Hardware RAID
ASUS P4P800-E motherboard
Scenario 1:
BIOS Settings (default)
Enhanced Mode Support On [S-ATA]
Configure S-ATA As RAID [No]
SATA 1 drive has the XP installed. XP can access SATA 2 without problem. To access HD attached on RAID, you have to install RAID driver on XP OS. RAID 0 or RAID 1 can be configured. I create RAID 1 with a 160GB and a 250GB drives. The RAID 1 will be 160GB. This RAID 1 cannot be the System drive. It can be the boot drive.
Scenario 2:
Boot from RAID 1
BIOS Settings (default)
Enhanced Mode Support On [S-ATA]
Configure S-ATA As RAID [Enabled]
Serial-ATA BootRom [Disabled]
The boot menu will be:
1st Floppy Drive
PM-PIONEER DVD RW
FT Tx Ary1
BIOS Settings (default)
Enhanced Mode Support On [S-ATA]
Configure S-ATA As RAID [Enabled]
Serial-ATA BootRom [Enabled]
Boot Menu will have:
1st Floppy Drive
PM-PIONEER DVD RW
ST3160815AS
ST3269034AS
FT Tx Ary1
ST3160815AS is attached to SATA1, whereas ST3269034AS is connected to SATA2. That means you can install OS directly on SATA1 drive and SATA2 drive.
You can create RAID through Promise RAID controller configuration utility during computer starts. The RAID configuration settings of BIOS control whether RAID1 can boot or not.
I create RAID 1 with 2x80GB drives of Seagate.
I create RAID 1 with 160GB drive of Maxtor and 250GB
I disconnect the 250GB drive and connect a 160GB Seagate drive. Because 160 GB Seagate drive size is physically a little bit smaller than 160GB Maxtor drive, the Mirror can not be rebuilt.
A 300 GB Seagate drive is replaced.
You can rebuild the Mirror by Promise RAID Controller utility, which I did. However, it takes 3-5 hours to rebuild the mirror. And during that time, you cannot use the system.
The following way is better:
Start the computer without going
into Promise RAID Controller utility. Let XP system running. The RAID
Controller will automatically rebuild the mirror. After 3-5 hours, I restart
the computer and find out the Mirror is functional.