alexthg Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 Anyone can tell me how hard it is to setup / maintain RAID system? I've never use one, and would like to try one... but don't know the prerequisite. Can I use just any mobo / harddrives? Regards, Harry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lambros Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 well, it's pretty easy. First of all, you will need a raid controller. Most modern motherboards do have one on board, but you can buy a separate PCI raid controller to use on an older mobo. To use hds in raid configuration, you will have to decide upon the raid setup: 0 or 1 are the standard choices, more are available in newer controllers. Basically a raid 0, or stripping, is using two hds as one, and thus the read/write speed is doubled. Very powerful in conjuction with a 10.000 rpm set of drives. Raid 1, or mirroring, uses two identical hds, and mirrors one hd onto the other, so that a drive failure won't cause loss of data. Some controllers offer a raid 0+1 mode that uses four identical hds, so that two of them are stripped and the other two provide a mirror backup. Setup is easy, raid controllers have a bios that can be accessed on power up with minimal settings. You choose the hds to be used for raid, set the raid mode, and then you may partition and format the drives as usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexthg Posted September 17, 2005 Author Share Posted September 17, 2005 Thanks, Lambros! I'd like to know how to use more than 4 Sata HD in raid configuration (there's only 2 Sata & 2 IDE controller on my mobo). I guess I need a separate PCI Raid controller? And what about the powersupply if I need to use many HD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lambros Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 well, I have a 480W power supply on my workstation and it supports 2 10.000rpm hds and a normal 7.200rmp one along with an ATI 7100. I think that hds are not that much power consuming, so you will probably have to get a decent power supply (450W and above) and some power cable splitters. My Gigabyte mobo for example has two SATA controllers (supporting 4 hds) and one IDE (another two hds), so I could have a 4hd Raid configuration on the SATAs as well as a raid on the IDEs. I really depends on the mobo and the raid controller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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