HD questions

[hansmann]

I am building my 1st computer and have a HD question:

Originally, I planed to install one new 250 GB WD Caviar permanent
and have the 2nd new 250 GB WD Caviar as back-up drive in a removable (mobile rack)
set-up. Since I have an older 60 GB WD HD, I was planning to use that HD exclusive
for video editing (mobile rack as well).
I was told, that I could install my OS (XP pro OEM-not purchased yet) on the permanent HD and then boot up either to the 250 GB back up or the 60 GB video HD without any problem.
I am told now that I should install both, the new 250 GB and the older 60 GB drive permanently and use a 1394 / USB 2.0 combo 3.5"external enclosure (with my 2nd 250 GB HD in it) as back-up.
Would an external USB device be bootable from the permanent installed HD – or would I have to install the OS on the external back-up HD as well (which could be a problem due to XP installation, authorization and activation policies)?
I have windows 2 K on my current system – but would like to utilize the multi media
advantages of XP.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

hansmann

[SamuraiWarrior]

Not to be to noisy, but isn't 500GB to much? and no I do believe you will not have any problems booting to the external. Just make sure it is recognized by the PC in My Computer and you should be all set.

[hansmann]

No, you are not too nosy….
I guess I was not clear enough – I will NOT have 500 GB – “only” 250 GB since the 2nd removable 250 GB drive is designated to back-up the permanent installed 250 GB one…

250 GB today is not overkill – 4 years ago when I bought my current system, 15 GB seems to be a lot – today 120 – 200 GB HD’s are the norm.

I still need to know:
a) is it possible to have the back-up drive (and the older 60 GB video HD) on a mobile rack and boot it from the permanent HD?
b) or should I permanently install the 60 GB video HD as well and go with
the “1394 / USB 2.0 combo 3.5"external enclosure” as back up?
c) how would I boot up – from the internal HD?

Thanks for your help,

hansmann

[Blue_Gundam2002]

Originally posted by hansmann No, you are not too nosy…. I guess I was not clear enough – I will NOT have 500 GB – “only” 250 GB since the 2nd removable 250 GB drive is designated to back-up the permanent installed 250 GB one… 250 GB today is not overkill – 4 years ago when I bought my current system, 15 GB seems to be a lot – today 120 – 200 GB HD’s are the norm. I still need to know: a) is it possible to have the back-up drive (and the older 60 GB video HD) on a mobile rack and boot it from the permanent HD? b) or should I permanently install the 60 GB video HD as well and go with the “1394 / USB 2.0 combo 3.5"external enclosure” as back up? c) how would I boot up – from the internal HD? Thanks for your help, hansmann

If you want to use the 250 as a backup why don't you set it up useing raid?

[hansmann]

I thought you need SATA HD's to do that?
Mine are WD Caviar 250 GB/7200RPM/8MB cache.

hansmann

[Blue_Gundam2002]

Originally posted by hansmann I thought you need SATA HD's to do that? Mine are WD Caviar 250 GB/7200RPM/8MB cache. hansmann

I don't think you need sata. I seen post here of people useing WD caviar's in raid. Just search the forum for more info on raid. I think raid 0 is the one you want to use.

[hansmann]

OK - will read up on that...

Can you do Raid with a removable HD - or does it have to be
installed? What about the boot issue?

TwoRails - you run mobile racks - could you enlighten me?

thanks,

hansmann

[SPNKr]

RAID 1 is for mirroring the contents of a drive onto another, so if one drive fails, the other one remains intact. However if the data gets corrupted, the other drive just mirrors the corruption. It works for IDE and SATA. If your mobo doesn't have a RAID controller, you would have to buy one.

[glc]

The computer will "boot" to whatever drive the OS is installed on, this should be a permanently installed drive for best results and least confusion. You can swap any drive you want in and out as an additional drive, this can be internal or external, it will simply be seen as another drive.

I'd permanently install the 60gb drive and install the OS and your programs on it, and use the 250gb drives for data storage, backup, video editing, whatever etc. - and you can make the 250's permanent or removable, or one of each, whatever you want.

[hansmann]

Thanks to glc and the other members for answering my questions - I am sure I will have some more down the road....

hansmann

[hansmann]

My parts arrived yesterday – I already installed the I/O panel and the mobo. XP pro OEM has been ordered.

Another question regarding the HD setup, connections, partition and allocation.
My mobo (MSI , K8T Neo-FIS2R) supports IDE 1,2 + 3 connectors.
Here is what I plan to do:
IDE 1 – Master: 60 GB HD (OS and programs-perhaps partition, 20GB for OS and programs, 40 GB for video editing?)
IDE 1 – Slave: 250 GB HD (data only).
I still need to connect the 2nd (removable-mobile rack) 250 GB HD (to back up the data only HD). Should I use the IDE 2 master and connect both (DVD burner and CD burner in a Master/Slave configuration to IDE 3?
I have an Antec Sonata case with 5 external (3-5.25” and 2-3.5”) bays and 5 internal 3.5” bays. I would like the set up as follows: Top bay DVD burner, 2nd bay CD burner, 3rd bay
removable HD mobile rack – internal (3.5”) top bay 60 GB HD and below that the 250 GB HD.
As usual, your advice is greatly appreciated.

hansmann

[glc]

An IDE controller on the VT8237 chipset provides IDE HDD/CD-ROM with PIO, Bus Master and Ultra DMA 66/100/133 operation modes. It can connect 4 Ultra ATA drives. Serial ATA/150 controller integrated in VT8237 - Up to 150MB/s transfer speed - Can connect up to 2 Serial ATA drives - Support RAID 0, RAID 1 Supports ultra ATA, Serial ATA, Ultra ATA RAID 0 or 1, Serial ATA RAID 0 or 1, Ultra/ Serial ATA RAID 0+1 Connect up to 2 Serial ATA devices and 2 Ultra ATA 133 devices

I get the impression that one of the 3 IDE connectors is only for RAID, that raises the question whether you can in fact connect 6 IDE devices without using RAID.

I would personally use a USB 2.0 or Firewire external drive for doing backups instead of a mobile IDE rack. That way you will only have 4 IDE devices to worry about. The other option is using at least one SATA drive.

[hansmann]

glc thanks - I copied the text below from the mobo user's guide -would that work? I ordered the mobile rack - would like to utilize IDE 3 - if possible....

Serial ATA/Serial ATA RAID Connectors controlled by Promise
20378: IDE3, SER1 & SER2:
The brand new Promise 20378 chipset supports one IDE connector IDE3 and two serial connectors SER1& SER2.

IDE3 is a 32-bit Enhanced PCI IDE and Ultra DMA 66/100/133 controller that provides PIO mode 0~6, Bus Master, and Ultra DMA 66/100/133 function. You can connect up to 2 hard disk drives---one IDE master and one IDE slave.

SER1 & SER2 are dual high-speed Serial ATA interface ports. Each supports 1st generation serial ATA data rates of 150 MB/s. Both connectors are fully compliant with Serial ATA 1.0 specifications. Each Serial ATA connector can connect to 1 hard disk device. Please refer to Serial ATA/Serial ATA Raid
manual for detail software installation procedure.


Thanks,

hansmann

[hansmann]

Below is the e-mail message I received last night from MSI Tech Support:

Dear Customer,

IDE3 is provided by the Promise RAID controller. You will need to configure a single hard drive connected to IDE3 as a RAID array under the Promise fastbuild utility. During the boot process you will see the Promise RAID BIOS and will be prompted to press Control-F to enter the utility. Once you are in the Promise utility, select auto setup to configure the single drive as a performance array and save and exit the Promise utility. One you have installed the Promise driver under Windows the drive will be detected by Windows and will operate normally.


Thank you for contacting MSI Tech Support!
MSI Computer Corp.
Technical Support Division
Tel: 1.626.913.0828
Fax: 1.626.581.7721
<http://www.msicomputer.com>

So it is possible....

which brings up the question:
Which HD should I connect to IDE 3 (since this will be the HD installed first)?
Any thoughts and/or recommendations as to the HD issues (set up, partition and allocation) I was asking 4 posts back in this thread?
Your help is appreciated.

hansmann

[glc]

I think I'd put the boot drive on it and set the bios to boot from the Promise instead of the onboard controller. You will probably need a floppy with the Promise driver on it to install XP on it - you would press F6 when prompted to install a 3rd party controller. I'd use the 60gb for this purpose and one of the 250gb drives for video editing.

[hansmann]

Thanks, glc…

Just to make sure that I understand you correct – the 60 GB HD would be connected to IDE 3 as the boot drive and contain only the OS and programs – nothing else?
I could do the editing and all other data on the 250 GB and use the removable 250 GB (on a mobile rack) as back up – would that work?

I have another issue:
After reading some of the threads regarding data transfer I still am not sure which way to go. I have a 15 GB drive (almost full) in my old system and need to transfer about 8 – 10 GB. Is it possible to set up a LAN between windows 2000 pro and XP pro and transfer data that way or should I “ghost” the whole drive to one of my new drives and sort it out later?

Thank you for your time and advice,

hansmann

[glc]

First issue - exactly.

Second issue: Yes, you can transfer by LAN or by removing the drive and temporarily slaving it in to the other machine.

[hansmann]

Hi guys,

everything is installed - I am going to fire up tmy rig tonight..
Quick question: on the 60 GB drive (for OS and programs only)
- how big should the partition for the OS be? I was thinking about 10 GB? Should I make more then one partition? If so-
how many and how big?
The same Q for my 250 GB data HD (I was thinking of at least 3 (Family, business and video editing) - any advice?

Thanks again,

hansmann