[Ham-Computers] To RAID or not to RAID, that is the question

[Philip Atchley]

Hi All,

First a little "machine" background.
Machine specs:  Intel P4 running 3.4GHz, 1GB DDR2 RAM, two 80GB SATA drives 
and two CD ROM drives (one a burner).  The Intel MoBo supports BOTH SATA and 
EIDE drives AND RAID (several modes I believe).  Right now only the CD 
drives are on the EIDE ports, the HD's are of course on the SATA ports (MoBo 
has 4 SATA ports).

I thought the two 80GB drives would NEVER get filled up, and I'm partially 
right.  C: drive (operating system and programs) only has 9GB on it, but D: 
drive containing all my OTR (Old Time Radio) MP3's already has over 65GB, 
and while downloading old radio programs has slowed greatly, I still see the 
end of the line, room wise.  SO, I took advantage of a 'special' a local 
dealer is running on Western Digital 320GB drives and bought one, replacing 
my D: drive with that one.  This was a lucky fluke as it cost me less than 
if I'd had them put a 320 GB drive in the machine when I  had it built, and 
I still have a spare 80GB drive!

All operating system and program files are kept on drive C: while Drive D is 
ONLY used for files (like MP3's) and backups.  I also have a 250GB External 
drive that I run on the USB when I want to back stuff up.

QUESTIONS:

1.  I now have 3 SATA drives available, two 80GB and a 320GB.  Would I 
benefit by re-installing the "extra" 80GB drive and setting up the drives in 
a RAID setup?    If so, what "kind" of RAID setup would be best in this 
application.  I know absolutely nothing about raid, other than that my MoBo 
supports it and that it is a redundant disk system.

2.  Are the SATA drives "independent" from the EIDE (CD ROM) drives from a 
support standpoint?  I know that in a typical EIDE set-up you can only have 
4 drives, 2 master and two secondary.  Does this still apply with modern 
technology like SATA?

3.  If I go with RAID, do I need to wipe my disks and start fresh, or can it 
be accomplished without having to trash the present files etc. (XP-Pro using 
NTFS file system)?

4.  Will RAID work with two different disk sizes (two 80GB and one 320GB)? 
ALL are Western Digital drives.

5.  And finally, if RAID isn't the optimum option for me, I can always 
either keep the extra 80GB drive as a spare for the one now in operation, or 
get a "hot swap" drive bay and use it to "clone" from the main drive in case 
it fails in the future.

What do the guru's out here think my best course of action would be?

73 de Phil,  KO6BB
DX begins at the noise floor!

THE BEACONEER'S LAIR:   http://www.geocities.com/ko6bb/
MY RADIO-LOGS:       http://www.geocities.com/ko6bb/Logs/
QSL GALLERY: http://photobucket.com/albums/f306/KO6BB/
Merced, Central California,    37.3N  120.48W  CM97sh