Can You loose your RAID array?

[pixelmxr]

I tried something and it did not work but it appears that it had an affect on my raid, but I am not sure.

I purchased a Dell Precision T3500 running WIN 7 w/4 250gig drives. I know next to nothing about raid but I thought I could expand the storage capability by swapping some of the 250gig drives with some 1TB external drives that I have. Long story short, that did not work so I put the other drives back. When I boot up however the screen says non-raid drives. I have full access to the drives but I'm simply not sure if they are in a raid array, I don't recall seeing that when I initially started the box.

What did I do and how do I resolve this? I do not have any data on the drives as of yet, most (99.99%) of what I do is stored on 4 external drives.

 

[PizzaTheHutt]

Which version of RAID were you using in this array?

 

[pixelmxr]

Don't laugh but I don't know.. Whatever array was in place when I got the box is what I was using however I think it was "0". I would like an array that ensures I don't loose data and more importantly does not sacrifice speed

 

[USAFRet]

Don't laugh but I don't know.. Whatever array was in place when I got the box is what I was using however I think it was "0". I would like an array that ensures I don't loose data and more importantly does not sacrifice speed

There is no RAID version that does that.
RAID 0 - striped. If any drive in the array, or the controller software dies, you lose all data on all drives.
RAID 1 - mirrored. Data is mirrored across multiple drives, but it is in fact slower. And you still need an actual backup.

What is the reason for wanting a RAID array? In home use, that is rarely needed or desired. An SSD is faster in operation than RAID 0 with HDD.

In any case, you still need an actual backup.

 

[pixelmxr]

Thanks for the quick class on raid types... Here's what I'd really like to know..... How do I get the raid back? I place all of my data on external drives during daily use and have a cloud backup system that works well BUT I'd like to take advantage of the 1 TB of storage between the 4 drives.
Is there a setting that I need to change in boot up or in windows and what will happen when I make the change, if it's that simple?

 

[USAFRet]

If it was a RAID 0, you probably don't get that back.

Unless you have a specific need, and know what you are doing with it...RAID 0 is pretty useless.

Also, you can't swap 'some' drives in it.
For instance:
250+250+250+250 = a 1TB RAID 0 array
250+250+1TB+1TB = a 1TB RAID 0 array.

 

[PizzaTheHutt]

In the future you can go for a RAID 10 array - it needs four drives but it both stripes and mirrors (RAID 1 + RAID 0 = RAID 10) so it is pretty fast.

 

[popatim]

If your 4 drives show up as a 750gb array then you have raid 5
if it shows 500gb then you are probably raid 10.
raid0 would show a 1tb array
jbod would also show up as 1tb.

What do you mean "Get it back"? Did something happen to your array?