SATA Drives

[Andy R]

When building a new computer and using SATA drives. Do you have to set them up in RAID? If not, how can I do this? :confused:

[The Wise Monkey]

You don't have to use RAID when setting up SATA drives. If you want to set up a RAID array, you need to decide what type you want. I'd recommend checking out wikipedia for explanations of the different types of array, or there are a few threads on it here.

[Andy R]

Thanks for your quick response to my question. I do know a little about RAID array. But I was just wondering if I could get away from this.
I have two WD SATA 300 Hard drives and I want to set them up not in a RAID array but as two single drives C: and D: both on one computer. This was my question? This is the first time that I have ever worked with SATA drives.
I also have noticed the there are no jumpers on neither of the drives. Do I need jumpers to let my computer know which is Master and which is slave? You see this is why I am so confused.

[Jamie Nixx]

Yes you will need jumpers for the harddrives.

[The Wise Monkey]

Yes you will need jumpers for the harddrives.

SATA drives do not have jumpers on them - they both act as masters.

This makes them a lot easier to use than IDEs in some ways, as you can just plug them in and they will sort themselves out.

As for your situation, you don't need to do anything special to have two different drives or have any RAID configuration either - just install your OS and format both the drives, and they will appear as two different drives.

[Jamie Nixx]

Snap i was thinking IDE, cheers for clearing that up WM :)

[Andy R]

Sorry,
I haven't been able to get back to you all. I have just been busy. Thank you all for your responses It is nice to know that real people read your posts and want to help.
My build has come to a screaming halt for now. My MOB is on it's way back to Asus for replacement. :(
I could not get it to post for the first time. I spent over an hour with one of there technicians trying to troubleshoot my problem and end result was that I had a bad motherboard.
Thank you all once again for all your help. I'll be back as soon as my board arrives and I'am back to my build.

[The Wise Monkey]

Unlucky - that sucks. Hope the replacement works. :)