When my father told me that he was starting his computer in Raid 0, I didn’t understand why he needed such a configuration. As far as I know, using the Raid configuration was outdated and difficult to configure. Then I did my research.
There are significant advantages to using a raid configuration on your computer. The most common raid configurations for home use are Raid 0 and Raid 1.
Raid 0 gives you better performance as it focuses on distributing data evenly across multiple disks (instead of using one disk as a spare), which dramatically increases the read / write speed of your machine.
Raid 1 provides the best data protection because it creates an exact copy of data from one hard drive to another, providing complete redundancy through backups. Configuring your hard drives to run in a Raid configuration is a personal decision based on your settings, and you must decide which iteration is best for you. I personally prefer Raid 0 because I prioritize computer speed and performance over security and redundancy.
Before starting
If you are planning to implement a raid setup on your current computer, make sure you back up all of your data, as it will be deleted in the process. You will also need two separate flash drives with enough space for the respective files.
The first flash drive will need to download the Raid drivers. You can find them here after choosing your car and model. You will need to download the Windows ISO image on the second flash drive. You can find this download link here
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It is possible to install both files on one flash drive, but there were reports of system instability during startup, so I would not risk it. Let’s get started.
Raid 0 or Raid 1 setting
I’ve briefly mentioned the advantages of each version of Raid, but despite all the advantages in life, there are drawbacks. Since Raid 0 spreads your data across multiple disks, if one disk fails, all data on the other disks will also disappear. The disadvantage of raid 1 is that it is significantly slower than raid 0.
That being said, Raid 0 and Raid 1 are very easy to configure and require basically the same setup process. The first thing you need to do is find out if your motherboard has a built-in Raid controller (most modern motherboards do).
From here you should:
- Map the drives you want to use.
- Load the machine into the BIO.
When you get there, your screen will look like the image below. From here, you should navigate to your BIOS chipset equivalent. This screen will look something like this:
After switching to your chipset, your screen will look like this:
On the chipset screen, you should go to SATA mode and select RAID instead of AHCI.
You have now successfully initialized Raid on your motherboard; just click “Save and Exit”. At this point, the computer will restart and try to launch a copy of windows that is no longer there
Just press and hold Ctrl + R to launch the Raid Controller UI (Ctrl + R for AMD, this combination may differ depending on your setup). At this point, your screen should look something like this:
Upon reaching this point, you must select Create Array, then select the disks that you want to use for the raid configuration. The available drives will be listed on the right under the Drives section. Use the A or Ins key to select the drives and press Enter when you’re done configuring the drives.
After that, your screen will look like this:
From here, you can decide which configuration you want to choose. I personally chose Raid 0, but the choice is yours. After that, you will choose the size of the array you want to build.
I just kept the default setting to use all available space for my raid drives. After that you will choose the caching mode, I left the default caching system Read / Write. It will look something like this:
Once configured to your liking, just press C to create the array. Press Esc and Y to reboot the system with the new Raid configuration.
After rebooting, go back to BIOS and select a new raid configuration for the boot disk. Before clicking the Save and Exit button, your screen should look something like this:
After that, your machine will reboot again. Let it go through the normal startup process. It will inform you about the driver error, after which your screen should look like this:
If you haven’t already, plug in the flash drive containing your Raid drivers and the flash drive containing the Windows ISO image, navigate to the drive and folder where the driver is stored and click OK. Your screen should look like this:
Select the drivers required for installation, then click Next. After that, your screen will ask you to select the drive on which you want to install the new Windows 10 operating system, then click “Next” again. Your screen will look like this:
Your operating system will begin installation. From here, you should be fully configured in whatever raid configuration you choose (0 or 1). If you have any questions or need more information about a specific part of the process, let me know and I’ll get back to you immediately!
Enjoy a world of redundant arrays of independent disks (RAID).
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