Page 1 of Ok, I have my RAID board now - how shall I set it up?

Right, this is something I`ve asked about before, so it may explain any deja vu` you`re having...

I`ve got 3 CD-Drives and two hard-drives on my PC. Obviously with only having two IDE slots on my motherboard I can only have four of these running, so I have opted to leave one CD-Drive disconnected. But what I would essentially like is to have ALL of them running on my system. I wondered if I could maybe get some kind of extra IDE PCI card I could stick on my motherboard...?

Anyway, Haggis informed me I should get one of these RAID cards, which I have ordered and am waiting for...
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=33743

But I don`t really know if this is what I need? I`m assuming what I would do is place this card on my motherboard, install drivers and then put my two hard-drives straight into it. Would then, my hard-drives just become one drive? If so, how would this happen? I need to know so I can cancel the order if needed. I`m not really a tech-head, and I`m slowly learning, so sorry for my ignorance, I`d just really appreciate some help from those in the know! I read that ideally you should have matching hard-drives on your system, which I definitely don`t have - so would this card still work?

Any advice or help is very much appreciated. Thanks peeps.

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"The Internet is a communication device that allows people the world over to bitch about movies and share pornography with one another."

This item was edited on Saturday, 24th May 2003, 17:47

You don`t HAVE to use the RAID card as a RAID card - you can usually just use it to house more IDE drives. You would have to run the array building utilities to create an array, so don`t worry, it`s not going to happen without your say so!

I think what Richard is saying is that you don`t have to turn on the RAID mode, just plug it in to a PCI slot, install drivers if necessary, then plug your hard drives into the RAID card. And don`t worry, I can`t imagine your two drives will somehow become one!

So it is just as simple as that? Plug in my hard-drives and I`m away?

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"The Internet is a communication device that allows people the world over to bitch about movies and share pornography with one another."

That`s correct, you have to actually enable the RAID via software. If you just connect your hard drives to the ports, you should be able to see them as normal.

Unless you actually enable the RAID, it`s just a couple of extra IDE ports.

Fletch

cheers ben for not believing me!!!

Come on Haggis, I believed you, it`s just I read a mates Computer Buyer which completely and utterly confused! Hey, I trusted you to order it didn`t I? Damned thing still hasn`t been delivered though (its not in stock).

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"The Internet is a communication device that allows people the world over to bitch about movies and share pornography with one another."

RAID board has been delivered and is sitting with me now. How shall I have it set up the guys?

Shall I put both Hard-drives into one IDE slot on the RAID board, or one into each? Any help appreciated; I can`t plug it in yet as I need another IDE cable?

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"The Internet is a communication device that allows people the world over to bitch about movies and share pornography with one another."

Setup the raid as raid level 0, you can oly use h/d`s on the card .. use the striping method which will increase h.d performance. I hope you havent bought a fastrak card and are using an intel chipset motherboard as it will not work. If you are using a adaptec 1200a you will not be able to use xp because of the embedded driver. I you are going to use raid 0/1 you will need to install everything from scratch .... good luck

But RichardH said..

"You don`t HAVE to use the RAID card as a RAID card - you can usually just use it to house more IDE drives"

Can I not do this?

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"The Internet is a communication device that allows people the world over to bitch about movies and share pornography with one another."