The RAID Upgrade
If you're looking for the highest performance boost, RAID is what you're after. The decision to use RAID depends on your reliability and performance requirements, your budget, and your ability to deal with the complexity of the setup.
Possible ways of using RAID range from simply duplicating the contents of one drive on another (called "mirroring"), which provides an instantly available, working copy if one of the drives fails; to splitting data bits across multiple drives (called "striping"), which increases writing and reading performance; to a mixture of both features. Your approach dictates how many drives you'll need and how complex the setup will be (see "Basic Raid Improves Performance, Fault Tolerance," in box below).
Installing and configuring a RAID controller and drives involves using setup software built into the RAID controller itself, as well as a lot of cabling. If you buy a third-party controller, it will likely include detailed instructions about how to arrange the drives in the computer and how to set the drive jumpers (if necessary).
You usually get to the RAID setup by pressing a hot-key combination (it will be shown on screen when the system is booting up). Most RAID setup programs guide you through selecting a configuration; then they automatically configure the drives and controller to support that configuration. Once setup is complete, you can install a fresh copy of Windows on the RAID drives, or you could partition and format those volumes with Windows' Disk Manager and use them for additional storage.
After the installation, Windows treats your RAID configuration as if it were any typical local hard drive. As with all drives, you should back up your data regularly. RAID mirroring will not protect you if, for example, you delete important files from a mirrored RAID setup: You'll delete files from both drives.
If you don't have the budget for RAID but still want your data stored in two places, consider a software-based mirroring scheme. One mirroring utility is TechSoft's MirrorFolder ($40). MirrorFolder duplicates data to any mapped drive--either a local disk or LAN-based storage. MirrorFolder works in the background, so you won't even notice that it's running.
No longer relegated to corporate servers, RAID in desktop PCs can turbocharge drive access, help protect your system from a failed drive, or (if you use enough drives) do both at the same time.
Illustration: Steven Lyons
RAID Level 0: Data is "striped" (broken into chunks that are spread out across two or more hard drives). Benefit: Nearly twice the data access speed. Trade-Off: If one drive dies, you lose all your files.
RAID Level 1: Files on one drive are "mirrored" (duplicated) on another. Benefit: Fault tolerance; the system can still run if one drive breaks down. Trade-Off: You get only the storage capacity of the smaller drive; the system can't use the excess space on any larger drives.
RAID Level 0+1: Combines the benefits of both striping and mirroring using four (or more) drives. Trade-Offs: At least four drives are required, which raises the cost of the upgrade, and makes your PC much noisier and hotter.
Take it With You
If you have an old IDE drive gathering dust, it can enjoy new life as a portable data storage vault when installed in a USB-drive enclosure (prices start at about $40). Simply mount and connect your drive in the case, hook up the power adapter, and connect the USB cable to your PC, and you've got a great backup or portable transport system. Enclosures are also available for 2.5-inch laptop drives and 3.5-inch SATA drives. You can also get enclosures that use FireWire (IEEE 1394) connections.
Making your own external hard drive isn't for everyone, so several companies make external drive kits designed for backups. Many of these drives, such as Maxtor's 300GB Shared Storage Drive ($350), also have network connections, so you can use them as stand-alone file servers on a network. (Look for a comprehensive review of these drives next month.)
But if you want the flexibility to use a drive as either an internal or a portable disk, the Saturn Mobile Rack system from Addonics (prices range from $40 to $90 depending on features) lets you put either an IDE or a SATA hard drive into an enclosure, which fits into a slot that you install in a drive bay. You can then pull the drive out and take it with you when it's time to go. The portable enclosure has either a USB or a FireWire jack (depending on the model); the jack conveniently allows you to plug the drive into a different computer when you're away.
Don't lose small screws, jumpers, or other metal parts--stick them to a magnet or put them in a paper cup.
Ad Choices