I've run out of space on my 320G "C" drive, and would like to add a second identical hard drive in a RAID 0 array on my Gigabyte EP45-DQ6 motherboard to improve both speed and space. This, of course, means wiping out the existing OS, and I don't want to do a fresh install if I can avoid it.
I also have 2 1T hard drives set up as "H" and "I" respectively which I use to back up the OS, using both windows backup and Norton Ghost (paranoid).
I tried setting up the 2 1T hard drives in RAID 0 on the motherboard for practice, but once I change my motherboard setting from AHCI to RAID, the OS won't boot beyond the windows logo. I presume that is because the drivers/registry are not set up for RAID.
[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetServicesMsahci VALUE 0 ]
Should I:
1) Install the RAID 0 drivers in the current OS, clone using Norton, set up the RAID 0 array, then restore from image? In which case, how do I force install the drivers ahead of time, and in this case, which drivers do I use?
2) Set up the RAID 0 array, fresh install the OS, then restore from windows backup? Will that cover all my programs and settings? Will restoring this way also restore the drivers back to AHCI leaving me with an un-bootable OS?
3) Don't be so lazy, hunt down all my install keys, and do a fresh install of everything once I set up the RAID 0 arrays?
4) Does the Windows 7 64 professional cd have the necessary drivers for my RAID 0 hardware, or do I need to download and save it to a CD before I do a fresh install, presuming that is the direction I need to take?
Are there other options/considerations I am unaware of?
I also have 2 1T hard drives set up as "H" and "I" respectively which I use to back up the OS, using both windows backup and Norton Ghost (paranoid).
I tried setting up the 2 1T hard drives in RAID 0 on the motherboard for practice, but once I change my motherboard setting from AHCI to RAID, the OS won't boot beyond the windows logo. I presume that is because the drivers/registry are not set up for RAID.
[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetServicesMsahci VALUE 0 ]
Should I:
1) Install the RAID 0 drivers in the current OS, clone using Norton, set up the RAID 0 array, then restore from image? In which case, how do I force install the drivers ahead of time, and in this case, which drivers do I use?
2) Set up the RAID 0 array, fresh install the OS, then restore from windows backup? Will that cover all my programs and settings? Will restoring this way also restore the drivers back to AHCI leaving me with an un-bootable OS?
3) Don't be so lazy, hunt down all my install keys, and do a fresh install of everything once I set up the RAID 0 arrays?
4) Does the Windows 7 64 professional cd have the necessary drivers for my RAID 0 hardware, or do I need to download and save it to a CD before I do a fresh install, presuming that is the direction I need to take?
Are there other options/considerations I am unaware of?