Maintaing RAID 1 with new install of XP

[Nicholas Cozzi]

Hi,

I have a Dell 9100 that came preinstalled with Windows Vista Home Premium.
I hate Vista and want to wipe it and do a clean install of Windows XP Pro
SP2. Can I do this and still retain my RAID 1 functionality without having
to install RAID drivers with the XP? I have Intel's Matrix Array set up
as RAID 1 for my two HDs. Or will I need to install Windows XP RAID drivers
using the F6/floppy method? Since I don't have a floppy, I am considering
buying one on Ebay if I have to for setting up RAID 1.

Thanks in advance for your help.

~N

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I have a Dell 9100 that came preinstalled with Windows Vista Home
Premium. I hate Vista and want to wipe it and do a clean install of
Windows XP Pro SP2. Can I do this and still retain my RAID 1
functionality without having to install RAID drivers with the XP? I have
Intel's Matrix Array set up as RAID 1 for my two HDs. Or will I need to
install Windows XP
RAID drivers using the F6/floppy method? Since I don't have a
floppy, I am considering buying one on Ebay if I have to for
setting up RAID 1.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Have you tried looking to see if Dell provides (1) that model with Windows
XP installed (and supported) and/or (2) drivers for Windows XP for that
model?

Here are the XP drivers from Dell for the Dimension (I assume you have a
Dimension) 9100:
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...temID=DIM_P4_9100&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid=

Is it a HARDWARE or SOFTWARE RAID?

What do you think you are actually getting out of RAID1? A mirror RAID is
the least protective method of backing up anything - as most problems
encountered are NOT hardware ones and the only thing I see a mirror RAID
protecting you from is if the first drive dies outright from a hardware
failure 'out of the blue' - everything else (if the data gets scrambled, you
get a virus, files get erased by you or other means) gets replicated in real
time. You'd probably be better off breaking the RAID1 array down and
creating a RAID 0 and getting a good external backup drive/scheme going than
having that RAID1 array.

You could get a cheap USB (new) drive someplace an use it for the F6 install
you think you may have to do... (You likely will have to have the drivers -
although you could integrate them into a Windows XP installation CD and
bypass the need to press F6, etc..)

 

[peter]

here is a method on slipstreaming......look way down at the end on how to
add your RAID drivers.......
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/slipstream.htm
Dont forget to go to the Dell website to see if they actually have XP
drivers for all of the hardware on this system.
peter

 

[Guest]

Purchase a floppy drive either new or used,most good pc shops sell both,used
ones are almost free..Go to intel downloads,chipset,software,matrix
downloads.
Locate the download for youre RAID controller ICH6 or 7 (F6
option).Also,RAID 1
is a minor performance gain compared to RAID 0,for to
compare,see:http://www.intel.com/performance/desktop/platform_technologies/storage_performance.htm