[factotum]

I know I read someware how to list hardware for viewing by members but I can't find it again.

I have two new WD Caviar Black WD6420AAEX SATA 6 hard drives that I would like to set up in RAID 1. I have a new Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 LGA 1156 motherboard that has two SATA 6 conections. The manual lists how to set up RAID 1 if I am using an XP or Vista operating system but doesn't mention Windows 7. I will be installing Windows 7 Premium. The directions are a little intimidating anyway so a little advice would be nice.
My other new components- i5 750 Linfield, XFX Radon 4770 vidieo card and 4GB of Ripjaws DDR3 1600 memory. Using my old case, optical drives and 700w power supply.

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The instructions for Vista and Windows 7 Premium should be very similar.

The steps to create a RAID1 volume are covered on pages 81-85 of the manual. The next few pages may be of use to you as well. Take your time and read the instructions very carefully, especially if you've never set up RAID before.

[DaffyKantReed]

The instructions for Vista and Windows 7 Premium should be very similar.

The steps to create a RAID1 volume are covered on pages 81-85 of the manual. The next few pages may be of use to you as well. Take your time and read the instructions very carefully, especially if you've never set up RAID before.

[diabillic]

You are setting up hardware based RAID, not software which is OS independent. I would stick with default block size as well.

If you dont have any data you care about on those 2 drives, I would suggest RAID 0.

Edited by diabillic, 14 April 2010 - 09:54 AM.

[factotum]

RAID 0 is tempting but I need the backup. Is 0 that much faster? I thought about RAID 0 and using one of my old 250Gb drives externally to backup documents, photos, ect.

[Neil Jones]

RAID 0 is theoretically faster but offers no data redundancy so if one drive fails the entire array will fall over and you lose the entire contents of the drives. Performance wise you'll be hard pushed to notice it.

[factotum]

I was hoping for an easy way but if i must follow the instructions than i will do so. RAID 1 it is.
Thank you all.

[Troy]

It shouldn't be difficult at all, you will need to enter the RAID controller setup, select the drives, enable them as RAID 1 and then initialize the RAID. This may take quite a few hours to initialize, even on blank drives. I have experienced too many problems to ever recommend fast initialization method.

Once the array is built, install Windows 7 by using the disc, and then when it asks where to install it, pop in a USB stick (pre-loaded of course) with the correct RAID drivers for your array. Once it loads the drivers, the array should show up in the box as a destination drive, you select it, adjust partitions if you want and away you go.

If you are new to RAID then I do recommend you take your time, follow the instructions to the letter. I haven't got extensive experience with RAID but I've done enough to know how to set them up and I've rebuilt a failed array (RAID 5) when the power cable had come off one of the drives.