Have you always wanted a RAID setup, but were weary of spending over $500 on a Drobo or $50 to $200 on a RAID card with less than perfect reviews? I have pieced together the perfect solution, using whatever hardware is available, a copy of Windows XP Pro and the ability to copy some commands to the command line (Note: the command line isn’t needed unless RAID 1 or 5 is going to be used ). There are many advantages to using software RAID over hardware RAID. The first advantage is that drives can have different interfaces. For example, a USB, IDE and SATA drive could be made into a RAID array as long as they are the same size. The second advantage, is that software RAID is cheaper than hardware RAID seeing as there is no need for a RAID card or external RAID solution, such as a DROBO. Additionally, using Windows XP as the software for the RAID users will be able to access the RAID array from Mac OS X, Linux, or another Windows machine via a local network. Also, with a little bit of free software users can be notified by email when a drive fails. The last advantage of a software RAID is the ability to move the RAID array to different hardware. With the failure of a hardware RAID controller users often have to find identical hardware to recover the data from their array. With software RAID a user only needs to move the array to hardware that has Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installed to recover their array. Now on to the details of the actually building the array.

Step #1 Pick the type of RAID?

The first step is to decide what type of RAID will be needed. This can be done by looking at my article describing the different types of RAID that are available in Windows XP Pro. Note, if RAID 1 or 5 is chosen there will need to be some modified files installed. Once the type of RAID is decided upon, it’s time to move onto the hardware.

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CSS (cascading style sheets) give developers the ability to create beautiful looking sites. But style sheets can be extremely frustrating to use. Whether trying to remember all of the different CSS properties and values, constantly having to refresh the page in a browser to see the changes, or trying to figure what elements a style is applied to. CSS Edit is the perfect solution. CSS Edit offers a built in preview that is standards compliant and allows users to overlay their CSS file over any web page or local html file.Additionally, CSS Edit has an intuitive “X-Ray” mode that allows users to select elements from the preview mode and will then show users a list of what selectors apply to the element. When a user clicks on a element from the list, CSS Edit will bring the user directly to the selector in the CSS file. CSS Edit also has all of the CSS properties and values in a column on the right hand side. This can be very handy for learning the different attributes and values in CSS. This program is also great for an experienced CSS designer. The built in editor helps any hand coder with color coding, non intrusive auto completion, and code suggestions. The best part about CSS Edit is it’s a great value at about $40 this program can’t be beat. To download a free trial of CSS Edit go over to http://macrabbit.com/cssedit/ and grab a copy.

Ever try keeping track of your hours in a spread sheet or a text file? While these methods are suitable, they can be frustrating to quickly clock in and out and can become very unwieldy after many entries. This dilemma is solved with a time tracking application called OfficeTime. This application provides easy start and stop, easy management of multiple projects, ability to keep track of expenses, invoicing, and graphing of time. Additionally, OfficeTime has integration with iCal, seamlessly creating events that coordinate with the times in OfficeTime. As well as a few other nifty features. Although this program comes with a pretty hefty price tag at $47 I can still strongly recommend it to anybody who is need of a powerful application to keep track of time.