Raid clarification

[chitown020]

Hello all and thanks in advance for the help. I'm setting up a raid 1 for the first time and I need clarification before I start. I want have window 7 on just my ssd. My Parts:
asrock z77 extreme6
i7-3770k
8g x 2 ram
samsung 840 pro 256gb ssd
2 1tb wd blue hd
1 dvd burner
1 bluray burner

1st step is to set raid in bios
2nd step is to load window onto 840 pro. Should I disconect the 2 wd 1tb drives during this process or should they be connected?
3rd step: enter the raid config. with control i and set up raid. Reconnect both 1tb drives first if I disconnected them.

If there's anything else I'm missing please let me know. Basically I wasn't sure if the 2 1tb drives should be connected during the windows install. Also both drives are brand new and havent been initialized or formated....thanks

[parsec]

If you have more than just the target OS drive connected to the PC when you install Windows 7, it will likely put the MBR on one of the other drives. If you then remove the other drive, or it is formatted when creating a RAID volume, the MBR will be lost and the PC will not boot. Just have the SSD connected when you install Windows.

Are you planning on installing the "F6" basic Intel RAID driver during the Windows installation? That is not supposed to be required, but I always do so and have never had any issues. Either way, you must install the full Intel RAID driver package (IRST)after Windows is installed. Once that is done, you can configure the RAID 1 volume in the IRST Windows UI, or in the Ctrl i RAID Option ROM during POST.

[chitown020]

Thanks for the reply P.. I'll make sure only the ssd is connected and load up windows w/o f6 and see how that works.