Help with RAID

Hi,

I currently have a 500GB Seagate Hard disk, with 2 partitions - "C:" [50 GB] for windows and "D:" [~415 GB] for everything else.

I have only about 100 GB of free space left on that drive, so I'm going to get a 750GB or 1TB hard disk soon. I want to combine the second partition of the old drive with the new drive. I did some research and found out that RAID was my solution.

My motherboard supports RAID 0, 1 and 0+1. How do I set up a RAID array without losing the data on my old disk (especially the second partition)??

I'm willing to reinstall windows if needed, but it would be better if I don't have to. I'm also willing to reformat the first partition, but I cannot lose the data on the second one (and I have nothing to backup all the files to)

Any help would be appreciated. I'm looking for a step-by-step tutorial.

Regards

Thanks for your reply.

Forget what I said about combining the D: drive, etc. All I want to do is to have more disk space, but I want all that space in one "drive", i.e., combine 2 physical hard disks to make them act as one.

Like I said, I have 100GB of free space, and I'll need more soon. I discovered that you can combine hard disks with RAID, and assumed that would be my solution.

So is there ANY way to combine 2 hard disks into one without losing any data? I heard about dynamic volumes, and that they are bad in many ways. Is that true?

*BUMP*

I would use one those drives as a backup - instead of RAID.

Avoid Dynamic drives.

Backup with a free imaging app. that is fast and gives good compression - Macrium is ideal.
You can always copy back individual files from the image - no need to restore the whole thing.

That should help manage space. Use the smaller drive as the backup drive.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

kishan said:

Hi,

I currently have a 500GB Seagate Hard disk, with 2 partitions - "C:" [50 GB] for windows and "D:" [~415 GB] for everything else.

I have only about 100 GB of free space left on that drive, so I'm going to get a 750GB or 1TB hard disk soon. I want to combine the second partition of the old drive with the new drive. I did some research and found out that RAID was my solution.

My motherboard supports RAID 0, 1 and 0+1. How do I set up a RAID array without losing the data on my old disk (especially the second partition)??

I'm willing to reinstall windows if needed, but it would be better if I don't have to. I'm also willing to reformat the first partition, but I cannot lose the data on the second one (and I have nothing to backup all the files to)

Any help would be appreciated. I'm looking for a step-by-step tutorial.

Regards

Dave76 said:

SIW2 said:

I would use one those drives as a backup - instead of RAID.

Avoid Dynamic drives.

Backup with a free imaging app. that is fast and gives good compression - Macrium is ideal.
You can always copy back individual files from the image - no need to restore the whole thing.

That should help manage space. Use the smaller drive as the backup drive.

Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

kishan,

Once you clarified what you wanted this is exactly what I was going to suggest.
Macrium Reflect is an excellent free program.

I think you will be better off not using RAID or dynamic volumes.
What will be more useful for you is to use the new HD for additional space and storing your backups.

You will be able to access the new HD the same as your D: drive, you won't even know it's a separate HD.

Thanks for your opinions guys. I'll do as you say and use the 500GB drive as a backup drive. I'm using Acronis True Image to backup files. Do you think I can compress 1.5 TB into 500 GB with True Image, perhaps by setting the compression level to max?

And I think I'll get a 1.5 TB or 2 TB disk and use it as the main storage disk. Is there any particular model that you would recommend?

Thanks again

Dave76 said:

Your backup files will be the size of your data, compression will reduce that by 10-30%.

Video or music files won't compress much if any.

Everyone has their opinion on HD brands, you will be safe with any major brand.
I am using Seagate and Western Digital and have had no problems.

Get the highest Cache size you can. The newer ones (3.5 inch desktop) are 32mb, this will increase the HD performance.
RPM 7200 is preferable.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks Dave. No more questions for now.