Noob Raid 0 Question...

[fl4wless]

My Hardware:
Motherboard = evga s939 NF44 SLI matx.
onboard Raid0/1 controller.
2 Identical Sata HDs.

I would like to run in Raid 0 with my OS (XP MCE). Unfortunately i have an SFF, and no Floppy Drive .

Questions:

1) I have a usb key, could i copy the raid files from the floppy to that using a difference PC and load them (When it says Press F6) before installing my OS?

2) I have a third spare HD. Could i install XP MCE on this Hard drive (with the 2 matching HDs just as 2nd and 3rd hard drives). The while in windows, load the raid drivers from the usb key, set up my raid array on hard drives 2 and 3. Restart with XP MCE CD in, and reintall OS on the raid array. Will this scenario work? Sure it requires 2 installs of XP, but im willing to if it will save me grief of getting a floppy.

Thanks.

[Icedawn]

don't know your mobo... but does it allow raid array creation after the fact? Last time I installed OS on a raid0, I installed it on just one drive, then hooked the second drive up and used the bios to mirror the old drive to the new one. once that I was done, I had the OS installed on a raid 0 without any additional work...

edit*nvm, my bad, brain fart and mixed up raid0 and 1... you could go and slipstream the drivers into the OS, in this case*

[Happy13178]

Think its easiest to just crack the case, attach a floppy drive long enough to load the drivers, then disconnect and continue with the install. Do you of your buddies have an extra floppy drive you can use? If not, and you're in Toronto, I have an extra one you can have at no cost if you want to come pick it up.

[mrG]

My Hardware:
Motherboard = evga s939 NF44 SLI matx.
onboard Raid0/1 controller.
2 Identical Sata HDs.

I would like to run in Raid 0 with my OS (XP MCE). Unfortunately i have an SFF, and no Floppy Drive .

Questions:

1) I have a usb key, could i copy the raid files from the floppy to that using a difference PC and load them (When it says Press F6) before installing my OS?

2) I have a third spare HD. Could i install XP MCE on this Hard drive (with the 2 matching HDs just as 2nd and 3rd hard drives). The while in windows, load the raid drivers from the usb key, set up my raid array on hard drives 2 and 3. Restart with XP MCE CD in, and reintall OS on the raid array. Will this scenario work? Sure it requires 2 installs of XP, but im willing to if it will save me grief of getting a floppy.

Thanks.

That's not a bad idea. It will detect the hard drive in Windows to do the first half of the installation, but I wonder if it will get messed up after the stage where it needs to reboot? It is worth a try, though.

Is it possible to install drivers off of a CD? Maybe you could burn the files to a CD-R and when it asks you to insert a floppy with the drivers, just use the CD drive instead?


don't know your mobo... but does it allow raid array creation after the fact? Last time I installed OS on a raid0, I installed it on just one drive, then hooked the second drive up and used the bios to mirror the old drive to the new one. once that I was done, I had the OS installed on a raid 0 without any additional work...

Are you thinking of a RAID-1?

[Polaren]

I would say you have to install the drivers beforehand when installing windows and put the drivers off the floppy. Unfortunately XP installation knows no other way to load the files.

[Cafe_333]

Neither scenarios will work.
1) After pressing F6, you only get the option of loading sata drivers from a floppy. There is no possible way to access the usb or cdrom during this process.
2) Doesn't matter if you setup your raid array in windows. Once you load the xp installation cd, it treats everything as a clean slate. The installation utility itself needs to load sata drivers before being able to detect an array.

Short of installing a floppy drive, the easiest solution is to integrate the sata drivers onto your xp cd. Download/Install nlite, Integrate Sata Drivers (can also addin vga, lan, & chipset here as well), create iso, and then burn it. Done. Nlite is very easy to use and provides step by step instructions along with detailed descriptions. You can use it to customize your xp cd, something to experiment with at your own discretion. Anyway, the following is a more detailed set of instructions:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Install-Windows-XP-On-SATA-Without-a-Floppy-F6-47807.shtml

[ShadowVlican]

Short of installing a floppy drive, the easiest solution is to integrate the sata drivers onto your xp cd. Download/Install nlite, Integrate Drivers (sata, vga, lan, chipset), create iso, and then burn it. Done. Nlite is very easy to use and provides step by step instructions along with detailed descriptions. You can use it to customize your xp cd, something to experiment with at your own discretion. Anyway, the following is a more detailed set of instructions:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Install-Windows-XP-On-SATA-Without-a-Floppy-F6-47807.shtml
:arrowu: wut he said.

[Velocity]

or you can install vista, it shud setup raid for u.

once you enable raid in ur mobo, it shud be under onboard chipset features or something along those lines.

[fl4wless]

Neither scenarios will work.
1) After pressing F6, you only get the option of loading sata drivers from a floppy. There is no possible way to access the usb or cdrom during this process.
2) Doesn't matter if you setup your raid array in windows. Once you load the xp installation cd, it treats everything as a clean slate. The installation utility itself needs to load sata drivers before being able to detect an array.

Short of installing a floppy drive, the easiest solution is to integrate the sata drivers onto your xp cd. Download/Install nlite, Integrate Sata Drivers (can also addin vga, lan, & chipset here as well), create iso, and then burn it. Done. Nlite is very easy to use and provides step by step instructions along with detailed descriptions. You can use it to customize your xp cd, something to experiment with at your own discretion. Anyway, the following is a more detailed set of instructions:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Install-Windows-XP-On-SATA-Without-a-Floppy-F6-47807.shtml

thanks for the info... ill give it a shot.