WilDeliver

1) No.

2) No.

3) Boot the system, press CTRL+i when indicated to go into the RAID BIOS setup, and set the drives to a non-RAID configuration.
Then if you have RAID 1, you should have 2 hard drives that are exactly the same, after this, you can partition and format the second hard drive.

4) No.

Note: It's always advisable to make a backup of your critical data, before breaking a RAID.

Bev.


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You can also DELETE the RAID 1 volume from the Intel ROM Utility (CTRL-I). I've done this many times without issue. You'll get a warning that your data will be lost. Ignore it as you will NOT lose any data and you'll have two drive with identical data. Either way (delete or reset to non-RAID) will break the RAID 1 volume.

It went without a hitch and now I've got two identical 250GB hard drives and no RAID.  I checked the Intel web site and it pointed out that other RAID formats can, indeed wipe out data (which, they observe, is why there is a message to that effect on the Intel Storage Manager), but not one-volume RAID 1.

 

RAID 1 hardly seems worth it since 1. I have backup and 2. backing up to a drive on the same computer seems like the least effective strategy.  It is true that hard drives crash, although not often, so I guess RAID 1 protects you against that.  On the other hand, theft, fire, lightning, etc. still take everything. 

 

Anyway, thanks for your insights. 

 

Also, for what it's worth, here's how I partition my drives:

 

C:/ WINDOWS

D:/ DATA

P:/ PROGRAMS

S:/ STORAGE

 

Windows gets plenty of room to play, all my programs are in one place and both can be stored occasionally as an image for easy reinstall, if needed.

 

I put My Documents on the D: drive so it's easy to just back it all up. 

 

Storage is install disks and such. 

 

Adios

WilDeliver

Congrats, :)

RAID1 is great for hardware problems, the reason I stopped using it several years ago, is that all the software problems are mirrored to the second hard drive.

Instead, I use Acronis TrueImage to image the primary hard drive to the second drive.

Bev.


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@shesagordie wrote:

Instead, I use Acronis TrueImage to image the primary hard drive to the second drive.

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But wouldn´t then also every files (including software problems) beeing imaged to your second harddrive?

 

 

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@pooz wrote:

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@shesagordie wrote:

Instead, I use Acronis TrueImage to image the primary hard drive to the second drive.

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But wouldn´t then also every files (including software problems) beeing imaged to your second harddrive?

 

 

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pooz

No, because unless the primary C:/ hard drive is 'clean', I don't image it.

Prior to running Acronis, I always run a 'Chkdsk' and disk cleanup, plus check for any Malware and Virus. Been imaging the C:/ drives for seven+ years without a problem and it's great when a hard dive fails.

Bev.


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OK, so here I am with two duplicate hard drives. 

 

Can I simply delete the Windows, Uninstall and Program files directly (File/Delete) from the now-duplicate and redundant D:/ drive?  (I would assume that ControlPanel/AddRemovePrograms would remove the application from the C:/ drive, right?)

WilDeliver

The best method, is to delete all partitions and then format the new D:/ drive using XP disk management and use it as a second hard drive, for additional storage.

How to use XP disk management.

Bev.

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