Raid setup + ssd os drive

[rob hackin]

Hi guys, in the next few days im thinking of getting 2x1 (or2) TB hd's setting them up on raid as my data drives (striping)
then having a smallish SSD for my os....

First off is this a good idea ?

Second if so, im guessing when first booting into windows install i setup raid (by pressing F6 or something) create the raid array then when it comes to selecting my primary boot drive just select the SSD and i will have my raid setup on the other 2 drives??

Thanks for any help in advance the drives im considering are below.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/60gb-ocz-agility-3-ssd-25-sata-6gb-s-sandforce-2281-read-525mb-s-write-475mb-s-80k-iops (SSD)

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb-seagate-st1000dm003-barracuda-720014-sata-6gb-s-7200rpm-64mb-cache-8ms-ncq-oem (spinners)

 

[Onus]

I use a SSD as my boot drive, and my data "drive" is a RAID-1 of a pair of 2TB "green" drives (I don't care if they're slow). I did not need to use F6 to load drivers with Windows 7 on my 990FX board; I defined the RAID in the BIOS before loading Windows.

 

[Kursun]

First enable raid from your mb bios.

Then you create the raid array through your mb raid bios. You may enter mb raid bios by something like ctrl+i or something similar.

It would be a good idea to look for your F6 drivers from your mb manufacturer's web site.

 

[rob hackin]

ahh cool it will be the first time i have used this mobo total new pc setup but that all sounds cool thanks alot

 

[Kursun]

I too have raid 0 sdd boot drive plus lots of spinners for data.

If you go raid 0 way keep in mind windows trim function doesn't work with raid arrays. To prevent performance deterioration with time you may find "diskeeper with hyperfast" software useful. http://www.condusiv.com/home-use/diskeeper/hyperfast/overview/

Another software which I believe should be standart in all PCs is a backup software. A good backup software is "acronis true image home 2012" http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

 

[Oddball2012]

I find that updating firmware for your hard drives can be a real pain in the butt if you have them set to RAID 1. I have had to break a RAID configuration for two SSDs in the past and it's a real headache, but if that's not going to be an issue, and your two HDDs are reliable then, by all means, go right ahead.

 

[misry]

Install W7 to the SSD first then connect and configure the RAID.

 

[spasmolytic46]

I have a similar setup and just want to stress the importance of backing up things externally when using RAID0. Chances are your drives will live long and happy lives, but if you experience corruption or have a drive go down your data will not be recoverable. I use an SSD for os and have 4 250GB in a RAID0. The performance is great but I do monthly data back ups to an e-sata connected hd.

 

[Onus]

That is why I use RAID-1 for my data. For backups, critical data is duplicated on an entirely different system. My OS drive, a SSD, is backed up weekly to another magnetic drive (not part of the RAID).