Windows XP RAID question

[raulman1]

I'm building a new system with a motherboard that supports RAID. I'm initially installing one SATA drive, but eventually want this to be a RAID 1 mirror. Do I need to install the RAID drivers for Windows XP during the XP install even though I am only going to have one drive installed now?

 

[wahnula]

Do I need to install the RAID drivers for Windows XP during the XP install

Absolutely! You want to install any & all RAID drivers (many boards have more than one RAID controller) at the F6 prompt at first installation of XP. You will either turn off RAID in BIOS or build a 1-drive "array" as I have seen on some mainboards.

Don't expect to be able to add a second drive and have it become part of a RAID 1 array without wiping the first drive. This may be a new capability of some controllers but all the ones I have seen don't allow you to join a second drive to a single drive after the fact. The alternative is to have a third drive to clone a full drive image to, then build the RAID 1 array, then recover from the clone.

It's so much easier to start with a pair of drives.

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me

 

[CapitalData]

You dont need any drivers for Windows. If it's a hardware RAID (as u said your board supports it), then windows will see it as one drive, as everything is configured by the raid controller on a hardware lever even before the OS is loaded. So the answer to ur question is no, u don't need drivers.

Best Regards,
Karen
Capita Data Recovery Inc.

http://www.capitaldatarecovery.com

 

[wahnula]

You dont need any drivers for Windows

Correction...please. You may not need RAID drivers for Vista, but XP needs those drivers, at F6 prompt, in order to see the RAID array you just created in BIOS. I have one old (2002) Asus board (P4S8X) that won't even load Windows on a single SATA drive without the SATA RAID drivers supplied at F6 prompt.

I have built dozens of Windows 2000, XP & 2003 machines, every single one needed the RAID drivers provided via floppy during the OS install, both IDE and SATA, for the RAID controllers built into the mainboard.

Software RAID is done within XP/2003, with Dynamic Disks, and is only recommended if you don't have a hardware RAID controller.

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me

 

[CapitalData]

It depends on the system. We have a load of Asus board on WinXP machines, and none of them required drivers for the RAID controller. Once the raid was configured, it was seen as one drive by the system, and then we loaded the OS.

Maybe some older boards need it, but the new one we have - don't. This is what we have, so I just shared.

Best Regards,
Karen
Capita Data Recovery Inc.

http://www.capitaldatarecovery.com

 

[wahnula]

Asus has an "EZ-RAID" feature on most of its newer boards that allow for array assembly & Windows installation without drivers, but most folks don't bother with that and use the ICH , Sil3114, JMicron, or nVidida controllers, which, last RAID build I did (Asus P5W-DH-Deluxe), required both the nVidia and JMIcron drivers supplied not only at F6 prompt but also during OS load.

I would insist, as a rule, to load all RAID drivers at F6 prompt. Can't hurt, and might save you some time. To say that as a rule you do not need to supply F6 drivers is incorrect, unless you know you have a slipstreamed OS CD.

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me