first raid 0 system

[Spazo]

I recently bought a new Dell Dimension E510 . I got it with only one sata 80 gig hard drive to save money at the time. right now i am looking to upgrade the system to a raid 0. I was wondering that if I installed another 80 gig hard drive and put the computer in a raid 0 configuration would i have to reinstall the os or could i leave it on the computer.

 

[PCcashCow]

Becuase Dell's (post 2004) come with a fat partition that stores the OS reinstall. You leave yourself with little options. There are utilites like Ghost and the such that would allow you to create an image of the native OS onto some type of media, or cheap-o drive. You'll then be able to create the raid 0 and span the image across the entire 160 raid. Easier said than done! Use the search here to find similar post, I think there was one just two days ago where user succufully created an image using something else other than ghost with no issues.

 

[sturm]

Does the Dell have an onboard raid controllor?
If not then youll need to get an add-on raid controllor.
Even then it will be difficult to get the factory image installed.
Why do you want a raid 0? I would make a raid 0 on 2 other hard drives and leave the os on its own drive. Install your programs/games on the raid 0 for the speed benefit. Just dont save anything really important on it.

 

[kodiak8007]

Why do you want Raid 0. From a performance stand point Raid 0 is nice, but most home users won't take advantage of the extra umpf. From a technical standpoint if performance is your goal you would be better off going with a single faster drive like a Raptor.

Keep in mind that Raid 0 offers no, known, nada for redundancy. In fact since your adding additional moving parts to the system you actually INCREASE the risk of data loss.

I suggest you re-examine your reasons for wanting a Raid configuration.

For home users, Raid 5 or Raid 0+1/1+0 make more sense as they not only improve performance but offer redundancy.

 

[PCcashCow]

For home users, Raid 5 or Raid 0+1/1+0 make more sense as they not only improve performance but offer redundancy.

For home useres, raid is not even needed at all. Raid 5 and 10 are just compounded sillyness to your logic.

 

[Spazo]

i want raid for a cople resons 1. i play a lot of video games 2. this computer sotrs all the music for house ant usualy about 2 other coputers access it and 3. I might not need it but its just one of those things just to see if i can do it. and yes i do have all my data backed up

 

[Spazo]

oh by the way,

Dell Dimension E510

-Pentium D 3 GHz
-intel chipset i945G
-two sata slots (one occupied)
-1 80gig Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3808110AS
-raid contoler intergrated into the motherboard

oh and sorry about my last post i typed kind of fast and didnt cheak for spelling.