XPS Gen2 RAID 0 Question

Question

I read a lot of questions about setting up a RAID 0 and I am still a little confused with a couple of issues. If I add another SATA HD to my system for a RAID 0 configuration, will I have to completely reformat and reinstall everything. I think someone said you do in another thread but I'm not exactly sure. Once I get the RAID set up I want to add another HD which my system can handle as long as it is not a SADA HD. I'm assuming this is just a EIDE HD (PATA). Is this the same as an ULTA IDE 100 HD. This seems to be somewhat confusing too. Thanks for any help.

XPS Gen2 3.2G, 80532,512, 800FSB
HARD DRIVE, 120G, I, 8M, 7.2K, Serial ATA, SEAGATE-ALPINE
2g Memory

ejn63 · Answer

You need not repartition and reformat, but your C drive will remain the size it is, and you'll need to add another partition (D or whatever) to use the rest of the space.

Be sure you understand the very real risks of RAID0 before committing to it - it's barely faster than a single drive, while it doubles your risk of data loss due to a drive failure.

TomXPS · Answer

Just to add to what ejn63 replyed to:

Assuming you have not re-loaded your XPS gen 2 everything you need to setup RAID 0 or 1 is installed. The Pre-OS RAID driver is already in place, the BIOS is set to SATA RAID, and the Intel Application Accelerator is installed.

To migrate to RAID 0 or 1 you sort of do the following:

Install the Drive. Should be the same make and model as the orginal drive.
On boot start the Intel Application Accelerator.
Choose the option to migrate to RAID 0 or 1.
Pick the source dirve (SATA Port 0)
Pick the drive to add (SATA Port 1)
Enter RAID name, stripping info etc depending on RAID type
Migration starts
After migration you need to boot maybe twice worked that way on my XPS gen 2 (Went to RAID 1)
Create new partition and format free space if using RAID 0.

Personally not sure if RAID 0 is worth it for the chance of data lose is doubled.

On my XPS gen 2, I have 2 IDE drives installed in beside the two SATA drives no problem. The 4th HD is installed in the 5.25 bay with some adapters.

steinhouse · Answer

I was thinking of adding addl capacity to my system too. I currently have a RAID 0 system today. Are you saying if I want to add another drive it will have to be a different partition rather than part of the existing?

What about purchasing a card and going to RAID 5? Does that make it any better/sense????

Thanks!

TomXPS · Answer

Dell only support RAID 0 with 2 drives on the XPS gen 2.  You only have 2 SATA ports.   When add the other drive to support RAID 0, you have two option to re-load which would let you partition it as one large partition.   Other option is to migrate, but the partition size stays as is.   You end up with free RAID 0 space that you can parition into another logical drive.   RAID 5 is good, but with 3 drives not much better than RAID 1.   Sort of limited on # of drives you can have in the XPS case.   RAID 5 gives you protection so that is good.

steinhouse1 · Answer

So i am down to 3Gig of space in my XPS gen2 system. Currently I have a RAID 0 config with two 250G drives. You're saying i can add the third drive? I think there's only two SATA ports available - BUT I did see an another HD port connections.   I assume I cannot add an extra HD to the array unless it's SATA correct? i'd be willing to add HD to those ports but not sure if it's even worth it.  I don't want to keep all my eggs in one basket.

TomXPS · Answer

Yes adding a drive to the existing IDE port is no problem. Install the Drive, Enable in BIOS (Setup).

I have 2 IDE drives (200GB) and (300GB) along with the 2 SATA in a RAID 1 configuration. On my XPS system the BIOS did not reconize the IDE drives but when I booted to Windows the Disk Manager showed them, I partitoned them and formated. Re-booted and went back into Setup. The drives then were reconized OK.

Storage, Drives & Media

XPS Gen2 RAID 0 Question

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