Configuring Raid 1

[pmaddock]

Greetings,

I have my first computer build parts on the way, of which I have 2 - 100 GB WD hard drives coming for Raid 1 configuration on my ABIT TH711-RAID INTEL 850 atx motherboard. I also have a cdrw and dvd rom drive coming. What is the best configuration for all 4 devices on my motherboard. Which of the 4 channels on my motherboard do I attach my raid 1 hard drives, and then which configuration should I do for my CDRW and dvd. If I had to guess, I would set them up as follows:

1 - CDRW, dvd, cable select positions on both
2 - nothing (for now)
3 - hard drive #1 (master)
4 - hard drive #2 (master)

I have round molded 18" EIDE cables coming, with the typical blue, black, and grey connectors for cable select configuration. Would it be better to place CDRW on 1 and the dvd on 2, both by themselves (keeping them each at master settings). Do RAID 1 configurations require both devices being on channel 3 and/or 4. Also, once I have the hard drives configured, do I then FDISK and format them separately, as if I would treat any other hard drive installations. Please guide me, as obviously I am new to RAID configurations. Thank you very much. P.S. - I will be using WinXP Pro as my operation system, with a 2.2 GHZ P-4 chip.


PMAD

[HAL9000]

Idealy, you would want your CDRW and DVD on separate channels, but it isn't a necessity.

[pmaddock]

Hal,

So if I configured it this way:

1 - cdrw (master)
2 - dvd (master)
3 - hard drive #1 (master) - RAID 1
4 - hard drive #2 (master) - RAID 1

do you think that I will have any problems? Then all I have to do is my FDISK and FORMAT of each hard drive independently, and then install my operating system as normal. I tried doing some searches on RAID configurations; I found some useful info, but nothing that describes exactly how to set up for RAID 1 mirroring. Maybe my motherboard (when it arrives) literature will tell me exactly how to do it. I just want to be prepared for when my hardware arrives tomorrow. Thanks for the tips. As usual, I love this web site.


PMAD

[wedor]

My mother board has on-board RAID, it has it's own utility to set-up an array. Once the array was set-up I ran Win2K set-up from the CD, it set the drives up itself. I just needed to install the RAID controller drivers when prompted.