Building new PC- setup ?'s

[rothmans]

I am attempting to assemble a pc for the first time and have a couple questions about setting up the hard drives. I have an Asus p4c800-e mobo and I have two SATA hard drives, one is 10K rpm drive I want to use for the os and games, the second is a slower one that I want to use for lots of photos and music.

I know my mobo supports the SATA and RAID setup, but how do I set it up,?? I want the bigger drive to be the back up or mirror...I think??

I have been searching and reading about the raid setup and pc building on the net but dont really understand this.

I will probably have 100 more questions:rolleyes
Thanks!

[Boba]

Originally posted by rothmans
...one is 10K rpm drive I want to use for the os and games, the second is a slower one that I want to use for lots of photos and music.

Well, you're off to a good start here. Always use the fastest disk for the OS and the slowest for this type of data. MP3's, pics, etc... are perfect for the slower disk.

I know my mobo supports the SATA and RAID...I want the bigger drive to be the back up or mirror...

This is where you begin to go astray (but, no worries, that's why you're asking for help). :thumbup

A hard disk mirror is exactly as you would suspect - an exact image/reflection of the original. Size for size, bit for bit. In your scenario above (ex: "C" and "D" drive) you have actually created one "logical" drive (C) using two "physical" disks. If these drives are the same size, you will not have any unused space in which to create that MP3 drive (D) that you want.

If you decide to skip the idea of creating two logical drives from two physical devices and go with mirroring it is highly recommended that you use two identical drives (same size, same specifications). Remember that each write to one drive requires the same operation on the mirrored disk. If one disk is slower than the other, you have effectively decreased the performance of the faster disk.

Given your current drives (one fast, one slower) I would recommend avoiding the mirroring idea and simply use each disk independently (one logical drive per physical disk).

Also, IDE RAID is teh sux; unless you like watching your disks explode. (Some cheap and/or ignorant bastards are sure to flame me for that.)

Good luck with your build-out. Although frustrating at times, it is still kinda fun :)

[rothmans]

Thanks for your advice. Your right it is a little frustrating but very fun actually, I have been reading different tutorials on the web and am starting to learn a little more about them.

I guess I will take your advice and not do the RAID setup. I notice my mobo has plugs for raid sata and just noraml sata, so I guess that explains how to do that.

Any other tips when assembling, starting it for the first time and loading xp?
Thanks again!

[insyder]

Originally posted by Boba
Also, IDE RAID is teh sux; unless you like watching your disks explode. (Some cheap and/or ignorant bastards are sure to flame me for that.)OK, I'll bite.

I've been running an IDE RAID (striping) for years now with no problems at all.

Please elaborate.

[Boba]

Originally posted by insyder
OK, I'll bite.

I've been running an IDE RAID (striping) for years now with no problems at all.

Please elaborate.

Nothing specific. Perhaps the IDE drives can't handle the seemingly constant I/O of RAID and explode often. Also, I have seen many mainboard IDE RAID controllers simply fail, break your stripe/mirror/etc... and then you are left with a dead system.

I tried this once myself a couple of years ago for shits and giggles. IT worked for exactly one day before the controller f*cked up. I have several cheap friends that also tried this - all with the same result.

Just last week a co-worker (and IDE RAID evangelist), who had his mirror running for about six months, sadly reported to me that his had just gone belly-up.

Due to cost not many people are into it, but I have nothing but SCSI at my house (servers, desktops, etc...). I use the IDE drive platters for the task to which they are best suited - drink coasters. :laughing

[Boba]

Originally posted by rothmans
Thanks for your advice. Your right it is a little frustrating but very fun actually, I have been reading different tutorials on the web and am starting to learn a little more about them.

I guess I will take your advice and not do the RAID setup. I notice my mobo has plugs for raid sata and just noraml sata, so I guess that explains how to do that.

Any other tips when assembling, starting it for the first time and loading xp?
Thanks again!

That's about it. Your new mainboard should be adept at discovering and allocating resources to the various add-in boards you have - and XP is pretty good at avoiding resource overlap, so you should be good to go.

If your mainboard has sound, LAN, etc... built-in, I would wait until XP is up and running and download the newest drivers from the mainboard vendors website rather than using the drivers on the CD-ROM that shipped with the board. In my experience, most of these mfg's are constanly updating the shipped version of these drivers, primarily to fix bugs, but sometimes they even add additional features that weren't included in the shipped version.

Have fun and good luck!!

[Tacky1]

I run Raid 0 with two Raptor 10,000 rpm 74gb for nearly a year now and never had a problem!!!!!!!!!!
I've also ran raid 0 with 7200 rpm drives and never had a problem,
Try it out!! Dont give up just because one person fucked up an install etc.. ;)


Also, backup your files on a seperate drive/cd/dvd, Drives fail either in a raid stripe or even on their own..

[rothmans]

Ok I got a noob question now! I got the pc built ok and fired up and xp loaded...success!!

But now I don't know how to make a location for my second harddrive...The computer detects both, but how do I assign a location to it?? I have my main drive as C and windows formatted/partitioned that when xp loaded. How do I format/partition and designate my second drive G or F etc? Thanks!!

[Boba]

1. Goto the desktop, right-click "My Computer", select "Manage"

2. Click "Disk Management" and look for "Disk 1" or something like it. If you see "unallocated" in a big rectangle box with a black stripe at the top, this is the drive you need to partition and format.

3. Clicking on that drive may prompt the "Disk signature wizard." If so, follow the prompts to write a signature to the disk.

4. Next, right-click on the "unallocated" space and select, "New Partition."

5. I would recommend paging through the wizard, accepting the default settings until you get to the "Format Partition" dialog box. Here, you can give the new disk a friendly name (other than the "New Volume" default) - "Data", "Music", etc... Also, check the "Perform a quick format" box, this will save you some down time waiting for the disk to be formatted.

NOTE: If you choose to use a different drive letter than the default in step 5, remember, you can only assign a drive letter that isn't already in use (D:, for example, will most likely be your CD-ROM drive).

6. Enjoy your second disk.

-Bob

[rothmans]

Thanks Boba!! That worked well, Iknow have a F drive, I guess I can further partition it and make a G and so on right?

Another stupid question, I know windows prompted me when i was loading xp that I could transfer files from my old PC, but I bypassed it and now I dont know where to find that wizard that will help me import all my email from outlook and my faviorates. I have a network card on both pc's so its just a simple hookup and some import wizard no? Thanks!

[Boba]

Originally posted by rothmans
I know have a F drive, I guess I can further partition it and make a G and so on right?

Well, not as it is right now. The defaults I walked you through earlier assume that you wanted to create one logical drive from that single, physical disk. If you want to create multiple partitions (logical drives) on that disk then you will need to delete the partition you just created and walk through the wizard again. Just right-click on the new drive and select "Delete partition" to start over.

Go back through the wizard (see earlier post) and, when you get to the "Specify Partition Size" dialog box, simply type in the value (or, size) of the logical disk you want to create.

Note: 1 GB is roughly equivilent to 1,000 in the "Partition Size in MB" combo box. So, if you want to spit the thing in half, simply divide the value Windows displays in that box by two.

Another stupid question, I know windows prompted me when i was loading xp that I could transfer files from my old PC, but I bypassed it and now I dont know where to find that wizard that will help me import all my email from outlook and my faviorates. I have a network card on both pc's so its just a simple hookup and some import wizard no? Thanks!

Unfortunately, I can't help you here. My experience is in a corporate support model (Read: domain: client+server - at work and here, at home). I have never used the migration wizard, don't know if it works, where to find it, etc...(and I'm not even sure it would work/apply to this situation).

I "can" do this (migrate your data), but it would take too long for me to explain it here (read: I am a SLOW typist).

Perhaps a fellow geek on the board, with more experience migrating data on an ad hoc network, can assist you.

-Bob

[deaconblues]

The fastest way would be to pull the drive from the old system, hook it up as a slave to your NEW system, and copy the files over.

that way your only bottleneck is the I/O on the drives themselves.

However.... if you insist on doing it over a network...

I would first share the FOLDER with the files you want, then map it to a drive letter on your new system (my computer - tools menu - map network drive -- browse to the folder you shared, and select it/click OK).

Then drop into a DOS command prompt and

XCOPY /E /H /C *.* (mapped drive) (target drive/folder)

The /E replicates all subfolders from the old folder to the new... and also creates empty folders if they exist on the old drive. Use /S instead if you don't care to recreate empty folders.

The /H copies hidden/system files if they exist.

The /C continues the copy even if some files can't be copied / run into errors.


Next, go have a cup of coffee while your two systems exchange data.

[Boba]

Right on! :thumbup

Total brain-fart here. Didn't even mention simply moving the old drive to the new box.

What Deacon said! :cool

[rothmans]

Thanks for the tips, I think I will go the route of trying to install the old hardrive, but that leads me to a couple more questions:

1. On startup I get a message that fasttrack 378 is scanning for an ide drive, says its not connected and the bios is not installed. The XP screen then comes up and windows loads normally. My normal bios seems to work fine...Is this because I setup my two HDD with the onboard SATA connection? I also notice in my bios that I hooked my dvd's up to the sec. instead of pri. The pri. slot is still open is this ok?

2. Is the open pri. ide where I hook up my old HDD to transfer my files?

Hey Deacon: Since I loaded my SBC software on this computer I get a prompt to upgrade after I log on...something about an SBC DSL self support tool...Should I update this...a google search said it was a program that sent personal info to sbc??

Thanks--

[rothmans]

I allmost forgot....A picture of the new system....24 hours and still hasn't blown up so I guess I did ok. I also got a new digital camera when I bought all the stuff to put the pc together..

EDIT: Crap I gotta re-size em first!

[rothmans]

How do I do that?

[rothmans]

Here we go...lets see if this works...

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL490/3090582/6277307/80630780.jpg

[deaconblues]

Originally posted by rothmans
Hey Deacon: Since I loaded my SBC software on this computer I get a prompt to upgrade after I log on...something about an SBC DSL self support tool...Should I update this...a google search said it was a program that sent personal info to sbc??

Thanks--

Self Support Tool is a program that monitors your DSL connection (and all components needed to use it, such as network drivers, protocols etc). The 'personal info' consists of the DSL account information such as circuit number and email address, plus your mail settings for Outlook Express, which it can also fix. In the case that it CANNOT fix a problem, it will prepare a Smart Issue report, which then gets uploaded to SBC as soon as a connection becomes available (DSL, dialup, wireless, whatever). As far as I know, it doesn't include personal data aside from what circuit/account is submitting the problem.

I'd upgrade it... but if you feel uncomfortable running it, you can always disable/uninstall it. Since you're running XP, you don't NEED any special software to connect via DSL.... the native PPPoE support will handle that just fine.