Arrived today :) but a couple of questions.

[garamo]

All set up and with pictures.

My second PCS machine is here and I'm very happy with it! Looking nice and sleek and running like a dream.

It's supposed to have 2 x 640GB drives in Raid 1 but I can only see the 1 drive? I'm not quite sure how Raid works though so perhaps I'm looking in the wrong place?

It also seems quite loud considering the case I've got (louder than my old comp). I can see there is a fan controller but turning it does nothing... Could this be the problem perhaps? Is there something I need to do with it? *edit* fan controller is working fine and it isn't the case fans making the noise! Think it's just the graphics card and the case doesn't silence a machine as well as the reviews had me believe.

 

[RichH]

The drives are correct, Raid1 gives you an exact copy of your drives, but only one is usable. Only IF the main drive fails will you be able to see and use the 2nd

 

[garamo]

OK, thank you sir! So no way to check it's up and running? I'd like to be sure for peace of mind really.

 

[RichH]

Good question, wouldn't mind knowing myself as I also have a Raid 1 set-up

Having done some searching, a sure fire way seems to be to simply disconnect your main drive ( while power is off ofc ) and see if your pc boots up from the seconadary (mirror).

Don't forget Raid 1 isn't a substitute for backing up, its only a redundancy for mechanical breakdown and NOT for software/data corruption

 

[garamo]

Ah yes, guess I could give that a bash! Nice one. I know it isn't a fail safe back up plan and I will back up some things to an external drive. It's just nice to know I have an immediate back up of anything I've done that day should the drive fail. Losing even a days work is a right pain in the arse for me.

System is running very well so thank you PCS. It's a shame it's more noisy than I expected but I guess there is nothing that can be done about that. I don't believe it's the case fans so I guess the graphics card is the culprit and they're just noisy in general?