how do i set up a raid 1 on h81m-plus

[metalturtle]

Hi I just bought an asus h81m-plus mobo and i want to raid 1 the drive that the os7 is on , the drives are crucial m500 240gig, and the instructions dont say anything about raid setups .im good at turning screws but software im a noob ! Ive searched google with the basic text and seen thats its possible but I dont know how to set it up

 

[WyomingKnott]

Metalturtle

The instructions don't say anything about RAID setups because the board does not support any level of RAID.

My advice to noobs and to myself, based on many years of working with this stuff, is not to RAID unless you have either a strong need that it will fill or you want to have fun playing with it and are willing to accept major risks. My OS drive is backed up, and I am willing at any time to restore my most recent backup and discard all changes since then to the OS. In fact, that's how I get around major problems! So my advice would be to use the second drive as an external backup.

Alternatively, you can establish a mirror volume set under the Windows 7 disk management. I've never done it, but I can look it up for you. You do the basic install on one drive, create the mirror. I have no idea whether or not such a setup will boot if the primary fails; any more experienced users out there?

 

[USAFRet]

Question 1 - Why do you want to RAID 1 those drives?

RAID 1 is great if you're running a webstore or similar off that box, and downtime = lost sales.
It is NOT great in any other scenario, because you're simply throwing away valuable drive space. In this case, very expensive SSD space.

Create an automated backup of your personal docs. In the unlikely event of a SSD fail, simply reinstall the OS and applications, and bring your docs up from the backup.
Or create and save elsewhere an image of the OS drive (updated monthly, maybe?). If needed, reconstitute from that.

 

[metalturtle]

ive read other people having this setup on this board, (not sure the accuracy) there are raid drivers for this @ the asus website . http://www.asus.com/support/Download/1/45/H81MPLUS/30/ under the sata colum, i have not heard back from anyone at asus , and some sites say yes and some sites say no , my friend who is uber tech savy sez you can on this board , i agree tho with the statement about this being a waste of space , I was asked by a retired friend to build this so he wouldnt ever have to screw with reloading the os and the apps and drivers and the updates , he is currently only using 16 gigs of a 120 drive and said i would laugh at his use of storage . Anyways I was looking for a solution to my conundrum , not excuses why not to have an os in a raid 1 ,
I actually have setup thru windows a raid 1 config for two 3 tb drives in my system, either drive hasnt failed so i dont know how well it works .
if you www.google.com "h81m-plus raid" there are drivers for this , are these bogus ?? why? why asus ?? uugh ive already put the dam thing together!!

 

[kappstan]

If you've worked with computers for any length of time you know that drives do fail. So, Raid 1 is a "smart" choice. You can appreciate that if you've ever lost data from a single drive failure.
You've got this really cool game box, staged to the max, and then you trust all your hard work to a single drive? No way.
Plus, it's a pia to rebuild a machine because a drive failed.
If the mb doesn't support a Raid configuration, then buy one of the many cheap cards out there.
Drives and cards are cheap. Lost data...not so cheap.