Can I set up a RAID 1 Array by adding a drive to an existing install?

Hi All:
I have a K8N Neo2 with a 160GB Seagate SATA drive on it, and just bought an identical drive that I want to use for a RAID 1 array. My question is this: Do I need to do a complete reformat with the OS in order to setup RAID 1? With my old system and Ultra ATA drives, you could always add a drive, but I don't see any way to load the nVidia RAID driver after Windows has already been loaded.
Is this possible, and if so, what are the steps? I've enabled RAID for both SATA drives and can get into the RAID Bios, but beyond that, I'm lost. Also, I must have inadvertently setup an array, because it shows that I have one. I can boot into Windows if I turn off RAID in the BIOS, but would love to be able to install without a clean format.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Michael Tschirret

Michael,
You can create a RAID 1 Array, just make sure that the Drive with the Data is the Master and not the Mirror. You can have the RAID Controller build the image (Sync the Drives), and then you should be mirrored before you even boot back into Windows. The OS will not know the difference.
Take Care,
Richard

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Reccomended RAID array 0 hdd disks

What hdd would you reccomend to set up a raid array (RAID 0) on MSI K8 Neo? Preferably Maxtor, Seagate or Hitachi. Any problems (like max capacity, etc.) while setting up this array?

Quote
Originally posted by D_o_S
Why wouldn't you "trust" RAID 0? I want to boost performance rather than security (don't need extra backups). Why is the onboard Promise controller "bad"? I think it looks like a quite good solution (double bandwith).
First, everyone needs backups unless they dont need their data (see note about "rm -Rf /" later).
Second, IMHO on board RAID solutions (which are all software raid to date) are just gimmicks, pointless chrome, feeping creatureitis; in bygone days added to convince gullible users that product A was actually better than product B rather than just product B with extra IDE connectors whacked on it. They are an approximation of a serious tool, like any serious tool it is dangerous in the hands of amateurs; doubly so when the tool is a low budget immitation of the real thing. I have invested many hours dealing with the results of software raid in businesses where some code-mokey thought they had a clue and decided to make the server perform "better"; likewise rebuilding (without RAID) the dead machines of friends who thought it made their home PC faster, in most cases they found it faster without RAID-0...
which leads to...
I dont see the obsession with RAID 0 (likewise I dont understand why people rampantly benchmark their home machine, does it play at 1280x1024 and 60fps?? then its fast enough), it just doesnt offer any benefit or improvement in real performance for the vast majority of users (I *DO* use hardware ultra wide scsi Raid0+1 on my serious box, so I have some frame of reference here)... sustained data transfer rates from a RAID-0 with 10k rpm ultra wide scsi drives are negligibly faster than that from an individual drive of the same type. Sure, interleaving and cascading caches do allow for more prompt access of tables and regularly used small files which helps databasing and sci apps but little else, furthermore tcq and prefetch are rapidly eating into these advantages with modern drives. Frankly, Id rather have the 8~12% of the CPU used by the on-board raid controller to do the raid work for flinging rectangles around (assuming you play games). To each their own, however, if you want to do it, do so.
Third, I dont "trust" any solution which has only unrecoverable failure modes (not so true with advanced hardware raid controllers, but completely true from software raid.), take this on top of the "dont see why" rant above. If you use a software raid controller, such as that on the k8t neo, you are at the mercy of the stability of your entire system, not just the drives and their controller. If your CPU/ram combination is flakey, if you overclock (likely if you are so performance obsessed as to want low budget raid-0 to begin with); then the chance of a catastrophic data loss is very high; ANY fandango-on-core experience can FUBAR a software Raid-0.
It gets down to this, how much attachment do you have to the data on your system? could you "rm -Rf /" (insert appropriate windows equivalent) without flinching? if you could, then go ahead, but expect to have total data loss on a better than annual basis. SOFTWARE RAID of any kind is grade A stupid IMHO; HARDWARE Raid-0 (without a -1) is only marginally less so. RAID is a great tool when properly implemented on a hardware controller, but a tool which offers no benefit to the majority of desktop systems.
well, I think my opinion on the topic is clear now.
err!
jak.

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