Enabling RAID post-setup?

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Guest

Can anyone advise me if its possible (and safe/easy) to enable RAID across 2
identical hard drives after XP has been installed?

I have 2 250GB sata drives connected on an ASUS A8n SLI Deluxe M/b. I asked
for them to be set up as RAID when i ordered the machine but it was not done.
Therefore I have a single drive in My Computer/Disk Management - the second
drive is "unallocated".

The RAID controllers (nvidia and silicon image i think) have not been
enabled in the BIOS).

If i enable the one that both drives use ( i believe its the nvidia one) can
XP set up the RAID array safely? How do i set them up in the bios correctly
without losing data on my current OS drive?

Since i'd normally expect to install RAID drivers during system setup, im
not sure how to do this - and its not an option anyway, since the PC doesnt
have a floppy drive... therefore i can't install the drivers for the
controller during XP setup.

Any suggestions how to get it going properly?
 
Hi, not without destroying your XP setup, I suggest you take it up with the
company that built the PC, sorry...
ChrisC
 
I don't know all the details, but I do know that we have added Adaptec raid
cards and second HDD to PCs running XP Pro and set them up as mirrored
drives with no problems. If you intend to stripe the drives, that may well
be a different case.
 
You can not, and should not, set up a RAID onto your booting drive after
your have finished installing XP. Thre RAID system definition needs to be
in place before XP can prepare the drive(s). You can set up a data RAID
system (seconard drive system that does not conatin the XP boot system)
after.
 
You can not, and should not, set up a RAID onto your booting drive after
your have finished installing XP. Thre RAID system definition needs to be
in place before XP can prepare the drive(s). You can set up a data RAID
system (seconard drive system that does not conatin the XP boot system)
after.
Click to expand...

Some onboard controllers do the RAID without destroying the data on the
source drive and XP is unaware of the fact that it's RAID or a RAID
controller.
 
I have set up mirror raid with both Sil and Adaptec controlers, after an o/s
and data was installed on a single sata drive without problems.
I have also broken the mirror, when a drive went awol, installed a new
drive, booted and rebuilt the mirror without problems. This is one of the
things mirror was designed for.
 
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