Raid 0 question

Hello,

I would like to know some info, for all of you who already know how to or already own this setup:

Raid 0 requires at least 2 HDDs/SSDs - that I know

In order to make such config, you'll have to make both disks dynamic, right?

If so, would it make any problems booting system up?

I read that "

• A striped volume cannot hold the system or boot partition of a Windows Server 2003-based system.

Would this also apply to regular Windows?

If you make a RAID with 0, you will have to lose all data on the drives in order to form it. All you do is set AHCI to Raid in BIOS. Then enter the RAID configuration screen (normally Ctr + I on boot). Set the name, RAID type, stripe size and volume size.

Once done you'll have to reinstall your OS. The RAID will only be as large as the smallest drive.

Install the Intel RAID driver (I like the floppy version) "Smart Response". Confirm trim with a program called trimcheck-0.7. Assuming your using a pair of SSD's.

Then your all done. There are tweaks you can do to prolong your SSD's life while in RAID. But that is a long process. These days modern SSD's will last longer then you will probably ever keep them.

I have Windows 7 on mine.

Just make sure your chipset is Z68 or higher because that's when Intel implemented trim support for RAID.

So you can boot from dynamic disks?

@PredatorRules:

Dynamic Disk a generalized term to describe operations of multi disk scenarios.

I never even heard this term used in RAID. But there is an old article on it on MS site.

But yes you can boot from it. I done a lot of RAIDs. I use RAID 0 myself. Just make sure you have windows 7 or greater and Z68 or greater chipset and you will be fine with any SSD based RAID. HDDs can work on older chipsets and OS's since they don't need a trim command passed to them.

So basically you format 2 HDDs/ SSDs with NTFS, restart, enter BIOS, change into RAID 0, select the disks that you want to combine and that's it? restart again and install OS?

@PredatorRules:

You go into BIOS first then save the setting after changing it to RAID. Then you have to enter the RAID interface which can be different for each mother board. But usually it's Ctr + I and before the BIOS splash screen. Set the RAID in there and save the settings then exit and it will reboot. Then you want to do a UEFI install of the OS. So you want to access the boot menu and not let the disk boot by itself. Once you do that then windows install will come up and that's when you can do your formatting... Then OS installation.

You don't have to do a UEFI install. But if you want faster boots and some perks you should do that.

The way to tell if you have a UEFI install is to check the partitions you should have one called EFI.

Ok, thanks alot for the info.

What everyone else said, but it's not worth the hassle.

What hassle are you talking about exactly?

Probably talking about it's main disadvantage, whenever 1 HDD/SSD dies - well you lost everything.

Not really a problem if you backup all your files on external HDD on weekly/daily basis.

Dynamic disks are for windows software raid. Your OS drive with onboard raid should be at the default settings.

Hassles as in the setup and recovery of it for what you get in return.

Back in the day when HDDs were slower RAID 0 was a good idea for gaming and high end processing software, but these days we have SSDs so there really is no point in using RAID0 unless you need it specifically for something.

i wouldnt bother making your OS raid 0, a fast SSD is all you need. But for games its worth it to add nice improvements in loading times.

Using the windows diskmanager and setting hard drives to Dynamic will let you make raid with them, but its a fake raid 0 using software to manage it, and won't give you much performance increase, this is only useful if you have a couple small hard drives and want to make a bigger single drive i find.

Most motherboards have raid chips in them, thats what you want to use, and you get into those after you enable RAID in bios, then hitting the correct key that it asks for as the PC is booting up, then setting it up from there...

You will lose all data on hard drives when you combine them into RAID 0, do full backup of everything just to be safe, even on hard drives your not raiding incase you accidently join those.