installing XP on non RAID HDs

[upshot1]

Currently rebuilting old system. Have Abit KT7-Raid mobo w/ 384 MB RAM.
Would like to set up RAID w/ 2 Maxtor 40GB HDs, but don't want OS on it- is this possible?

If not, then can I use the IDE3 and 4 like normal channels and attach HDs to to it?

Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Yes, but you would have to have another HDD. I have a similar setup, 2 HDD's on IDE 1 that have OS's. 2 HDD's on IDE 3&4 RAID0 for storage.
If you don't have a RAID array setup, then the RAID channels act like regular IDE channels.

[upshot1]

So, how would I install XP on the non-RAID HDs after setting up the RAID. Per the manual, I must select a bootable HD during the RAID setup. If I select a bootable HD, then it'll be booting up in the RAID. Can I just change the BIOS setting after setting up the RAID? Thanks.

[Kuasimodem]

Just make sure that your boot order in the bios is something like this:

First - floppy
Second - CDROM
Third - IDE0

This will make the system boot from the hard drive on the primary IDE channels, not the RAID array