Problems with RAID0?
 

This is my first time setting up RAID0, so I was wondering if my experience was like others.
RAID array setup was fine, although the XP install was a tad slower than expected.

I boot into Windows MCE fine (Media Center Edition), but the install for WoW took almost 45 minutes for a mere 5GB of data. Not to mention I can't run more than one application or else one of my hard drives will click and crap out on me.

Strangley I can run WoW fine, runs great, but once I ALT+TAB to start multitasking the computer just locks up.

I don't know what is wrong... the hardware? Compatibility? And I have no idea where to start in order to diagnose this issue.

Can anyone suggest anything?

PC STATS:
Shuttle SN27P2
2x Western Digital 160gb 7200rpm 16mb cache in RAID0
2x 1gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 RAM
AMD X2 4200+ Socket AM2
PNY Geforce 7600GT
ATI Theatre Ecstasy 550 tuner card

How did you set up the RAID in the first place? Was it done via the motherboard setting it up?

If that's the case, did you install the RAID drivers during the installation process of Windows?

Universal sign that your HD's death is imminent. And when it dies you lose everything. Which is why you don't use RAID0. Performance Gains == Null, Damage Potential == High^4

The correct route. Enabled RAID, then set up the array in striped. Inserted my MCE cd and hit F6 on the install screen, loaded the drivers off the floppy, then proceeded with install.

As I always do when I see people doing this, I will tell you: DON'T.

RAID0 is dangerous and offers negligible benefit for everyday computing. Unless you're having to stream large files in realtime (a la capturing raw HD video or working with many streams of compressed HD), there is no reason to run RAID0. The likelihood of data loss doubles. If you really want RAID, get a decent controller and three drives and do RAID5. Performance goes up and you don't sacrifice your data's integrity.

And yes, your current troubles sound like either bad drivers or imminent hard drive death.

i know this thread is kinda old but i just have to speak in favor of RAID 0 set ups. I have 2x36.7GB Raptors on RAID 0 for a long time. i got the drives like 2+ ago and i have gone through 2 computer set ups with them and tons of complete formats (i do one every so often) and nothing is wrong with it.

Now if you still haven't figured the problem out, what controller does the motherboard have?? If you find out you can download new drivers for it. And maybe it could be power shotage. Never had a shuttle so i dont know what PSU they have and what they can take.

I use a Raid0 setup without incident as well. I use 2 74gb wd hd's in raid0 in my PC that is on 24/7 and they haven't had any problems.

Well when I first set up my machine the SATA cable was loose and I lost the array twice, but since I fixed that I've been fine.

RAID 0 setup users should back up the drives regularly. I have a 250gb hard drive that runs a backup of my main drives every morning at 5am, and I also store all my setup programs on there as well.

when the SATA cable comes off just replug it to the SATA port you had it originally you go to rebuild the raid and it will say if you want to restor the one that was already made and you get everything back the way it was, nothing lost. :) i tried this with the intel controller and the Sillicon one so yeah.

Yeah, a clicking drive is pretty much the last thing I want to hear, especially from a Western Digital (several bad experiences of this kind). If the drive doesn't flat out die, it still does the trick to hang Windows. Personally I avoid RAID 0 for the aforementioned reasons - there's more liability than reliability in that setup, and you won't always get a warning sign from a dying drive. I'd take the redundancy of RAID 1 any day.