Hi,

I'm starting to build a computer similar to the Powerspec G405 and this will be my first time messing with RAID setups and 10,000 RPM drives

I'm trying to figure out how I would make the EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 Motherboard and setup RAID 1 using 2 of these Western Digital Raptor 150 GB. Now these drives are using SATA150 connections and does that mean that these I can plug these into SATA 300 ports on the motherboard.

I'm not sure how to do it on desktops, but I've setup raid a few times on Dell and IBM servers. If your motherboard supports RAID, you should be able to find the option on startup to set it up. It will either be the key to go into the BIOS or another key specifically for setting up RAID, and you can plug your SATA150 hard drives into SATA 300 ports.

Ok, here's it in short. Are you using these Raptors at OS drives or as data drives? If you're using them as OS drives, what OS? Do you have a floppy drive if necessary when installing an older OS?

Anyways--all SATA is compatible--with the exception of older SATA optical drives and older SATA-equiped motherboards. That being said--any computer with SATA 150 ports can run any SATA 150, SATA 300, and other future SATA interface devices, though bandwidth will be limited to SATA 150 by the interface card or motherboard. That being said, the same applies with all SATA 300 motherboards and connectors, though anything SATA 150 would be bandwidth limited by the drive itself.

So yes--all Western Digital Raptors (36GB, 74GB, 150GB, and X 150GB) are compatible with all SATA ports. As for setup, you will probably have to set them to run in RAID1 (or RAID0--recommended for Raptors due to their "1,200,000 MTBF" and highly increased speeds) in the BIOS and have drivers ready when installing most every pre-Windows Vista OS.

One thing--Raptors are much more worthwhile if run in RAID0. They fail so rarely that the speed boosts are safe and welcome. If you're getting two especially--go for RAID0 over RAID1. Also, the setup for RAID0 and RAID1 are basically the same. Do note that if you change motherboards when going RAID0 you'll lose your OS data. That means that motherboard failures (many, many times more likely) will be your place that you lack security.

I will be using the Raports as OS Drives and all big data will go to Seagate 250 GB in RAID 1 by them self. It won't be RAID 10 but only two RAID 1 drive setups

Let me get this straight... you have two Raptors and two Seagate 250s? Most normal drives (non-enterprise drives) are safer in RAID1, while enterprise drives are generally safe enough to put in RAID0. You should be able to run the Raptors in RAID0 at the same time as the Seagates in RAID1. Do realize that the Raptors in RAID0 will make the data safer than the Seagates in RAID1.

Yes but then if the motherboard dies then you lose your data. And my last 3 computers died because motherboard went bad. By the way Western Digital says there Raptors are non-enterprise grade drives. Those are the SAS drives you must be referring to which are similar but use different connection type.

While if the controller dies, it's all dead... that's the reason you buy quality controllers (or in your case, motherboards). Also note that in most configurations if the "master" RAID1 drive fails, it's all over as well. And by the way--the Raptors still have an abnormally high MTBF. I've not seen a report of a single Raptor that has died. As for the SAS drives--those are formally enterprise grade.