How to use a RAID Setup

i know this question may seem very dumb and very beginner-like to many of u guys...but what exactly is RAID MODE..i mean i have seen it in my BIOS and all...can u guys check my HDD and see if it supports a RAID SETUP..i heard you can get better ratings with RAID...right now it is just hooked up via sata cable

Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

well thats it...if it is possible someone please explain what i need to thank
ahh looked in my bios and found ide,raid,and ahci ...which one has the best performance with the safest data safety...

check which of these will raise my 5.6 score...maybe even to a 5.9
thanks

Basically, a RAID can be many things. But mostly it improves performance and can also be used to mirror your system drive in case it fails.

RAID 0 is performance mode or striping. Requires 2 physical, and suggested identical drives to be done correctly. Each drive feeds the controller different bits of data simultaneously. It's not necessarily double the performance, but depending on what you do, a striped RAID can be nice. However, if you are concerned about data loss if the RAID ever fails, RAID 0 is not for you. If one drive fails, you lose it all. RAID 0 combines the capacity of both drives. So 2 20 gig HDs in RAID 0 would yeild a ~40 gig array.

RAID 1 is a mirror array. This also requires 2 physical drives. The controller writes all bits to both drives and creates an auto-backup if you will. If one drive fails, the system keeps chugging along as if nothing ever happened. With a warning of a failed drive of course, but it *shouldn't* and in most cases doesn't crash the system. RAID 1 doesn't combine the capacity of both drives, but instead only has actual capacity of a single drive. So 2 20 gig HDs in RAID 1 = 20 gig logical drive with backup. RAID 1 doesn't provide the performance increase you get with RAID 0.

RAID 0 + 1 is the best of both worlds. It requires 3 physical drives to be done correctly. It stripes the data across the RAID 0 array portion, then it backs the entire array up on the additional drive.

It's a very good idea to use identical drives for a RAID array. However, in a RAID 0 + 1 configuration, remember that the "+1" mirror drive should be equal or greater than the capacity of the striped drives.

These are just the basic RAID arrays I've listed. There are much more complex arrays to be made that offer incredible performance, but as you can guess, they can get expensive.

Hope this helped.

T

As far as raising your Vista Experience score, you need to look into a new graphics card.

not really concerned about graphics...all i basically do is surf the web and school stuff...but yea a better graphics card would be great...

oh so basically the RAID is for people that have more than one HDD?? i only have one seagate 320gb HDD

Yes, just edited it to fix where I left that little detail out

ahh got it..thanks for your help