Setting up 840 EVO RAID 0?

[Blazer Orb]

So. Before this weekend, I had a 1 tb WD HDD. I bought it cheap when I biult my pc, planning on upgrading to SSD(s) later. I watch the price of the Evo, and had a,good opportunity to go to MemExpress to buy some. I got two 250 gigs, and planned on putting them in raid. I started trying to set them up without asking on Tom's, like an idiot.
One problem I have is that I don't really have enough SATA III cables; 1 in the HDD and one in th CD drive, though I do have a SATA III hotswap bay on the top of the TT chaser mk1. I can and plan to get more, but that takes a while where I live. I installed the data migration utility and wizard from theincluded disk, opened up one of the ssds and stuck it in the hotswap bay, and ran the data migration utility. THEN I went on the internet, and got the feeling that I just effed up real bad, because it sounded impossible/ hard to set up raid with data already one a drive that you want to use.
One reason I'm confused but hopeful is that when doing the migration it said that the data on the HDD would be deleted from it when it got moved. Doesnt seem to have happened, as I can still boot up my computer and have what seems to be everything there, without having the SSD even plugged in.
That's where I am now.
On the internet trying to get info like I should have done before I started.
Can I erase everything on the SSD and then try setting up raid on the two "new" drives?

 

[esco_sid]

raiding ssds in 0 does not provide enough benefit to do it at all you will not see any perceivable performance benefit
read http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-raid-benchmark,3485.html

 

[ronintexas]

Remember two things about RAID0 - if one drive fails - both are toast. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER put RAID on your primary boot drive (where your OS lives).

You can use Storage Spaces in Windows 8.1 to make it one larger drive without the risks.

 

[Blazer Orb]

-Sorry it's been so long, but I posted that just before leaving for my hockey game.-
Thanks for the replys guys. I understand that the difference in speed between raid and separate, while large, isn't really a difference maker at all. But I'm 16, so I'm really doing this for the experience, as a project. That also means that there isnt really anything critically important on the pc. Oh boo-hoo, I have to spend a night re-downloading my games from steam. The WD drive still works fine too, so I was thinking that it might be a good idea to set it up just for backups. I thought I remembered someone saying they had one that automatically backed everything up every night or something.
So if there is a way that someone with my skill (0, obviously) could get this to work I'd love to hear it.
I will hopefully have another couple SATA cables tomorrow night, so that should help.
The amount of data on the WD drive after I cleaned it up a bit today is only 166 gb.
Msi Z87 G45 gaming, i7 4770k, Asus GTX 770.

Does it help that I still have the disk I used to install Windows (8.1)?
Nice profile gif esco

 

[Blazer Orb]

Ok guys, I got it set up. I also used the opportunity to install windows in full UEFI mode. Now, Ronintexas, I'm sorry, you obviously know what you're talking about and I've read threads that you've helped with, but I'm still gonna keep my OS on the ssds like an idiot. What I want to do is have my RAID array backup to the hdd every so often, but I don't know how. I'm going to go search the internet and try to find out, and any good ideas would be helpful.
Should this be a new thread?

 

[ronintexas]

Your OS should be on the SSD - the reference was to never put the OS on a RAID drive. For all my servers that I build with RAID, I always put a single OS drive, and then the data on RAID - the main reason for this is you have issues with the RAID, you can still boot. Also, I have installed updates to computers, and it causes a problem with RAID - which if you OS is on that drive - you guessed it....you can't boot.

For backup - try SyncBack Free - it is a great program for backing up data. And the price is right.....

 

[PlayMaker]

Remember two things about RAID0 - if one drive fails - both are toast. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER put RAID on your primary boot drive (where your OS lives).

You can use Storage Spaces in Windows 8.1 to make it one larger drive without the risks.

Are you sure? I thought it is same as raid0. If one drive fails, data are lost.

 

[ronintexas]

RAID0 = Two or more drives striped to make one large drive. There is no failover - and if one drive fails - all data is lost.

RAID1 = Two more more drives mirrored (if you have two 1TB drives, you get 1TB of drive space) - if one drive fails, it can be replaced and the array rebuilt.

RAID10 = Drive are striped and mirrored (both RAID0 and RAID1).

RAID0 increases performance - RAID1 and RAID10 slow performance - although RAID10 is faster than RAID1.

Typically in a home build, I put a single SSD as the OS and programs drive. I put one data drive (HDD). Plus I always recommend a backup drive for the data in case you lose the drive. I have 5 machines at home - none are using RAID.

With Windows Libraries - you don't have to worry about multiple hard drives - you just add folders to the library....and using Storage Spaces, you can combined data drives to make larger drives (Microsoft has more information regarding the technology they use - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/storage-spaces-pools). They aren't using RAID - it is a newer technology specifically for home users to combine drives and reduce the catastrophic failures.

"If you have two or more drives in the storage pool, you can create storage spaces that won't be affected by a drive failure—or even the failure of two drives, if you create a three-way mirror storage space. "

 

[popatim]

Only backup your important files. So you spend a day reinstalling windows and downloading your steam games <boo hoo> LoL
If you do decide to do a full backup, be sure to test it by wiping your raid set clean and then restoring your backup to it. This will provide massive learning experiences for you.

 

[Blazer Orb]

Alright, thanks a lot guys. I'll try that backup program, and make sure it works with a test. Maybe I'll get another ssd in the future to put my OS on, too.