When setting up raid 1 do can you use sata drives?

Atheus

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Jun 7, 2005
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Where are my keys? Oh sorry, you don't know, because I have not given you enough information...
 

ingeborgdot

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Jan 12, 2005
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Originally posted by: Atheus
Where are my keys? Oh sorry, you don't know, because I have not given you enough information...

Sorry . It is an MSI K9N Platinum AM2 board. I have since found out it supports sata and up to raid 5. You don't have to be so dang rude smart A@@.
 

John

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Oct 9, 1999
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Originally posted by: ingeborgdot
Originally posted by: Atheus
Where are my keys? Oh sorry, you don't know, because I have not given you enough information...

Sorry . It is an MSI K9N Platinum AM2 board. I have since found out it supports sata and up to raid 5. You don't have to be so dang rude smart A@@.

The funny thing is we didn't need more information because it is a straightforward question. :p

Yes, as long as the SATA controller that you're connecting to supports raid1 (or other levels).
 

ingeborgdot

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Jan 12, 2005
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Is the raid 1 actually good for home use. It will have farm data that is important. Would it be just as good to have two hard drives and do regular backups to it and once in awhile to backup to dvd.
 

RebateMonger

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Dec 24, 2005
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The main intent of RAID 1 is to avoid computer and data downtime if a hard drive fails. You can still lose your data because of human error, viruses, theft, fire, flood, and RAID controller failure. If your data is important, I advise maintaining separate backups, preferably offsite. Those backups can be on tapes, removable hard drives, or CD/DVD.

For many small organizations, the best combination of cost and ease of use is often two or more external hard drives (Firewire, USB, or SATA). Keep one drive attached, making automated backups, and keep a second drive elsewhere. Swap out the drives periodically, based upon how much data you can afford to lose if disaster strikes.

Just be sure to test your backups periodically. People often make the mistake of not testing their backups, finding out too late that the backups can't be read, or that they aren't backing up all their data. If you can afford the drive space, I recommend simply making FULL system backups, making impossible to miss backing up something important.

Yes, you can make a SATA RAID 1 array. I use them all the time. But get a good backup system first. After that, if you have extra time and money and want to minimize the chances of having a computer down because of drive failure, THEN install a RAID 1 array.
 

ingeborgdot

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Jan 12, 2005
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What about having another internal hard drive and using a partition as the backup partition? That would be a much faster backup and would be seperate of the other hard drive. I know it would still be in the same machine but it would be somewhat seperate also. I would then make periodic backups on dvd to have a second option.
 

ingeborgdot

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Jan 12, 2005
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After doing a lot more reading on the subject I have come to the conclusion that raid 1 is not all that safe and there are still issues that can cause you to lose your info. The safest to me is to have two hard drives and a seperate backup partition and also back up to dvd. What is the best backup software out there?
 

ingeborgdot

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I have decided now to raid. I am going for it as a new adventure. I do want to ask this question though. I went through the step of starting the raid in bios and then went through the setup where it finally said healthy raid. I am doing a mirror raid. Anyway I have done the stuff needed like os cd and pushing f6 to install raid drivers like needed. It is now installing the os. My question is do I need to initialize the discs after this is all done. This is a brand new machine with a brand new install.
 

RebateMonger

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Dec 24, 2005
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No, you don't want to initialize the array.

Assuming that you are installing your OS on the new RAID 1 array, your OS will initialize, partition, and format the array as part of the OS installation.

If you didn't dedicate the entire array to your OS, then you may want to create additional partitions and format them after the OS is installed and running.
 

ingeborgdot

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Jan 12, 2005
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Can I partition my raid 1 after the installation of the os on the full drive? Can I delete my raid array and just go back to 2 seperate hard drives?
 

ingeborgdot

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If I raid 1 and want a partition, will the 2nd partition without the os still be mirrored? Will all of the hard drive be mirrored?
 

John

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Originally posted by: ingeborgdot
Can I partition my raid 1 after the installation of the os on the full drive?
Yes.

Can I delete my raid array and just go back to 2 seperate hard drives?
Yes, but you will lose the data so be sure to back up first.

If I raid 1 and want a partition, will the 2nd partition without the os still be mirrored? Will all of the hard drive be mirrored?
The entire drive is mirrored.

 

ingeborgdot

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Jan 12, 2005
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What would you recommend? Partitioning before the raid or after? If I partition after the raid do I need a special tool? Could you or someone please explain the steps I would go through to accomplish a raid 1 and double partition? Thanks a bunch.
 

John

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If you know that you're going to partition from the get go you can do it during Windows setup when you boot to the cd. To partition after Windows is installed go to start > run > diskmgmt.msc

Please consult your MSI motherboard manual for details on how to configue a raid1 array. In a nutshell you hook up both drives to the proper sata ports, enable raid on the sata ports in the motherboard bios, boot into the raid controller (sometimes control + g) to define the array, now you can install Windows.
 

ingeborgdot

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Jan 12, 2005
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This is for a new computer I am building. I know how to raid and such I thought but it is not going as everyone says. I am using the asus p5b-e board and I have been trying what the manual says and what others have told me. I have not installed the os yet as they say do that last. I go into the bios and set up raid like it says. I then f10 and try to get into the raid setup like it says ctrl + I. It brings up the two disk names that are to be raided and then clears off the screen. What seems to be happening?
 

ingeborgdot

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Jan 12, 2005
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I just got it. I switched keyboards and it got in. The keyboard I was using was the wireless one I am going to use on the machine but I suppose not all is setup yet so not quite properly working. I used my older one and whala.
 

ingeborgdot

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When I am on the capacity section do I put in the full capacity offered? I am going to partition so should I put in a smaller amount or the full capacity. I have not partitioned and done a raid before so help me a little on this one. Thanks.
 

ingeborgdot

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If a person is doing video editing what form of array is considered the best. I don't want 0 because of how volitale it is. What is the array that you would use?
 

Captante

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Oct 20, 2003
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Originally posted by: ingeborgdot
When I am on the capacity section do I put in the full capacity offered? I am going to partition so should I put in a smaller amount or the full capacity. I have not partitioned and done a raid before so help me a little on this one. Thanks.


If you want to partition the drive, I'd suggest about 40gb for the primary (OS) & the rest for data storage plus applications ... the advantage to this is if your Windows install becomes corrupted you may be able to format only that partition & re-install XP without losing your data (but will still need to re-install most applications).




Originally posted by: ingeborgdot
If a person is doing video editing what form of array is considered the best. I don't want 0 because of how volitale it is. What is the array that you would use?


If you are doing video editing RAID 0+1 would be the best (provided you have 4 HD's) because it'll give you the slight performance boost of 0 plus the redundency of 1 ... the next best choice would be RAID 0 by itself with regular backups & third would be the largest single drive you can get your hands on. Software-based RAID 1 doesn't give any performance boost at all in most cases & may even cause some additional CPU overhead which will slow you down.