RAID question

[daveleau]

Do I have to reformat to set up an array? Trying a Raid 0 Array (striping) between 2 WD 18GB hdds. One is blank w/o partitions and the other is formatted and has my system on it. It is a fresh install but I was wondering if it will need to be reinstalled. ? Also Win98 does not recognize the driver for my modified ATA66 Promise card. Any thoughts?
Thanks
Dave

[hd581]

Trying a Raid 0 Array (striping) between 2 WD 18GB hdds. One is blank w/o partitions and the other is formatted and has my system on it. It is a fresh install but I was wondering if it will need to be reinstalled. ? The short answer is yes.

It may vary between RAID cards, but the one I used (it was a Hardware RAID, btw) destroyed all data on both hard disks every time I set up a new RAID partition. (this includes changing the stripe sizes). If 1 of the hard disks already has data, chances are it cannot be copied into the RAID partition on the fly.

It all has to do w/ the location of the data. If you create a RAID partition over a space that does not contain data, and the info you need exists on a non-RAID partition, you can copy that data over onto the new RAID partition once it has been created. But you have to create it knowing exactly where the data is or the RAID partition may overwrite it.

[daveleau]

Thanks! Great info. I must go to reinstall....
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif
Dave