Raid 0... what stripe?

So.... my other WD 320gb 5400rpm HD is going to arrive today...
I plan on using Raid 0 as mentioned in the title and am going to attempt reimage with Acronis onto the array....So I have 2 questions:

1) Have you all come to a conclusion about whether a stripe setting of 128 or 64 is more optimal for a game/multimedia/school crap user? Or should I go out of my way to make 2 seperate partitions for the OS and then other stuff? (which sort of undos the reason for me setting up raid?)

2) This is more directed to iata.... but when using acronis to make a backup of my current 320gb HD.... am I really supposed to type a few things in cmd to allow a proper backup to reimage with? Or would I be just fine trying to boot from the image once it has been copied over to the array? (and maybe have to use the repair boot utility?)

Thanks for your input

 

I have gone back and forth with 64 and 128, the last time I stayed with 128, I saw no difference, I game heavily too.

 

Just leave the stripe at the default 128 KB - not worth worrying about.

To be honest I wouldn't image a non-RAID image onto a RAID setup. Just do a clean install. Gives you an opportunity to try Windows 7 too which pwns Vista. If you are intent on giving it a go though yes you need to run the following commands at an elevated command prompt pre-image:

Code:

bcdedit /set {current} osdevice boot
bcdedit /set {current} device boot
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device boot
bcdedit /set {memdiag} device boot

They stop the security check that winload.exe carries out looking for a unique hard drive ID.

 

With this commands, does it speedup your boot times? What does it do?

 

No it's purely to stop winload.exe linking to a specific hard drive ID. Otherwise Windows will not boot as the RAID setup will provide a different ID.

 

oh, I gottca , I never used that, I just used the Raid setup with "ctrl I" on startup.

 

I was thinking that would be the best case scenario (fresh install that is..)

What if I wanted to give windows 7 a go? Are there really any noticable advantages/disadvantages to trying it right now? Isnt it stil beta at this point? Would I need to aquire a serial/key?

If you need to PM me if you want iata.... Im always interested in trying out the latest and greatest... assuming that its ok to use now?

thnx

 

I am using 128

 

Windows 7 even in it's beta state is so much better than Vista. I've been running it as my primary OS since build 6801 and it's crashed once. It really is what Vista should have been. Superb OS.

If you don't have official access to beta builds the public beta will be available in about a week or so.

 

is the 64 bit beta out yet or is it still limited to 32 bit beta?

 

I was just about to ask the same thing... also I was part of the Vista beta but im really not familiar with W7 in such that would I need a serial/etc? and if there are other beta's released would I have to do a refresh install or just install certain updates?

 

The latest x64 build available is 6836. Build 7000 (or whatever build MS finally decide beta 1 is going to be) is expected to be released on or around the 12th Jan with the public beta starting very soon after (where you will be able to get an official serial number). You don't strictly need a serial to run it as long as you enter one within 30 days.

You are always best to reformat when installing a new beta/rc but the latest builds are so good they will last you to RTM anyway.

 

Well.... Long story haha....

I got my drive, tested it to make sure it was fine.... Backed up my data.... and got a hold of the new W7 Beta and burned the image.....

Finally setup my array as Raid 0 and began isntalling the new beta on reboot....
Tried three times and there was an error opening a file 3 times so I gave up and reinstalled x64 vista again....

Ill prolly just wait it out for W7 to become public beta or even when it comes out....

Basically I got the raid 0 to work and they work wonderfully haha.... Seems much more responsive....

I was also wondering, is there any monitors that would allow me to monitor the disks in anyway? (errors, temps, etc)

Thanks,
t3rR0r

 

Which build of Win7 was it? Did you load the latest Intel RAID drivers at time of setup?

I don't think it's possible to monitor temps etc as the RAID controller doesn't passthrough S.M.A.R.T info unfortunately.