need to partition HD?

[Eddie G]

In the not-to-distant future I will build a new computer with most likely a
250 or 300 gb single drive. Years ago with Win 95 and 98 I had a large (at
the time) HD partitioned...one partition for the OS and the other for
everything else. What got to be annoying was when I installed software I
always had to change the path in the Install Shield to the partitioned drive
letter. With systems the way they are today is it still preferred to
partition drives?

If I should get another drive and put them in RAID, which RAID is best? I
know RAID 0 lets you use both drives as one big drive but any serious
crashes or system errors will wipe out both drives. After installing 2
drives to the SATA connectors what is necessary to put them in RAID as
opposed the current setup of a primary and slave?

Thanks!!

Eddie G

 

[Rich Barry]

Eddie, it is not necessary to partition your hard drive unless you are
going to do a dual boot or use multiple OS's and even
that is unnecessary today if you use VM. ( Virtual Machine ). For a Raid
Setup all you will need is a SATA Raid Controller which
most modern Motherboards have. Documentation for a Raid Setup should come
with your Motherboard. Do a google
search for Raid Configurations to learn more about them.

 

[Kerry Brown]

In the not-to-distant future I will build a new computer with most
likely a 250 or 300 gb single drive. Years ago with Win 95 and 98 I
had a large (at the time) HD partitioned...one partition for the OS
and the other for everything else. What got to be annoying was when
I installed software I always had to change the path in the Install
Shield to the partitioned drive letter. With systems the way they
are today is it still preferred to partition drives?

If I should get another drive and put them in RAID, which RAID is
best? I know RAID 0 lets you use both drives as one big drive but
any serious crashes or system errors will wipe out both drives. After
installing 2 drives to the SATA connectors what is necessary to
put them in RAID as opposed the current setup of a primary and slave?

Thanks!!

Eddie G

I recommend partitioning for backup purposes. One partition for Windows and
programs, other (usually one) partitions for data. The reason you may want
more than one partition for data is to sort the data into different types
e.g you may want to keep videos or mp3s on a separate partition. I like to
use disk imaging software with external USB drives for backups. If the data
is on a separate partition it is quicker to image that partition rather than
one large drive. The Windows and program partition image doesn't need to be
backed up as often.

Personally I don't think the very minor speed increases from RAID 0 are
worth the risk of doubling your chances for data loss. If you have SATA
drives there is no slave or master. There is one drive per cable. To set up
RAID while installing Windows there is a point during the text part of the
install where you press F6 to load drivers. You will need the RAID
controller drivers on a floppy disk. I'm not sure from your post. Were you
thinking of adding another drive later on and setting up RAID 0? Normally
you would set up the RAID array in the controller BIOS before installing
Windows. You normally wouldn't be able to create a RAID 0 array with the
boot disk after Windows is installed. Depending on the controller you may be
able to setup a RAID 1 (mirror) array after Windows is installed. You could
setup any RAID array with two or more disks other than the boot disk after
Windows is installed.