A couple questions about raid and vista?

I've pretty much given up on my current HD. Its accessing files really slow and I believe that is making my games crash. Sometimes it finds a file othertimes i'll go back in and the file has disappeared. I've run Seagates Diagnostic tool it doesn't even reconize it as a seagate drive. But i've ran extended basic tests doesn't support advanced features because its not reconizing it as a seagate drive. I've run memtest up to 100% with no errors. So I know its nothing to do with the ram.

So I was looking at HD's. I was thinking about getting 2 of these. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822144417 I would just get another big drive but i've read alot of posts about raid configs being much faster. So I'd be paying a bit more for 500gbs but it should be a bit faster right? I do not have a floppy installed on my setup. I do have some 256mb jump drives though. How do I make my raid setup? This kind of leads into the vista question.

I was looking at the home premium upgrade http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116204 which leads me to a few more questions. I figure if i'm buying a few HD's I might as well give in and buy vista. Now this is the upgrade version will I have to install XP on the new HD then install vista over it? Or can I just put the vista dvd in and install it. 2nd If I just install vista it should reconize the drives full amount unlike XP limit of the 137gb. Do I install the raid config after windows is setup?

Also about the drivers for Vista. Should I just download all my drivers now save to a dvd then install after Vista is up and running. I checked my mb and see it has driver downloads for vista. Would I download and install now of just download then install after vista is running. I guess i'm just a bit confused with this being 64bit. I don't want to buy it then find out I have to have everything updated before installing. Also with the OEM for system builders as long as its on the current system say I have to do a reformat can the version be re installed? Or is there something I can get to save a copy after its been activated so I wouldn't have to worry about activating it agian.
 
If you're going to get the max performance out of those drives, set them up as RAID 0--but your hard drive space won't be 500GB. It would still be 250GB even though you have two physical hard drives.


As for Vista, it looks the complete full version since it mentioned "for System Builders". You can just buy that copy and that's it.

As for Vista drivers, first run the Vista compatibility check from Microsoft's website for your current system. It will give you a checklist to see what needs attention and what passes. Vista have RAID support so you don't have to worry about your two new hard drives you're getting. Just make sure you run the compatibility software:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx

You can look around to find it. Whatever problem it finds, go search for Vista drivers for that particular hardware (usually best to go directly to the manufacturer's site).
 
The vista is an OEM product, if its the same as mine then you need to install XP first. However, there is a workaround for this, i have posted it here somewhere.

Heres a RAID guide, its done before the OS
http://www.pctechguide.com/tutorials/RAID.htm

Definately a good idea to get all your drivers first, i always do that. It makes installation alot smoother. Vista does give you the option to download them during installation, but i had problems with this. You will have no problems with reinstalling.
 
Thanks for the info guys. Let me know if you find that workaround. I really didn't want to spend the time installing XP on a new drive then putting vista on top of it. I decided to go with a WD 320gb drive instead. I might buy another down the road and give raid a shot but I just want a smooth system right now.
 
ISOwner said:
set them up as RAID 0--but your hard drive space won't be 500GB. It would still be 250GB even though you have two physical hard drives.

um doesn't RAID 0 combine both drives and write/read half of each file on each drive? That would make him have 500 GB of storage.
 
That would make it go slower aswell wouldnt it, with reading from 2 drives?
 
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