete, fresh install.

Hopefully you have a back-up disk.

If not, you need one anyway for RAID0.