Should I use RAID 1 through Windows or BIOS?

[Blucyrik]

Hey guys,

 

I've always just used RAID 1 (Mirroring) through Disk Management in Windows and it seems to work just fine, but I wanted to know if there was any advantages or disadvantages versus using my motherboard's RAID controller (in other words, configure the array in the BIOS instead of Windows itself). Thanks!

[Sunshine1868]

If your OS (windows) fails, you will lose your RAID. be mindful of the "RAID controller" on your MoBo though, some are not actually Hardware RAID controllers. (they are called FakeRAID and sometimes don't play nicely). In most instances though, RAID through the BIOS allows the RAID to be recognized and covered by the MoBo BEFORE the OS has the chance to recognize it. 

 

tl;dr: If you do RAID in BIOS correctly, the OS doesn't care and RAID can be rebuilt if OS crashes.