Adding a RAID to an existing system...

I want to add two more harddrives to my computer in a RAID 0 configuration. I have plenty of room in my case and on my mobo, an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe. There are 8 SATA connectors on it- 4 supported by the nForce4 chipset, and 4 by the Silicon Image Sil3114 RAID controller. Both support RAID 0.
Specs of the ASUS mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131517
All I want to do is add two more HDs in a RAID 0 without reinstalling Windows. Is this possible?
Sorry if I sound like a complete IDIOT! GOSH!

Current system:

Windows XP Pro SP2
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
Seagate 250Gb (x2, SATA, not a RAID)
GeForce 6800GT
2Gb DDR400

Thanks in advance!

 

Hi Huey P
That's a greeeeeat mobo, isn't it. The answer is yes. No problem. For an excellent tutorial on how to RAID with various controllers ( windows XP software raid 0 is included ) you should read and bookmark this link

 

If you have a RAID controller you'll want to use the hardware RAID. The question is if your controller utility will allow you to build an ARRAY without doinganything to your primary drives. I believe you'll have to check into the RAID utility that manages the RAID hardware.

 

I think Huey P is just adding a couple of drives to run a RAID 0 stripe set. I think he's leaving his System drive alone, however, jconstan's post jogged my memory. I have the A8N-SLI Premium board, and the Tech I bought it from mentioned that I should download the latest BIOS for that board from Asus and get the nvRAID 2.0 drivers and GUI application from nVidia. He pointed out, that, if I was interested in a RAID installation it would be beneficial. Well, the nvRAID 2.0 was already on the Motherboard installation CD so I just needed the BIOS. One advantage to the latest RAID BIOS and drivers, is that a preinstalled Windows can be added to the RAID set without damage. Usually, you'd have to do a GHOST image or equivalent backup, then do a CMOS-BIOS creation of the RAID set, and then configure GHOST to use only INT13 disk access, and finally use GHOST to rebuild your Windows across your new stripe set. Now, you can just enter your CMOS-BIOS enable RAID, and then in the RAID-BIOS create a RAID-0 (stripe) of one disk. That's your Windows disk. Then start Windows normally. Following the excellent documentaion provided on the CD in a PDF file, you can "morph" that single drive RAID 0 into any of the other supported RAID sets. Mult-drive ( 2-4) RAID 0, 2 drive RAID 1 and 4 drive RAID 0+1 (RAID 10) are supported via "morphing".