RAID on Dimension 9200

Question

I used to use all my previous DELL machines for development (I'm a programmer) and testing with any MS operating systems by restoring Ghost image with any OS I created before. On my new DELL 9200 machine I cannot install anything but Vista. By reading this forum I realized that it's due to RAID on my machine. I do not have a second drive, so why do I need that RAID? My question: If I switch to none RAID configuraion, am I going to lose anything, like perform or anything else? I already tried to do that and having no RAID I was able to install XP. With RAID I used to get a blue screen during XP installation.   Thank you   Vlad

Majestic · Answer

With only one hard drive there isn't a reason to have RAID.

vovancha · Answer

Thank you very much. I'm already doing this. The only problem I have it is Ghost utility. By some reason it doesn't bring the first screen with OK button when I have Automatic RAID. So I'm switching to RAID ON in order to run Ghost, then I'm switching back to automatic. At least with this scenario I can install other OSs on my new machine. Then I can create an image. It takes some time for image preparation, but I save a lot of time when I need to test some programs on any OS, because restoring a Ghost image takes 3-5 minutes instead of 30 minutes for even fresh OS. In case I need to have some other programs (Acrobat, Office) it takes even more.   DELL support was useless when I reported that I cannot install any other OS on my new PC. Now I'm positive that it's because RAID they put on my system.   Vlad

Majestic · Answer

I'm assuming that you used the Autodetect / ATA mode when you installed the operating system.  If so, you can add a second drive at any time without problems.  The only time you need the RAID / ON enabled in the BIOS is if you wish to use the RAID 0 or RAID 1 with the two hard drives.

vovancha · Answer

Thank you. If I add a second drive and do not want it for mirroring or performance enhancement, just for an additional space, I think I do not need RAID either. Am I wrong?   Vlad

wbellis · Answer

The RAID setting may be having an effect on Ghost in general, or your specific version / copy of Ghost (I no longer use Ghost)- but, it has nothing to do with installing other O/S editions or versions.  I am quite happily running XP Pro and several distros of Linux on five 9200's.  Some actually have RAID-1 containers; some have only single hard disks - but, they all have RAID turned on in the BIOS.

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RAID on Dimension 9200

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