Raid Samsung 970-960

[noobftw]

Can i Raid 0 a Samsung 970 evo with a Samsung 960 evo using Windows disk manager?

[seagate_surfer]

Hello noobftw,

 

In Windows they don’t call their RAID options by the traditional 0, 1, 5, 10 etc. Instead they use spanned, striped, and mirrored as the options for creating software RAIDs.

 

Note: RAID-5, although one of the options, isn’t actually available in Windows 7 due to licensing issues.

 

A spanned volume will create a single partition that will literally span all of the included disks whereas a striped volume will deliberately break up files across multiple disks in an attempt to improve read and write performance. In both cases there is no redundancy so you need to create your own backups.

 

A mirrored volume and RAID 5 both have some redundancy but you lose storage space to create the parity files needed for recovery. Let's go with the simplest volume type and create a spanned volume even though it isn’t technically RAID.

Create a Simple Volume or Spanned Volume

1. In the Disk Management window, do one of the following: 
   • To create a simple volume, right-click unallocated space on the dynamic disk where you want to create the simple volume, and then click New Volume. 
     
     -or-
   • To create a spanned volume, right-click unallocated space on the dynamic disk where you want to create the spanned volume, and then click New Volume.
2. On the Welcome to the New Volume Wizardpage, click Next.
3. On the Select Volume Type page, click either Simple volume or
   Spanned volume, and then click Next.
4. On the Select Disks page, do one of the following: 
   • If you are creating a simple volume, verify that the disk that you want to create a simple volume on is listed in the
     Selected dynamic disks box. 
     
     -or-
   • If you are creating a spanned volume, click to select the disks that you want under All available dynamic disks, and then click Add. 
     
     Verify that the disks that you want to create a spanned volume on are listed in the Selected dynamic disks box.
5. In the Size box, specify the size (in MB) that you want for the volume, and then click Next.
6. On the Assign Drive Letter or Path page, enter a drive letter or drive path, and then click Next.
7. On the Format Volume page, specify the formatting options that you want, and then click Next.
8. On the Completing the New Volume Wizardpage, make sure that the options that you selected are correct, and then click Finish.

You can check out the "How to use the Disk Management Snap-in to manage Basic and Dynamic Disks in Windows Server 2003" for more, I know it says server but it should work for you too.

[noobftw]

So using the Windows method I will be able to stripe different Samsung M.2 drives

[seagate_surfer]

You should be able to use the options spanned, striped, and mirrored without any problem, I didn't see anything specifying that this is for some brands, models or sizes only. Unless you are looking forward to set up a RAID-6 which is not likely to be used with SSDs and designed primarily for use with high-capacity HDDs that have long rebuild times, other than that I guess the only advice is to back up any important data before continuing since all data on the drives you select will be erased, and that the drives need to be initialized, with a partition (MBR or GPT) and "Unallocated", if they are not Unallocated (probably because they were in use already) you can delete them from the top area of disk management.

Once they are deleted you should only be left with disks you do not want included in the RAID. The other disks will still be there but they will show up in the lower pane and show their spaces as unallocated, this will enable you to select on next screens which disks you want included in your new volume (a.k.a. software RAID).

 

 

 

I personally don't think Samsung adds limitations as to what drives can be configured with RAID configuration and neither Microsoft. 

[noobftw]

Thanks