Two Hard Drives into one

Well, the answer appears to be yes. I didnt have any open Ide slots to try it on so I tested it on my girlfriends puter. "hehe" she's sleeping and what she dont know wont hurt her. When I tried to build a second array on her machine it said not enough disks. This indicated to me that it was willing to do it so I went diggin for the user manual that I havnt seen in months. It shows more than one array in the book and makes it sound like you can build as many as you want provided you have enough disks. I guess it will work but until I actually try it I make no promises. I think Id still opt for a second raid card and keep everything as a master on its own channel. Raid and slaves dont seem to run as fast.
 
Cool

I am really wanting to try this out. Ill go get another 60 gig tomorrow if possible and test out both configurations.


I could use the space increase and speed increase on both my Windows Drive and my storage drive so thats why I was wondering. I dont want to combine the two becuase I often find myself messing up Windows XP with 3d card drivers and such, so I format often.
 
Same here. But I split my raid into 2 partitions. If I mess up my c: my e: is still intact after reinstalling. SO FAR. Its dangerous but very fun. And BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP!!!!!!!
 
I am guessing that the instructions you gave me earlier were for installing a RAID config on a new Windows install ?

Mine was for storage drives.

I just set up the drives, and now I am going to install the latest Highpoint Software from the Soyo web page.
 
Now I am lost.

After setting up the drives in RAID 0, I named it aray1.

So I boot into Windows, it says a new RAID controller is found. I installed drivers and software from Soyo web page, restart and I still dont see the drives.

Any Ideas ?

I am on AIM at Matt2Paxil
 
Yes, they were. I guess I was thinkin you were doin a clean install to c: That just makes it that much easier if your keepin your os intact. As long as windows recognizes your raid and can format your drives. Ive never used it for just storage so Im real interested to see how this turns out. Keep in mind though that if you add a second 60 gig and define a seperate array later on, you will have to wipe out your c drive to do it.
 
Yea, thats the reason for runnin the windows cd. You need to format the drives for windows to recognize it. Run the cd, format your drives, hit r to repair c: even though you arent really repairing it. When windows finishes reinstalling youll have your same data on c: and you should have a 200+ e: drive as well.
 
Ok, so put in the Windows XP CD , Repair XP, Add the RAID Drivers from the floppy disk. Then after that XP should be just the same as it is now, but the HD will be visable ?

The software detects the config now, but it's just not showing up.

I backed everything up onto this C: drive so if it is lost, then I am really screwed. My plan was to put it back onto the Raid drives after they were installed and then burn on CD's over time.
 
Put in xp cd, hit F6 at prompt, do all the normal install stuff-xp key,name,info, whatnot, when it checks your drives it will see your 60 gig and your 240 gig. Partition your 240 gig into one big
partition. (you can format later to save time now) Then chose your 60 gig and hit r to repair. It will finish just like a normal install but when it boots up youll have a 240gig e: drive and your c: will be the same as before(better actually its just been repaired). Go to my computer, right click on e: and chose format.
Your in business!!! You do have your floppies ready dont you?
 
Yep, I have it all right here.

Well I hope this works. Well it should work :)

Good Luck to me :-D
 
Questions questions questions...


Well it started to stray off from what you were telling me.

I hit f6, loaded the RAID Driver. Windows told me it already had one, and that I should not use the newer one (on the floppy) unless I was having problems. Soooo I used the default one.

Then it loaded up. You mentioned partitioning the drive, so I skiped the repair screen, and went to the format screen. All I saw was my C: drive so I came back here.

Do I just not partition and go for the repair ?

Sorry to put you through all this
 
Sorry forgot about that. Use the floppy driver even though windows complains. Itll say its a newer version and not signed. Use it anyway. When it spots you e: drive partition it. Then chose your c drive and hit r to repair. Completely ignore that repair option bull**** at the beginning of the install. Just use the repair option at your hard drive screen. Then all will be fine.
 
OH HELL!! You may not see a 240gig e drive if you have a partition on 1 of your 120 gigs. On the same windows screen select your 120g a chose L to delete any partitions then it should show you 240 gigs of free space. Partition it. Chose c: Hit repair and hopefully this time its a winner. Im tired as hell but Im gonna stick this out to the end!!!!!
 
Ok, it's running fine now :)


I did not go by what you said all the way.

First I loaded the Floppy RAID Drivers. After that I did a quick format NTFS to the 240gig drive.


Then it started to load files from the CD onto the drive, getting ready to install XP on there I think. But I just took the CD out of the drive, hit f3 to exit, did a reboot and now the drive shows up :) 228 gigs I think, but thats ok considering they are not really 120 gigs on the dot.

Thanks for all your help and time
 
No prob, glad it worked that way. Ill have to remember that. Welcome Raid Brother to the topsy turvy livin on the edge world of Raid. Hmmm, I need to get out more often. Later
 
Not to freak you out or anything but at the end of the windows install it needs to access the drivers off the floppy a second time. If you exited out you missed this part BUT, if it seems to be runnin ok maybe that was just a wasted step. If you have any problems just do it over again this time go all the way through. Windows wont install to e: as long as you select c:. Be sure to install the raid utility off your cd afterwards and you get to see a pretty schematic of your raid array. Have Fun. Im gonna sleep now. Gotta work in an hour. LOL.
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
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Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
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