adamviolette
asked on
Asus K8V SE Deluxe RAID Question
I am currently running one WD 200GB SATA Hard Drive and I was thinking about purchasing another hard drive, same exact model. Here is the thing, I have no means of backing up all of the data that I've collected. I know when I first installed the one drive, I had to create a RAID array I guess. When I did that, the setup said something about losing all of my data if I were to continue, then I had no problem with it, nothing was on the disk. But now that I want to add a second drive, I don't want to have to go through all of that again. I would like to have an additional 200GB of storage, but if that can't happen, I'd want to setup mirroring, or possibly duplexing (the mobo has two hardware controllers). Any suggestions on how I could do this without losing any data?
Callandor
You're going to need another large drive for backup - either IDE or SATA (if you have more than 2 SATA connectors). Copy the data to that drive, add the second SATA drive, build your array and copy the data back.
>> I know when I first installed the one drive, I had to create a RAID array I guess << No, raid means : redundant array of inexpensive disks; you cannot create an array with only one disc.
further, i would suggest a backup of your data first (i know you said you have no means, but there is lots of possibilities dvd writer, external devices, slave disc) before making the array; because if something goes wrong, THEN you'll be introuble.
further, i would suggest a backup of your data first (i know you said you have no means, but there is lots of possibilities dvd writer, external devices, slave disc) before making the array; because if something goes wrong, THEN you'll be introuble.
Actually, the new motherboards allow you to use the RAID controller with one disk as a stripe. I have an MSI K8N Neo2 that does this, and using the RAID controller is a requirement for some SATA setups. I can't say I got any performance improvement ;-)
ASKER
So it is possible for me to just add in another drive? Onto the other RAID controller, setup one disk as a stripe, and then basically have two disks, without having to lose the data on the first disk? I really don't care about mirroring or duplexing right now. I just want to add another 200GB of storage.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.