Adding hard drives to RAID 0

[skykaptain]

This is just a question I have been pondering for some time: I have a 500 GB hard drive that is filling up fast, form games, recorded TV, and music. I have been chewing on the idea of adding another hard drive and making it RAID 0. I was wondering if I could make it RAID 0 without having to reformat my current hard drive and if it is possible, how can I do it? I have not yet bought another hard drive yet because I have not found an answer to this question.

Thanks.

[Eg0Death]

Will you be using a hardware RAID controller (motherboard or add-in card) or Windows Software RAID?

[skykaptain]

I would prefer hardware but whatever works. I will be trying hardware first.

[homer]

i have reason to believe that you have to format your HD in order to get a RAID 0 array setup.

I have a 500 GB hard drive that is filling up fast, form games, recorded TV, and music. I have been chewing on the idea of adding another hard drive and making it RAID 0.

why do you want a RAID 0 when it sounds like you want more harddrive space?

[Eg0Death]

why do you want a RAID 0 when it sounds like you want more harddrive space?

RAID 0 (Striped without parity) results in increased space and disk performance without any fault tolerance.

[homer]

why do you want a RAID 0 when it sounds like you want more harddrive space?

RAID 0 (Striped without parity) results in increased space and disk performance without any fault tolerance.

it results in increased disk performance, not increased space, in fact, it reduces disk space. 2 X 500gb harddrives in a JBOD setup will result in 1000gb total storage capacity, whereas 2 X 500gb harddrives in a RAID 0 setup will result in 500gb total storage capacity.

[Eg0Death]

You've got your RAIDs confused.  I have two 75GB HDDs in a 150 GB (hardware) RAID 0.  There is a description of RAID here.

[homer]

ah, my mistake i did have them confused. sorry about that.

[skykaptain]

i have reason to believe that you have to format your HD in order to get a RAID 0 array setup.

So there is no way I could just create a RAID 0 array and not have to reformat? Bummer.

[Eg0Death]

I will say no, you can't create a RAID 0 and not have to format.  If someone knows of a way, I will be thrilled to learn!
If you use hardware RAID you could make an image of the drive using something like Acronis or Norton Ghost prior to setting up the RAID and then apply the image after RAID is configured. 

[skykaptain]

I guess the only way I would be able to do it would be to backup my hard drive, and then transfer the files back the RAID drives. How doe the image process work?

[Eg0Death]

An image is essentially a snapshot of your drive (or partition).  It will be a single large file.  You'll probably need an external hard drive to store the image.  After your target drive is configured you can write that image to it and Voila!, you're back in business.  That's a high level overview.  The specifics will vary greatly depending upon the software you choose and your setup.