[RESOLVED] Saving Data to Another Drive

[ginger23]

Hi,

I have a new pc with Windows 7. I ordered a Raid0 drive and it was my understanding that there were 2 separate 1tb hard drives, and my intention was to use one for installing programs and the other for storing data, photos, video etc. so it would run more efficiently.

So I want to install my first program and that will be on the "C" drive, but I don't see any separate drive for saving data. Obviously I'm not understanding it completely. I hope I didn't order the wrong thing.

Can anyone help me out?

Thanks a bunch,
ginger

[wsparrow]

A RAID 0 array is what's commonly known as a "striped" array. What this means is that your two drives are combined as one big drive. The way it works is if you're saving a file to your raid 0 array, the file gets split into pieces (usually 64k pieces, but that can be changed). As the file gets split up, all the odd numbered pieces are sent to one drive and all the even numbered pieces go to the other. It's more complicated than that, but that's the jist of it.

The purpose of this is that on most modern systems, the hard drive is the slowest component, and most of the time you spend sitting and waiting, is because of the hard drive. By splitting it up like this you get (nearly) double the speed out of your 'hard drive'.

This is setup prior to windows being installed. And windows is essentially clueless that there are multiple drives involved. So it sees the array as a single drive. If it didn't and you could put complete files on one drive instead of both, it would kill your array.

This is true of all RAID arrays, whether RAID 0, 1, 5, or 10.

End result for you is that unless you want to 'dismantle' your raid array and reinstall windows, or buy more hard drives, you do only have one drive as far as windows is concerned. It's just that the 'one drive' is made up of two different hard drives.

The person who sold you the computer should have explained this. They should also have pointed out that a RAID 0 array is the LEAST reliable of any RAID. If either drive dies, EVERY file will be lost forever.

Make lots of backups!

[ginger23]

Hey wsparrow,

Just noticed your reply. Guess I didn't receive notification of your post.

Anyway, I have to say that Dell replaced my pc and I went with (2) 1tb drives. Apparently they agreed that my salesperson should have advised me better.

Thanks again for your reply.

ginger