Raid 1 Question

J

joe24

New Member
I have 2 computers, which are identical. These computers each came with 1 hard drive. I have 2 additional new hard drives available (Blank) and want to install 1 on each computer, and then configure them as Raid 1.

Question is, can I plug in the second hard drive on each computer, configure it for RAID 1, and then will the information on the first hard drive automatically build the second hard drive? Can it be that simple?

What if the second hard drive that I install has some data in it (Or OS), will that data be erased and rebuilt from the first hard drive??
 
Technically the data will be erased as the data from drive 1 is being copied to drive 2. To be safe, i would do a fresh install of windows after you set up the raid in case something happens and you lose all your data anyway.
 
Actually, that is what I want to avoid (Doing a fresh install of Windows).

I want the data from the 1st drive to be copied over to the 2nd drive successfully whether or not the 2nd drive has anything in it.
 
From my understanding a RAID 1 set up requires two identical models of hard drives in order to work. They need to be the exact same model of hard drive.
 
i dont think they need to be the same exact model or size, but they do need to be the same speed/cach. but you do need to do a clean install for it to work.
 
They do not need to be the same brand, size or speed as I had a seagate and samsung in raid 1 and both had different cache speed. If different size drives are involved then the array takes the size of the smaller drive.
 
the drives are only as fast as the weakest link? so if one is 5400rpm and the other is 7200rpm both drives will be set at 5400rpm?
 
Last edited:
joe24 said:
Actually, that is what I want to avoid (Doing a fresh install of Windows).

I want the data from the 1st drive to be copied over to the 2nd drive successfully whether or not the 2nd drive has anything in it.
Click to expand...

Setting up a RAID array wipes both drives - At least it has every time I've done it - I don't think there's any other way. I suppose you could image the drive before setting up the array with something like Norton Ghost then restore to the array from the image.
 
Thanks for the data Johnb35. I cannot remember where I read the information that was wrong about RAID 1. It is good to know the truth.
 
When you build any RAID array you clear the partitions of each individual drive and you create a new partition that belongs now to the RAID array. So I believe that the best solution is to do what jevery suggests.
 
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