Operation RAID
What: Operation RAID
Objective: To successfully configure 2x SATA HDDs for my home PC to make it SATA RAID 1 (mirror), and install Windows XP on it
Why: 1 of the old 2x IDE HDDs (20GB each) is almost dead (cracking sound) – need to save the data
Who: Yours truly
When: Started last nite, at 9pm
Logistics: 2x 160GB SATA HDDs ($$$ fly 
), 2x SATA cables, my home PC, loads of time
How: Get 2 SATA HDDs, turn on the SATA RAID controller, configure RAID 1, install Windows + drivers + application + copy all the datas in old HDD to this new one
Status: Installation 70% completed – didn't bother to install any drivers + applications yet
God damn, macam army punya operation pulak… kekekeke… Basically, have been wanting to get those SATA HDDs to play around, but no $$$ – and now the need arise (no $$$ also have to fork out), so might as well get 2x of those and mirror it – I can't afford to lose my current data as I have no other backups to fall back to. At least by mirroring it, I don't have to cry if 1 of the HDDs decided to die on me, as the same exact copy is mirrored on the HDD as well – unless, *choi*, both of the HDDs died together *touchwood*
Configuring the RAID was simple enough – turned on the SATA RAID controller, which comes on-board my PC's mummyboard, connect the 2 SATA HDDs, choose Security settings (will provide optimum backup) instead of Performance (faster performance, but no mirror – 1 die, all gone!). That's it! I have RAID 1 working already!
Moving to Windows installation – tricky one if you guys never tried installing Windows XP/2000 on RAID (be it SCSI or SATA HDDs – lucky me – i have sufficient experience with SCSI but none with SATA) – have to press F6 and have to specify the RAID controller so that Windows able to see the HDDs configure earlier – in my case would be 160GB worth of space.
Done that, moving on to partitioning – i make it into 3 – 30GB for Windows and applications, 20GB for future Linux installation (Mandrake, or Red Hat maybe) and the remaining 110GB for data. Formatting 30GB partition for Windows was a breeze, as well as the Windows installation.
Booted up after the installation is complete, I proceeded to format the 110GB partition so that I can copy my data into that partition. Man! It took like forever to complete it – that's the first time in my life that I've formatted a partition that big! kekekeke
Wait a minute….. why am I babbling all this in my blog??
*for the uninitiated, you can get the explanation for all the hardware terms used in this blog here – http://computer.howstuffworks.com/ – computer terms explained in laymen way! Good luck!
This entry was posted on Saturday, April 30th, 2005 at 2:33 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
ahk3n April 30th, 2005 at 8:15 pm
oh oh oh….
let me try:
it took like forever too when i try to format the Apple X Serve RAID with a total space of 2.4 Terrabytes…
that's about 22 110GB Hard Disk… and it feels like an orgasm