Sometimes there comes a time when the speed of the computer subsystems is not enough. Loading an operating system or programs, working with large amounts of information - the operation of these systems depends significantly on the speed of the information storage subsystem. For those who are not short of money, there is an excellent expensive solution - SSD, or solid state drives. But they are either small or very expensive. An alternative option is to combine multiple hard drives into a RAID array. Another reason for creating an array of hard drives is the requirements for increased reliability of information storage. Indeed, two hard drives are less likely to fail at the same time.
Necessary
An even number of hard drives; motherboard with support for the RAID mode for hard drives (or an additional controller); connecting loops
Instructions
Step 1
It is necessary to decide on the type of the array. The simplest and most common type is RAID 0 or stripe. This is when two or more hard drives are combined into a "single" - the operating system sees an array of hard drives as one, it can be split into logical drives (C: D: E: and so on). Used to increase the speed of the disk system. disadvantage - if at least one hard disk fails in a RAID 0 array, all data that was stored on the disks is lost. This is the price of speed. Another type is a RAID 1 "mirror" or "mirror" array. This type of array duplicates information on two or four hard drives at the same time, due to this, the storage reliability increases in proportion to the number of hard drives in the array. The speed of hard drives does not change, this type of array is only to increase the reliability of data storage.
Step 2
Install and connect hard drives to your computer. Make connections with the computer power off. If your motherboard does not have a built-in RAID controller, and you purchased it separately, skip step 3.
Step 3
Turn on the power of the computer, enter the BIOS of the motherboard, usually the F8, F2 buttons are used for this, less often F10. Find the On-board Device Configuration menu item in the BIOS, the name and location vary depending on the motherboard manufacturer and BIOS version. Find the item that mentions the word RAID or SATA Hard Drive Configuration and select it. You will be prompted to select the operating mode of the hard disk controller: first you will need to select "YES" in the Enable SATA RAID menu, and then select a specific operating mode (0, 1). Save changes and exit BIOS.
Step 4
The computer will reboot and instead of the normal boot screen, your motherboard's RAID setup menu will appear. For those with a separate RAID controller, press F2 to bring up the RAID setup menu.
Step 5
Select the required hard disks in the RAID setup menu, if there are only two of them, then select both. Find and click the "Create Array" button to create an array.
Step 6
The array type selection menu appears. If you need speed, click Type 0 (Stripe). If you need reliability, click Type 1 (mirror). Confirm your choice. The array will be automatically created and the computer will restart.
Step 7
The array is created, it remains to install the operating system. If you will be installing Windows XP, remember that at the beginning of the installation you need to press F6 (watch the messages at the bottom of the screen), and insert a floppy disk or flash drive with RAID drivers. Such floppy disks are in the box with the motherboard, or you can create them by running the proprietary disk with drivers and utilities of the motherboard manufacturer. With individual RAID controllers, there is always a floppy disk or driver disk. Later versions of Windows have built-in drivers. For each motherboard, the specific names of the menu items will be different, but the general scheme of actions will be the same as described above.
