Help with a RAID 0 using an existing SSD

[zackart98]

Hi guys! So,in the future I was planing to put my Samsung 840 SSD 250GB in a RAID 0 with another 840 250GB. Anyways, my OS and programs and such are on my existing SSD and I would like to transfer that data onto the RAID 0 when and if I ever get around to it. I was wondering if that was possible and if so what the process would be to do it.

Thanks guys!!
[:zackart98:1]

 

[RealBeast]

It is possible, but not recommended. There is no noticeable real world performance difference, only higher benchmarks.

It *may* be possible to clone your current drive to the raid array without any issues using Clonezilla or EaseUS Todo, but a clean install would be best.

 

[zackart98]

It is possible, but not recommended. There is no noticeable real world performance difference, only higher benchmarks.

It *may* be possible to clone your current drive to the raid array without any issues using Clonezilla or EaseUS Todo, but a clean install would be best.

Thank's! I am not looking for better performance. I am just looking for more room as I only have 50GB left and its filling up quick despite the fact that my data is stored on a secondary HDD! Which of those two programs would you recomend?

 

[Snipergod87]

It is possible, but not recommended. There is no noticeable real world performance difference, only higher benchmarks.

It *may* be possible to clone your current drive to the raid array without any issues using Clonezilla or EaseUS Todo, but a clean install would be best.

Agreed. Converting your existing drive to a RAID 0, you will lose everything. You could try a backup and restore but there is no guarantee it will work. I advise against the RAID 0 as you will not notice the speed difference (only in benchmarks). While SSD's are reliable (unless it firmware bricks) if one fails you will lose all of your data, in addition I believe that TRIM will not function in a RAID 0 array so you would actually lose performance.

 

[RealBeast]

There is another possibility that may work for you since you just want more SSD space without using it as a second drive. You may want to try extending your current SSD into an NTFS folder on another physical SSD-- quick format NTFS your new SSD, lets call it D , and create an empty folder on that partition called something like C_Drive as the folder name. (Note that you cannot directly extend a drive into another physical drive, which is why you have to do it as a mounted folder.)

Then go into disk management, right click on the C drive, select change drive letters and paths, click on the add button, and then in the "Mount in the following empty NTFS folder" type the folder path in the box (so using the example drive letter above -- it would be D:\C_Drive), then click on OK.

This should add all the empty space on the D partition (new SSD drive) to the C drive space if you don't store anything else on that partition directly.

With this approach you just get more storage space and do not need to reinstall anything or rely on RAID for anything.

 

[zackart98]

There is another possibility that may work for you since you just want more SSD space without using it as a second drive. You may want to try extending your current SSD into an NTFS folder on another physical SSD-- quick format NTFS your new SSD, lets call it D , and create an empty folder on that partition called something like C_Drive as the folder name. (Note that you cannot directly extend a drive into another physical drive, which is why you have to do it as a mounted folder.)

Thanks so much! I think i'll do that!!! That seems simple enough! Just one question: does the second SSD still show up as its own drive in Explorer?

Then go into disk management, right click on the C drive, select change drive letters and paths, click on the add button, and then in the "Mount in the following empty NTFS folder" type the folder path in the box (so using the example drive letter above -- it would be D:\C_Drive), then click on OK.

This should add all the empty space on the D partition (new SSD drive) to the C drive space if you don't store anything else on that partition directly.

With this approach you just get more storage space and do not need to reinstall anything or rely on RAID for anything.

Thanks!! I think i'll do that! Just one question: Will the second SSD still show up as its own drive?

 

[RealBeast]

It is possible, but not recommended. There is no noticeable real world performance difference, only higher benchmarks.

It *may* be possible to clone your current drive to the raid array without any issues using Clonezilla or EaseUS Todo, but a clean install would be best.

So should I just completely re install everything on my system?

If you really want a RAID 0 array (and all the headaches that can entail) then yes I would do a clean install once you have your array created.

 

[zackart98]

It is possible, but not recommended. There is no noticeable real world performance difference, only higher benchmarks.

It *may* be possible to clone your current drive to the raid array without any issues using Clonezilla or EaseUS Todo, but a clean install would be best.

So should I just completely re install everything on my system?

If you really want a RAID 0 array (and all the headaches that can entail) then yes I would do a clean install once you have your array created.

oh. I started typing that before i saw your thing about the NTFS Folder. Sorry, never mind the re install comment.

 

[RealBeast]

"Will the second SSD still show up as its own drive?"

Yes it will show up as its own drive and if you do not manually put anything on it all of its space will remain available to C. The downside of this is that your other SSD (the actual C drive) will be full.

 

[zackart98]

Thanks guys for all your help! I decided to just buy a new 480 GB Crucial M500 to replace my 840 250 GB!!

[:zackart98]