RAID Array

[eduede]

Not sure (and this may be a dumb question) but is it possible to add another HDD to my box and set up a RAID array between the new HDD and my existing HDD WITHOUT having to reformat the existing drive (thus, without having to reinstall windows?)

Thanks in advance for the the big "NO!" that I think is coming

 

[zigzag3143]

Not sure (and this may be a dumb question) but is it possible to add another HDD to my box and set up a RAID array between the new HDD and my existing HDD WITHOUT having to reformat the existing drive (thus, without having to reinstall windows?)

Thanks in advance for the the big "NO!" that I think is coming

Hi and welcome

Could you be more specific about between?


Ken J+

 

[eduede]

Sure. I have a Win7 box running right now. See my system specs. The current HDD is 500GB. What I want to do is add a second HDD also of 500GB. Then I want to set up a RAID so that the computer just sees one Drive at ~1TB. My question is whether the 2 Disks could be put into RAID without having to format the original disk that has Windows loaded on it. I've looked into it a little and I think I could only do a RAID0 or RAID1.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Dwarf]

Hi eduede,

From a purely hardware point of view, then I'm sorry but you will need to reinstall. The RAID option you require is RAID0 and this utilises both disks simultaneously (all files are divided into segments and the segments are written to alternate physical drives - the hardware controller takes care of the housekeeping and organisation). To the system, regardless of how many individual disks there are in the array, this appears as a single disk. This option is selectable in the BIOS. There may be another option there known as JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) which, although it is classed as a RAID option, is not actually RAID at all. Instead, it allows you to add disks of varying sizes to your system with the result that the total amount of capacity available is equivalent to the sum total of the capacities of the individual disks in the array. With this method, you may or may not have to reinstall. You should be aware that if you do reinstall you may have to provide 3rd party drivers in order that disks connected to such arrays are recognised.

RAID can also be setup in software, but this is much slower and is not as reliable as even the cheapest hardware option. I do not recommend this option, as it puts an increased load on your CPU and system in general.