How can I change the stripe size of RAID 0 without needing to reformate?

[Lima]

Hello peoples.

I just finished installing the last update for Vista on my RAID 0 array. This is the first time I' ve set up RAID. I didn't really study this, I pretty much just jumped in and did it I used the 128kb stripe size, two 320gb WD HDD's and, now I got a pretty big 596gb Vista in RAID 0 install.

What I would like, is to avoid reinstalling the OS from scratch in order to experiment with different stripe sizes. Only problem, is that I do not know how to do that. From what I understand, if I change the size, I will be breaking the array and be forced to reinstall Windows.

I did read somewhere, that if I image the disk, I can then change the stripes size and use the disks image to avoid a complete reinstall. Problem is, I have never done that either.

Any help?

[lowfat]

W/ onboard it isn't possible to change the strip on the fly.

And good luck w/ imaging. I spend all day yesterday trying to image my array. Everytime I tried to copy the image back it would fail. This was w/ Acronis True Image Home and Windows 7 Backup & Restore.

[gingerbee]

just reformat with ssd's and vista/7 on a usb flash drive it's fast. jmo

[Eagle Eye]

Lima,

Research striping try to get a good understanding of the importance of the cluster size you choose, I usually went with with an 8kb cluster size maximizing disk space (speed) but fragmentation was a problem with larger files, I would probably choose a 32kb-64kb cluster size now because its a good balance for larger files like movies, gaming, mp3's etc. If you're processing a lot smaller data than a smaller cluster size is ideal.

As far as not reformatting if you can transfer the data of your raid array to a single drive and re-define your striped raid array than use a disk copying software from Western digital/segate/etc it should work because I've not had a problem in the past doing something similiar.

Just my opinon and experience...

EE

[shayan288]

Dont mean to thread jack, but leik Im going to be RAID 0 ing for my first time tonight (my two 500gb hdd) and Im thinking of choosing 64kb stripe size. But If I store 500gb of movies games and music on the array, what would happen?

[lowfat]

Originally Posted by shayan288

Dont mean to thread jack, but leik Im going to be RAID 0 ing for my first time tonight (my two 500gb hdd) and Im thinking of choosing 64kb stripe size. But If I store 500gb of movies games and music on the array, what would happen?

Always go w/ 128k or larger for SSD's. This is done because generally the write block size on an SSD is 64k. And since you are writing to two drives, you are writing 128k for every single write. So even if you pick a stripe smaller than 128k it is always going to be writing 128k to the SSD.

[shayan288]

but i dont have ssd's... I have two 500gb hdd's.

[lowfat]

O. Reading > Me. If you are working w/ mostly larger files then pick the largest stripe size.

[shayan288]

all files on the array will be minimum 700mb (not counting little files liek the OS files and stuff) (windows 7 is gonna be installed on the array), am I good with 64kb? or would 128 be better?

[Jake_HT]

I would say the best sizes are either 64/ 128.... depending on the application... any less than 64 seems much too small