You can reinstall Windows safely even with a Windows RAID 0 array on your second disk.
You can reinstall Windows safely even with a Windows RAID 0 array on your second disk.
Hi, I once set up a Raid 0 with two 1 TB drives using Windows Disk Manager. Now I need to reinstall Windows because of some issues and want a clean install. I’m worried the new setup might not recognize my RAID array, which could mean losing everything. I’ve attached a screenshot of Disk Manager showing my two drives and the 120 GB boot disk. Please let me know if you need anything else.
Because you're managing your RAID through your operating system instead of external hardware, I understand your worry. If you proceed, make sure to back up your data thoroughly to avoid any loss. This is especially important since your RAID setup is twice as prone to failure, or you might opt for JBOD instead. After reinstalling the OS, you should be able to restore everything from Disk Manager and reconfigure it together, as the system already contains information about the array on the disks. I’m considering testing it in a virtual environment. A quick note: RAID 0 works well for large file access but offers little benefit for boot times or program loading speeds. You might have already compared performance with different data sizes to see its impact. For fast retrieval of small data—like booting or launching apps—SSDs are highly recommended.
I fully support this idea. Modern mechanical hard drives aren't worth the effort of a raid 0 anymore. A single 1TB SATA SSD is incredibly affordable and will significantly outperform any mechanical drive setup in every measurement. If you still want a raid solution, I recommend going with hardware-based storage. I'm not sure if it's possible to run an OS on a Windows-controlled raid either.