How do I set up a RAID on my ASUS M2N-E?

I just finished reading about RAID's on Wiki and thought for the
longest time they were just for people with servers and such. But I
have also discovered it is good for video editing - which I do. So
what are the basic steps for setting up a RAID?

Also, what is better, software controller or a hardware controller ?

I am guessing I need the exact same drive for this - does the firmware
matter when it comes to a RAID drive or as long as it is the same
serial number? Lastly, can I keep the existing data or do both drives
need to be reformatted?


Thanks

Hardware raid is better
Ideally disks should be same size/brand
Raid 0 has no redundancy lose one disk you lose all data
The type of raid you can set up depends on what your raid controller
supports
Depends on the type of raid you opt for as to whether you can keep existing
data on one hd
Whether you would notice any speed improvement depends on your raid
controler.
A 'proper' hardware raid card starts at about $350, a raid enabled
motherboard can be had for less than $100

"David D" <> wrote in message
news: ups.com...
> I just finished reading about RAID's on Wiki and thought for the
> longest time they were just for people with servers and such. But I
> have also discovered it is good for video editing - which I do. So
> what are the basic steps for setting up a RAID?
>
> Also, what is better, software controller or a hardware controller ?
>
> I am guessing I need the exact same drive for this - does the firmware
> matter when it comes to a RAID drive or as long as it is the same
> serial number? Lastly, can I keep the existing data or do both drives
> need to be reformatted?
>
>
> Thanks
>

So from your message I am assuming you get what you pay for. A more
expensive RAID controller card is better, right? I want to use it for
video editing and also to make sure I don't lose my data (I already
had a drive go down recently and lost it all). So I am not sure if
that is RAID1 or something?

On Jun 19, 4:45 pm, "old man" <d...@spoofmail.notme> wrote:
> Hardware raid is better
> Ideally disks should be same size/brand
> Raid 0 has no redundancy lose one disk you lose all data
> The type of raid you can set up depends on what your raid controller
> supports
> Depends on the type of raid you opt for as to whether you can keep existing
> data on one hd
> Whether you would notice any speed improvement depends on your raid
> controler.
> A 'proper' hardware raid card starts at about $350, a raid enabled
> motherboard can be had for less than $100
>
> "David D" <netr...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> news: ups.com...
>
> > I just finished reading about RAID's on Wiki and thought for the
> > longest time they were just for people with servers and such. But I
> > have also discovered it is good for video editing - which I do. So
> > what are the basic steps for setting up a RAID?
>
> > Also, what is better, software controller or a hardware controller ?
>
> > I am guessing I need the exact same drive for this - does the firmware
> > matter when it comes to a RAID drive or as long as it is the same
> > serial number? Lastly, can I keep the existing data or do both drives
> > need to be reformatted?
>
> > Thanks

http://www.prepressure.com/techno/raid.htm for an explanation of raid types.
Personally, after using raid (mirror) on a motherboard controler & then
suffering problems, which were acknowledged by Asus tech who said that they
had thought the bios upgrade had cured the problem, I purchased a raid card
with a retail price of some $500 (Ebay, still sealed with the warranty for,
much less) This is a true hardware raid card with its own bios.
I'm sure motherboard raid controllers have improved since then, however they
still rely on your cpu for proccessing.
Whichever way you go, and even if using mobo raid that has hot swap ability
you should still have a data backup procedure in place.
As my data is critical to me I use mirror raid with inbuilt hotswap hd that
automatically rebuilds on hd failure, I then have an offsite backup, and
both onsite Imaging & backup using seperate media and seperate backup apps

"David D" <> wrote in message
news: ups.com...
> So from your message I am assuming you get what you pay for. A more
> expensive RAID controller card is better, right? I want to use it for
> video editing and also to make sure I don't lose my data (I already
> had a drive go down recently and lost it all). So I am not sure if
> that is RAID1 or something?
>
> On Jun 19, 4:45 pm, "old man" <d...@spoofmail.notme> wrote:
> > Hardware raid is better
> > Ideally disks should be same size/brand
> > Raid 0 has no redundancy lose one disk you lose all data
> > The type of raid you can set up depends on what your raid controller
> > supports
> > Depends on the type of raid you opt for as to whether you can keep
existing
> > data on one hd
> > Whether you would notice any speed improvement depends on your raid
> > controler.
> > A 'proper' hardware raid card starts at about $350, a raid enabled
> > motherboard can be had for less than $100
> >
> > "David D" <netr...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> >
> > news: ups.com...
> >
> > > I just finished reading about RAID's on Wiki and thought for the
> > > longest time they were just for people with servers and such. But I
> > > have also discovered it is good for video editing - which I do. So
> > > what are the basic steps for setting up a RAID?
> >
> > > Also, what is better, software controller or a hardware controller ?
> >
> > > I am guessing I need the exact same drive for this - does the firmware
> > > matter when it comes to a RAID drive or as long as it is the same
> > > serial number? Lastly, can I keep the existing data or do both drives
> > > need to be reformatted?
> >
> > > Thanks
>
>
>
>

That sounds like something I would like. Was it complicated to set
up?

On Jun 19, 8:35 pm, "old man" <d...@spoofmail.notme> wrote:
> http://www.prepressure.com/techno/raid.htmfor an explanation of raid types.
> Personally, after using raid (mirror) on a motherboard controler & then
> suffering problems, which were acknowledged by Asus tech who said that they
> had thought the bios upgrade had cured the problem, I purchased a raid card
> with a retail price of some $500 (Ebay, still sealed with the warranty for,
> much less) This is a true hardware raid card with its own bios.
> I'm sure motherboard raid controllers have improved since then, however they
> still rely on your cpu for proccessing.
> Whichever way you go, and even if using mobo raid that has hot swap ability
> you should still have a data backup procedure in place.
> As my data is critical to me I use mirror raid with inbuilt hotswap hd that
> automatically rebuilds on hd failure, I then have an offsite backup, and
> both onsite Imaging & backup using seperate media and seperate backup apps
>
> "David D" <netr...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> news: ups.com...
>
> > So from your message I am assuming you get what you pay for. A more
> > expensive RAID controller card is better, right? I want to use it for
> > video editing and also to make sure I don't lose my data (I already
> > had a drive go down recently and lost it all). So I am not sure if
> > that is RAID1 or something?
>
> > On Jun 19, 4:45 pm, "old man" <d...@spoofmail.notme> wrote:
> > > Hardware raid is better
> > > Ideally disks should be same size/brand
> > > Raid 0 has no redundancy lose one disk you lose all data
> > > The type of raid you can set up depends on what your raid controller
> > > supports
> > > Depends on the type of raid you opt for as to whether you can keep
> existing
> > > data on one hd
> > > Whether you would notice any speed improvement depends on your raid
> > > controler.
> > > A 'proper' hardware raid card starts at about $350, a raid enabled
> > > motherboard can be had for less than $100
>
> > > "David D" <netr...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> > >news: oups.com...
>
> > > > I just finished reading about RAID's on Wiki and thought for the
> > > > longest time they were just for people with servers and such. But I
> > > > have also discovered it is good for video editing - which I do. So
> > > > what are the basic steps for setting up a RAID?
>
> > > > Also, what is better, software controller or a hardware controller ?
>
> > > > I am guessing I need the exact same drive for this - does the firmware
> > > > matter when it comes to a RAID drive or as long as it is the same
> > > > serial number? Lastly, can I keep the existing data or do both drives
> > > > need to be reformatted?
>
> > > > Thanks

No; I built from a clean installation and with the Adaptec card controller
built the array (mirror) and added the hotswap
I use True Image to incrementally image to an internal HD on a seperate
controler, Backer which syncs data with an external HD and lastly IBackup
for the offsite part. These run overnight other than the external which is a
manual process as I dont leave this hd connected.
Sys has run 24/7 for the last two years.

I dont use any of the raid striping options as none of my data type files
are of a type which 'might' show a speed increase on a striped sys.
Video data can show a speed enhancement, with striping, but it *very much*
depends on the raid controler

"David D" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> That sounds like something I would like. Was it complicated to set
> up?
>
> On Jun 19, 8:35 pm, "old man" <d...@spoofmail.notme> wrote:
> > http://www.prepressure.com/techno/raid.htmfor an explanation of raid
types.
> > Personally, after using raid (mirror) on a motherboard controler & then
> > suffering problems, which were acknowledged by Asus tech who said that
they
> > had thought the bios upgrade had cured the problem, I purchased a raid
card
> > with a retail price of some $500 (Ebay, still sealed with the warranty
for,
> > much less) This is a true hardware raid card with its own bios.
> > I'm sure motherboard raid controllers have improved since then, however
they
> > still rely on your cpu for proccessing.
> > Whichever way you go, and even if using mobo raid that has hot swap
ability
> > you should still have a data backup procedure in place.
> > As my data is critical to me I use mirror raid with inbuilt hotswap hd
that
> > automatically rebuilds on hd failure, I then have an offsite backup, and
> > both onsite Imaging & backup using seperate media and seperate backup
apps
> >
> > "David D" <netr...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> >
> > news: ups.com...
> >
> > > So from your message I am assuming you get what you pay for. A more
> > > expensive RAID controller card is better, right? I want to use it for
> > > video editing and also to make sure I don't lose my data (I already
> > > had a drive go down recently and lost it all). So I am not sure if
> > > that is RAID1 or something?
> >
> > > On Jun 19, 4:45 pm, "old man" <d...@spoofmail.notme> wrote:
> > > > Hardware raid is better
> > > > Ideally disks should be same size/brand
> > > > Raid 0 has no redundancy lose one disk you lose all data
> > > > The type of raid you can set up depends on what your raid controller
> > > > supports
> > > > Depends on the type of raid you opt for as to whether you can keep
> > existing
> > > > data on one hd
> > > > Whether you would notice any speed improvement depends on your raid
> > > > controler.
> > > > A 'proper' hardware raid card starts at about $350, a raid enabled
> > > > motherboard can be had for less than $100
> >
> > > > "David D" <netr...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> >
> > > >news: oups.com...
> >
> > > > > I just finished reading about RAID's on Wiki and thought for the
> > > > > longest time they were just for people with servers and such. But
I
> > > > > have also discovered it is good for video editing - which I do. So
> > > > > what are the basic steps for setting up a RAID?
> >
> > > > > Also, what is better, software controller or a hardware controller
?
> >
> > > > > I am guessing I need the exact same drive for this - does the
firmware
> > > > > matter when it comes to a RAID drive or as long as it is the same
> > > > > serial number? Lastly, can I keep the existing data or do both
drives
> > > > > need to be reformatted?
> >
> > > > > Thanks
>
>
>
>