psyktek said:
Thanks for the tips. Didn't know about the software; got a name?
I've been thinking about the SATA drives and a RAID setup. The MB is an ASUS
and it came with 2 SATA cables and has two sockets for that type of drive.
Is a separate controller needed for a RAID array, or does the fact that the MB has those 2 connectors mean it's ready to go?
Is the motherboard an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe by any chance?
Yes you can do a HARDWARE RAID 1 array on that board.
If you are running Windows 2000 or XP you can do a Software RAID 1 on most motherboards however this utilizes the CPU time and slows your system down.
Personally I would use the onboard SATA controller to power a nice Western Digital Raptor 10k RPM drive for your operating system and applications. These come in 35 and 70 gig varieties. If you are really a power hungry PC nut (a Viggen of a PC) use 2 of these in a RAID 0 (spanning) array for your operating system and applications. I don't advise using these drives for data storage because they are still expensive and low capacity compared to ATA drives.
For data redundancy to protect Data (things that store in the "documents and settings" path of Windows XP like music, pictures, favorites, spreadsheets, documents, P2P downloads, etc) a RAID 1 array of less expensive, large ATA 100/133 drives is better IMO. I think using an inexpensive ($25-$30) Highpoint or Promise PCI RAID card and 2x120 GB or 2x200 GB drives would be good to look into and less expensive than significantly smaller Serial drives. Keep in mind when doing RAID 0 you use 2 drives but only get to store 1 drive's size in data.
If you want better performance than ATA 133 for your data drives, I would look into a more expensive RAID card that does RAID 5 (spanning with parity) in lieu of Serial ATA. You could do 3x120 GB drives (for 240 GB storage) in a RAID 5 array and get improved speed and the needed redundancy.
I am a geek
:lookup:
Matt
PS I will try to find the package I used to pull data off my father-in-law's drive last year and let you know the name of the application.