RAID 1 setup

[wnbilotta]

Getting ready to setup a RAID 1 with the Asus K8N. I currently have two hard drives, 200g and 300g. The 200g is partitioned into C & D, the 300g is partitioned into E, F, G.

The E partition is a copy of the C partition, the F partition is a copy of the D partrition. I have been using Norton Ghost in the past to copy the drives for backup purposes.

I want to setup RAID 1 for backup purposes. Can I:

copy the 200g onto the 300g
remove the 200g
install a new 300g
enable RAID 1 from the BIOS

Will the computer start to mirror the new 300g upon startup ? I have XP already running and I have a LOT of applications already installed that I really do not want to reinstall.

Do I need to install a new drive (SATA?) and install the OS on it ? If I did this, would the computer see the two existing IDE drives and would the RAID setup function ? Would I be able to access the applications ? I do have a 3.5 floppy drive in the computer if that matters.

Thanks for any/all help

 

[AlbertLionheart]

for best results you should use drives of the same size and make. A RAID array will destroy all data on all RAID drives when created. If you are going to use a SATA drive, I would make your array out of 2 SATA drives.

 

[wnbilotta]

Ok, so let's say I setup my RAID 1 with 2 new SATA drives. How can I then access the applications that currently reside on my primary IDE drive ?

Can I leave the primary IDE drive in the computer ?

Would the IDE drive be accessible ?

Would I be forced to reinstall all applications on the SATA drives ?

Could I copy my primary IDE drive onto one of the new SATA drives and then the RAID would start mirroring to the other SATA drive ?

Thanks again....

 

[AlbertLionheart]

Q1 - A = the RAID array will show up as a single drive
Q2 - A = Yes - and I would boot from it until you are happy that the RAID array is working
Q3 - A = No - it would be preferable but you could Ghost it.
Q4 - A = Yes, but you need to use Ghost.
So long as you do not wipe your original boot drive, nothing is lost.

 

[wnbilotta]

Thanks for the help. I'll post again once I get it running.