Adding a raid to an 8-core

Hi everyone!
Was wondering if anyone could provide me with helpful links to info regarding adding a RAID to my 8-core. Right now all I have is the stock 250GB HD. Would like to start out and make a 2-drive raid with a couple of raptor 150s.
I have no idea how to do this. Could someone please point out the way for me? I would like to make the raid the boot drive (300gb) which I assume would be enough for a boot drive, or am I being too stingy? I was hoping for the speed increase the raptors seem to give.
I would also eventually like to add another 2 drive raid for storage/scratch/recording drive after I set up the boot drive and make sure it runs properly.
Also, any recommendations for a back-up drive?
Should I get a USB or firewire?
Any brands I should avoid?
Sams has a really cheap western digital WD My Book Hard Drive - 320GB for $119.88 - see link below:
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=362125
Will that do OK? Do you select a backup drive that is slightly higher in capacity than the drive you back up?
I know these are fundamental / rudimentary questions, but I am ignorant here, any help is greatly appreciated.
THANKS!!!
8-core Mac PRO Mac OS X (10.4.9) ATI Radeon X1900 XT - 23" cinema display
8-core Mac PRO Mac OS X (10.4.9) ATI Radeon X1900 XT - 23" cinema display

I was suggesting launching Disk Utility, then going to HELP menu, "Disk Utility Help" is the only option there, and enter "RAID" in the Help Viewer application. Which I think can pull stuff down from Apple off the net or finds the pdf help file or manual for the program (not sure where it comes from myself!)
Help Viewer -> search "RAID" -> How to Create a RAID is a good place to begin.
And yes, I find keeping my Raptor (even RAID) to minimum of files (OS and applications can be anywhere from 20GB up to 80GB).
Some things are a matter of trial and error, testing, and will change and evolve over time. that is for sure.
One of the easier ways to get into RAID is to test it out. Backup what you have and be sure you have everything. And then setup a RAID with 2-3 drives. Create two slices - meaning partition the drives first into equal sized areas, then combine "volume 1" from each and create a stripped volume. test it out. Do some work and copy some files.
You can get almost 200-235MB/sec with three WD RE2s using outer 1/3. Do you need to have speed and performance? a minimum for video editing? or quiet and multiple independent drives for audio? JBOD can work for some audio applications best.
The manual and demo for http://www.softraid.com is a good tutorial (quick start and manual, now supports 10.4.10 booting on mac Pro). It cost, $149, but it lets you do things like create and delete RAID and volumes without reformatting entire drives. And more reliable and robust (it alerts immediately if there is an I/O error) and much better mirroring. Apple RAID has evolved and changed over the years, even from two years ago when Tiger (10.4.0) came out, and which saw 10% boost over 10.3.9 "Panther." SoftRAID guide will help walk you through what to do, the how and why.
Some articles and reference resources on SATA and RAID:
MacGurus FAQ Help are threads, entries on RAID, SATA Drives, SATA Controllers and whatnot. RAID Reference
RAID Tutorial
RAID Terminology
Barefeats RAID (dated but handy)
Single vs RAID Boot Drive?
PCGuide (old): Why Use RAID?
PortMultiplicationGuide
storageaccelguide
[url=http://www.macgurus.com/forums/%3C?php%20echo%20'http://homepage.mac.com/bo ots911/.Public/PhotoshopAccelerationBasics2.3.pdf]Optimize Phososhop pdf [/url]
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106594
Mac Pro 2GHz 4GB 10K Raptor Cinema HD Mac OS X (10.4.10) WD RE RAID Aaxeon FW800 PCIe Sonnet Tempo APC RS1500 Vista
PS: I use to spend as much time around Mt Evans as possible, after work and on weekends decades ago!

Similar Messages

RAID test on 8-core with real world tasks gives 9% gain?

Here are my results from testing the software RAID set up on my new (July 2009) Mac Pro. As you will see, although my 8-core (Octo) tested twice as fast as my new (March 2009) MacBook 2.4 GHz, the software RAID set up only gave me a 9% increase at best.
Specs:
Mac Pro 2x 2.26 GHz Quad-core Intel Xeon, 8 GB 1066 MHz DDR3, 4x 1TB 7200 Apple Drives.
MacBook 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Both running OS X 10.5.7
Canon Vixia HG20 HD video camera shooting in 1440 x 1080 resolution at “XP+” AVCHD format, 16:9 (wonderful camera)
The tests. (These are close to my real world “work flow” jobs that I would have to wait on when using my G5.)
Test A: import 5:00 of video into iMovie at 960x540 with thumbnails
Test B: render and export with Sepia applied to MPEG-4 at 960x540 (a 140 MB file) in iMovie
Test C: in QuickTime resize this MPEG-4 file to iPod size .m4v at 640x360 resolution
Results:
Control: MacBook as shipped
Test A: 4:16 (four minutes, sixteen seconds)
Test B: 13:28
Test C: 4:21
Control: Mac Pro as shipped (no RAID)
Test A: 1:50
Test B: 7:14
Test C: 2:22
Mac Pro config 1
RAID 0 (no RAID on the boot drive, three 1TB drives striped)
Test A: 1:44
Test B: 7:02
Test C: 2:23
Mac Pro config 2
RAID 10 (drives 1 and 2 mirrored, drives 3 and 4 mirrored, then both mirrors striped)
Test A: 1:40
Test B: 7:09
Test C: 2:23
My question: Why am I not seeing an increase in speed on these tasks? Any ideas?
David
Notes:
I took this to the Apple store and they were expecting 30 to 50 per cent increase with the software RAID. They don’t know why I didn’t see it on my tests.
I am using iMovie and QuickTime because I just got the Adobe CS4 and ran out of cash. And it is fine for my live music videos. Soon I will get Final Cut Studio.
I set up the RAID with Disk Utility without trouble. (It crashed once but reopened and set up just fine.) If I check back it shows the RAID set up working.
Activity Monitor reported “disk activity” peaks at about 8 MB/sec on both QuickTime and iMovie tasks. The CPU number (percent?) on QT was 470 (5 cores involved?) and iMovie was 294 (3 cores involved?).
Console reported the same error for iMovie and QT:
7/27/09 11:05:35 AM iMovie[1715] Error loading /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/DVCPROHDAudio.plugin/Contents/MacOS/DVCPROHDAudio: dlopen(/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/DVCPROHDAudio.plugin/Contents/MacOS/DVCPROHD Audio, 262): Symbol not found: _keymgr_get_per_threaddata
Referenced from: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/DVCPROHDAudio.plugin/Contents/MacOS/DVCPROHDAudio
Expected in: /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib

The memory controllers, one for each cpu, means that you need at least 2 x 2GB on each bank. If that is how Apple set it up, that is minimal and the only thing I would do now with RAM is add another 2 x 2GB. That's all. And get you into triple channel bandwidth.
It could be the make and model of your hard drives. If they are seagate then more info would help. And not all drives are equal when it comes to RAID.
Are you new to RAID or something you've been doing? seems you had enough to build 0+1 and do some testing. Though not pleased, even if it works now, that it didn't take the one time.
Drives - and RAIDs - improve over the first week or two - which, before commiting good data to them - is the best time to torture, run them ragged, use Speedtools to break them in, loosen up the heads, scan for media errors, and run ZoneBench (and with 1TB, partition each drive into 1/4ths).
If Drive A is not identical to B, then they may deal with an array even worse. And no two drives are purly identical, some vary more than others, and some are best used in hardware RAID controller environments.
Memory: buying in groups of three. okay. But then adding 4 x 4GB? So bank A with 4 x 2GB and B with twice as much memory. On Mac Pro, 4 DIMMs on a bank you get 70% bandwidth, it drops down from tri-channel to dual-channel mode.
I studied how to build or put together a PC for over six months, but then learned more in the month (or two) after I bought all the parts, found what didn't work, learned my own short-comings, and ended up building TWO - one for testing, other for backup system. And three motherboards (the best 'rated' also had more trouble with BIOS and fans, the cheap one was great, the Intel board that reviewers didn't seem to "gork" actually has been the best and easiest to use and update BIOS). Hands on wins 3:1 versus trying to learn by reading for me, hands-on is what I need to learn. Or take car or sailboat out for drive, spin, see how it fares in rough weather.
I buy an Apple system bare bones, stock, or less, then do all the upgrades on my own, when I can afford to, gradually over months, year.
Each cpu needs to be fed. So they each need at least 3 x 1GB RAM. And they need raw data fed to RAM and cpu from disk drives. And your mix of programs will each behave differently. Which is why you see Barefeats test with Pro Apps, CINEBENCH, and other apps or tools.
What did you read or do in the past that led you to think you need RAID setup, and for how it would affect performance?
Photoshop Guides to Performance:
http://homepage.mac.com/boots911/.Public/PhotoshopAccelerationBasics2.4W.pdf
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/401/kb401089.html
http://www.macgurus.com/guides/storageaccelguide.php
4-core vs 8-core
http://www.barefeats.com/nehal08.html
http://www.barefeats.com/nehal03.html

Adding a RAID card to help speed up export (and other drive question) in Premiere Pro CC

First of all, I have read Tweakers Page exporting section because that is where my primary concern is. First my questions, then background and my current and proposed configurations:
Question 1: Will adding a hardware RAID controller, such as an LSI MegaRAID remove enough burden from the CPU managing parity on my software RAID 5 that the CPU will jump for joy and export faster?
Question 2: If true to above, then compare thoughts on adding more smaller SSDs for either a one volume RAID 0 or smaller two volume RAID 0 to complement existing HDD RAID 5. That is, I'm thinking of buying four Samsung 850 Pro 128 GB SSDs to put in a four disk volume to handle everything (media/projects, media cache, previews, exports), or split it up into two volumes of two disks each and split the duties, or keep the four disk volume idea and put the previews & exports on my HDD RAID 5 array.
The 850's are rated at SEQ read/write: 550/470 MB/s thus I could get around 2000/1500 MB/s read write in a four disk RAID 0 or 1/2 that if I split into two volumes to minimize volumes from reading/writing at the same time, if that really matters with these SSDs?
The Tweaker's page made a few comments. One is splitting duties among different disks, rather than a large efficient RAID may actually slow things down. Since the SSDs are much faster than a single HDD, I'm thinking that is no longer accurate, thus I'm leaning toward the Four disk configuration putting OS & Programs on C drive, Media & Projects on D (HDD RAID 5), Pagefile & Media Cache on SSD (2-disk RAID 0) and Previews &Exports on 2nd SSD RAID 0 (or combine the two RAID 0's and their duties).
Just trying to get a perspective here, since I haven't purchased anything yet. Any experience/stories, I would appreciate.
My current drive configuration:
My D drive is software RAID 5 consisting of four 1 TB Western Digital RE4 (RED) 7200 RPM HDDs with a CrystalDiskMark SEQ Read/Write of 339/252 MB/s.
The C drive is SSD 500 GB (Samsung 840 (not Pro) and does 531/330 MB/s. My OS, Program Files and Page File are on C, and data/media files/project, etc all are on the RAID drive.
Problem:
Current setup allows for smooth editing, only the exporting seems slow, often taking between two and two and a half times the video length to export. Thus a 10 minute video takes 20-30 minutes to export. 15 minute video can take 30-40 minutes to export. The first 10% of the two-pass export takes under a minute (seems fast), but it gets slower where the final 10 or 20% can hang for many minutes like my system is running out of steam. So where is the waste?
I have enabled hardware acceleration (did the GPU hack since my GPU isn't listed) and it may spike at 25% usage a few times and eat up 600 MB of VRAM (I have 2 GB of VRAM), otherwise it is idle the whole export. The CPU may spike at 50% but it doesn't seem overly busy either.
Our timeline is simple with two video streams and two audio streams (a little music and mostly voice) with simple transitions (jump cuts or cross dissolves). We sometimes fast color correct, so that might use the GPU? Also, since we film in 1080 60P and export 1080 29.97 frames/sec, I think that is scaling and uses the GPU. I know without the GPU, it does take a lot longer. I have ruled out buying a faster GPU since it doesn't appear to be breaking a sweat. I just need to know if my system is bottlenecked at the hard drive level because I'm using software RAID and my disks are slow and will hardware RAID significantly reduce the CPU load so it can export faster.
Our files are not huge in nature. Most our clips are several MBs each. Total project files are between 5 GBs and 10 GBs for each video with Windows Media File export being 500 MB to 1.2 GB on average. We shoot using Panasonic camcorders so the original files are AVCHD, I believe (.MTS files?).
Considerations:
1. I'm thinking of buying (and future proofing) an LSI Logic MegaRAID 9361-8i that is 12Gb/s SAS and SATA (because some current SSDs can exceed the 6Gb/s standard).
2. I'm not replacing my current RAID 5 HDDs because not in my budget to upgrade to 6 or more large SSDs. These drives are more important to me for temporary storage because I remove the files once backed up. I don't mind a few inexpensive smaller SSDs if they can make a significant difference for editing and exporting.
I can only guess my HDD RAID is slow but the CPU is burdened with parity. I would imagine running RAID 10 would not help much.
My setup:
my setup:
CPU - i7-3930K CPU @4.5 GHz
RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3 2133 @2000
Motherboard - ASUS P9X79 WS LGA 2011
GPU - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 OC 2GB (performed the compatibility list hack to enable hardware acceleration).
C drive - 500 GB Samsung 840 SSD (Windows 7 Pro 64 bit and programs).
D drive - four 1 TB WD RE4 Enterprise HDDs 7200 RPMs in software RAID 5
Case - Cooler Master HAF X
CPU Fan - Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO with 120 mm fan
Power Supply - Corsair Pro Series AX 850 Watt 80 Plus Gold
Optical Drive - Pioneer BDR - 208DBK
thanks in advance,
Eric

........software RAID 5 off the motherboard ??????......NOT a good idea, from what I have read here on this forum from experts like Harm Millard and others. They have mentioned a LARGE overhead on the CPU doing this....causing sub-par performance. RAID 0 off the motherboard will NOT do this, however.....RAID 0 would provide optimum speed, but, with the risk of total data loss if ANY drive fails. You may wish to reconfigure your RAID to be RAID 0...BUT...you would need to DILIGENTLY back up its entire volume onto perhaps a quality 4TB drive very frequently.
A lot depends on the nature of your current and FUTURE codecs you plan to edit. You may not want to sink a lot of money into an older setup that may have trouble with more demanding future codecs. For now, in the 1080p realm, your rig should be OK....the read/write performance on your CURRENT RAID 5 setup is not great, and a definite drag on the performance. The rest of your components appear to be fine.....the Samsung SSD, though not ideal, is OK.....it's write speed is WAY lower than the Pro model,but, the drive is used mainly for reading operations. Since you have Windows 7 Pro, and NOT Windows 8.......you CAN put the entire windows page file onto the RAID 0 you might create.....this will take that frequent read/write load OFF the SSD. Read the "tweakers Page" to see how to best TUNE your machine. To use your current setup most efficiently, without investing much money, you would :a. create the RAID 0 off the motherboard, ( putting all media and project files on it ) b. install a quality 7200rpm 4TB HDD to serve as a BACKUP of the RAID array. Then, install a Crucial M550 256GB or larger SSD, ( close in performance to Samsung 850 Pro...much cheaper), to put all previews, cache , and media cache files on....AND to use as " global performance cache" for After Effects...if you use that program. Exporting can be done to ANOTHER Crucial M550 for best speed...or, just to the either the FIRST Crucial or, the 4TB drive. Your current GPU will accelerate exports on any video containing scaling and any GPU accelerated effects. Your CPU is STILL important in SERVING the data to and from the GPU AND for decoding and encoding non-GPU handled video....your high CPU clock speed helps performance there ! You may want to check out possibly overclocking your video card, using MSI Afterburner.or, similar free program. Increasing the "memory clock speed" can RAISE performance and cut export times on GPU effects loaded timelines,or, scaling operations. On my laptop, I export 25% faster doing this. With my NEW i7 4700 HQ laptop, I export in the range of your CURRENT machine....about 2 to 3 times the length of the original video. PROPERLY SET UP...your desktop machine should BLOW THIS AWAY !!
Visit the PPBM7 website and test your current setup to possibly identify current bottlenecks,or, performance issues. THEN, RE-TEST it again, after making improvements to your machine to see how it does. Be aware that new codecs are coming (H.265 and HEVC,etc.) which may demand more computer horsepower to edit, as they are even MORE compressed and engineered for "streaming" high quality at a lower bandwidth on the internet. The new Haswell E...with its quad-channel memory, 8 core option, large number of PCI gen. 3 lanes, goes farther in being prepared for 4K and more. Testing by Eric Bowen has shown the newer PPro versions provide MUCH better processing of 4K than older versions.

XServe Raid A1009 & Xserve Dual Core Compatibility

We have a 2X2GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon and are looking at an Apple xServe Raid A1009..
the Xserve has 2 fibre channels available.
Apple 2 Port 2Gbps Fibre Channel Card:
Name: pci-bridge
Type: PCI-to-PCI Bridge
Driver Installed: Yes
Bus: PCI
Slot: Slot-1
Vendor ID: 0x8086
Device ID: 0x0340
Revision ID: 0x0009
Link Width: x4
Link Speed: 2.5 GT/s
1. are these units compatible?
thanx
TW

+im lead to believe that i can put any old ATA/IDE drived up to 750GB as long as i run the latest firmware is that correct?+
When 750 PATAs were plentiful peoples results were mixed. The simple version is if the RAID understands the SMART controller the drive would work. Mostly there were a few 750GB models "known good" so everyone went with those until they stopped making them. I have to disagree with the "any old" characterization. It's not as picky as the Xserves but certain models *do not* work. Search the old threads about people trying trying different drives with mixed results. As I said the Caviar 500GB are the only drives still being made that I know of to reported as "known working".
On the larger issue I would very much hesitate to mix and match any drives in a RAID set-up due to reliability issues between drives. Whatever drives you settle on I would get them all the same models new at the same time.
I like my Xserve RAID - the thing is a workhorse - but I'd look at the cost + the cost of 16 replacement drives and look at what you might get in a SATA housing since those drives are still current.
My $.02,
=Tod

Adding Internal RAID 1 to Configured Mac Pro

I'm trying to add a disk to my existing and configured mac pro to mirror what is currently on the OEM drive. I've already purchased and installed the second drive (identical brand and model). I seem to be stuck on a few details and hoping I can get some assistance.
I've opened up disk utility and I can see the new unpartitioned drive along with the previous existing drive. When I click on the RAID tab it says to drag disks to the list box, but the existing drive won't go into the box, only the new one.
I would appreciate if anyone knows the steps to make this happen or if I'm missing something. Do I simply need to restore (even though I haven't set up a RAID set before)? Can I not create a RAID set with an existing drive? Thanks for the help.

Hi Robert j. Carr;
I think a much more basic question is why do you want to do this? Exactly what do you hope to gain?
If all you are looking for is protection from disk failure then RAID 1 can do that.
If on the other hand you are thinking this will give you a real time backup, I think you are sadly mistaken. Any data on a RAID 1 array must be backed up.
Think about this, say you have an application open and it had a dozen files opened. The application aborts and takes the files with it. How can you recover with RAID ! array?
You can't because as soon as the application had aborted, the files were removed from all of the disks in the RAID 1 array.
Allan

Adding new raid with different capacity drives on opposite side

hi,
I have an Xserve raid G4 with two sides of 7 bays. Currently one side is filled up with 7 250 gb Apple drives making a 1.37TB raid 5 and the other side is all empty. I just purchased 7 Apple 500gb drives and was wondering if I can combine the 2 sides into one raid 5 or because of the different capacity drives, must I have 2 raid 5s? I am thinking the latter.
(I have done a search for an answer to this question and couldn't find a similar question. So, let me apologize if this is redundant info here.)
Thanks

The two sides are completely independent, so regardless of the size of the drives you cannot combine the drives on the left side in the same hardware-based RAID array with drives on the right hand side.
It is, however, perfectly valid to have an array of 250GB drives on the left, with a separate array of 500GB drives on the right.
That said, once you have two (or more) arrays, you can combine them into a single volume on the desktop using software RAID to concatenate the multiple volumes.
If you decide to install the 500GB drives on the same side to incorporate them in the existing array then they will be treated as 250GB drives and the additional capacity will be lost.

TS140 and adding a RAID card

Howdy,
I have the i3 version of the TS140. No HDD included with it and has software RAID. I have since attempted to add a IBM 5015 RAID card to the system so I can have RAID recognized by ESXi. I have cross flashed the RAID with the LSI 9260 firmware.
The problem I am having is that the RAID card does not see any hard drives. The system boots up and the firmware comes up. I go into the RAID configuration for the LSI card and it shows no HDDs. Is this a problem with the TS140 BIOS somehow? Ive tried many settings and many different harddrives. All with the same result. Ive disabled the TS140's RAID/sata controller also.
I am on the latest TS140 firmware and have also tried the LSI 9260 firmware on the Lenovo site. Same result of not seeing any drives through the RAID cards interface.
Any help much appreciated.
Thanks
Doug

Howdy,
I have the i3 version of the TS140. No HDD included with it and has software RAID. I have since attempted to add a IBM 5015 RAID card to the system so I can have RAID recognized by ESXi. I have cross flashed the RAID with the LSI 9260 firmware.
The problem I am having is that the RAID card does not see any hard drives. The system boots up and the firmware comes up. I go into the RAID configuration for the LSI card and it shows no HDDs. Is this a problem with the TS140 BIOS somehow? Ive tried many settings and many different harddrives. All with the same result. Ive disabled the TS140's RAID/sata controller also.
I am on the latest TS140 firmware and have also tried the LSI 9260 firmware on the Lenovo site. Same result of not seeing any drives through the RAID cards interface.
Any help much appreciated.
Thanks
Doug

Adding to Raid setup

I did a search, but didn't come up with anything on this.
I currently have a Raid Striping setup with two drives. I picked up another two drives, and now want to change to Mirroring with Striping. When I press F10 for the Raid setup menu, and select the two new drives to go into the array, I get an invalid drive number error, or something like it.
I have not run Fdisk or anything on the new drives.
Is it possible to convert this Raid setup, or do I have to start over and build it new?

Look at the options in nvraidman, which runs in Windows. If your moving from striping to mirrored + striping it might just offer this option to convert, particularly if you have identical drives. Furthermore you should be able to hotwire the new drives in.
Post back and let us know what you do.
Regards
Mick

Adding new RAID arrays on TD200

Hi,
We have a TD200 server with MR10i ServeRAID card installed and a single RAID 1 array of 2x 500Gb 3.5" drives. We need to upgrade and are trying to decide the best path.
We have two free 3.5" slots so could we create a new RAID1 array on the same backplane without needing to change the internal cabling or disturb the existing array?
Alternatively all eight 2.5" drive slots are free. We could create a RAID 5 array on there, is that backplane likely to have been connected up to the MR10i? Is the MR10i card happy enough connecting to two different backplanes? Our server would require to be physically moved and switched off to get good access to the side panel, so I'm trying to get an idea before taking that step!
Our usual supplier only seems to stock IBM hotswap drives, I read somewhere else on the forums that to fit in with our existing server warranty we'd need to get Lenovo drives, is this true? Finally, if we required cabling for connecting to the 2.5" drive backplane do you have suggestions for UK based suppliers, plus what the cable codes/details are?
Lots of questions! If you can help on any of them that would be great thanks.
Kind regards,
Stephen.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

This all depends on how many ports on the RAID card. If there is more than one, you should be able to create more than one array.

WRT1900 Adding a RAID esata drive

Looking at adding some storage, and instead of adding another NAS, I was thinking of adding an esata drive (Prosonic Proraid 4 bay).
I'll either hook it up via the USB 3 or esata port on the WRT.
Has anyone tried this yet and does the WRT support port multiplier? (I did a search and couldn't come up with anything...)
Thanks!

https://github.com/Chadster766/McWRT/wiki
Please remember to Kudo those that help you.
Linksys
Communities Technical Support

Thinking of Adding a RAID - Read This First

Harm Millaard, the hardware guru from the PrPro forum has just published an ARTICLE on setting up a RAID for NLE work. I would strongly recommend giving it a read, before purchasing the HDD's, or striping them.
Good luck,
Hunt

Hi -
I have an HV-30 and a Sony XR 200V AVCHD Hard Disk camera and have had none of the problems others have reported ingesting from either camera - using Log and Capture for the HV-30 and Log and Transfer for the AVCHD camera directly in FCP. I am "knocking on wood" while I write this, but so far it has been painless to work with either camera. I have not had to use 3rd party conversion apps.
I am aware that lots of people seem to have difficulties.
Just for info - running FCP 7.0.1 on OS 10.5.8.

Slow Boot after added hard drives in RAID 0

Hi,
My Mac Pro used to boot very fast (from Bong to Login screen).
After installing a RAID0, it takes much longer to boot (x5).
When powering on, after the BONG, the grey screen appears and it seems frozen for a while ~30seconds. While grey screen is still on, I can hear the RAID0 hard drives finally waking up and starting to spin (I believe that they are the RAID0 hard drives because I can hear the startup disk just after the BONG). Once the MacOSX splash screen is displayed, everything goes very fast. Progress bar takes <2s to finally display login screen.
I suspect an incompatibility of the hard drives firmware with the Mac Pro even if those are very popular drives.
The Mac Pro is also sometime very slow to shutdown and when it occurs, I can hear the same sound of the drives waking up and starting to spin again.
I have disabled the hard drive sleep option in the power settings.
Here is my configuration. Disk4 has been added after the RAID0 and hasn't changed the issue. Please help.
Disk1: (Startup Disk)
Capacity: 149.05 GB
Model: ST3160812AS P
Revision: 3.BQH
Disk2: RAID0 - slice1
Capacity: 298.09 GB
Model: ST3320620AS
Revision: 3.AAJ
Disk3: RAID0 - slice2
Capacity: 298.09 GB
Model: ST3320620AS
Revision: 3.AAJ
Disk4:
Capacity: 698.64 GB
Model: ST3750640AS
Revision: 3.AAE
Regards,
Guillaume

I am still booting off of the same drive as before I added the RAID so RAID disk doesn't appear in disk control panel but I went there and reselected my initial MacOSX installation folder on Drive0. It seems to have improved things quite a bit. Was it just looking for other boot partitions on all hard drives on startup? I don't know why this setting would have changed when adding drives into the box.
Thanks.

K9N Platinum & Adaptec RAID 3405 - is it possible?

Hello,
I'm still using my old MSI K9N Platinum MB and was thinking about adding a RAID adapter. I don't want to use the onboard RAID, since this needs too much CPU. I thought about installing an Adaptec RAID 3405 card. The card needs a PCI Express x4 slot. Since the K9N Platinum only has a "PCI Express Lite"-Slot aviable, I was wondering, if I can successfully run the card in this slot.
Thanks for your help.

I can't find the exact source where I read that some tima ago. It has something to do with the computation of the striping done by the CPU (and not the adapter itself). I have read something, that a RAID adapter w/o an on card CPU is about 20-25% slower than one with a dedicated CPU. The onboard RAID has about the same performance as a "cheap" RAID controller card (w/o CPU). I know that doesn't mean that an onboard RAID costs about 20-25% CPU load, but I think it will have an significant impact.
I'm sorry that I can't provide any more detail, but I had no luck in finding my source again.

How do I use WD Raptor for OS/Apps drive and RAID 0 for Home/Data drive

So far I have configured my machine with a WD Raptor 74GB as the startup disk, and created a RAID 0 with the Seagate 250 GB drive (shipped with the machine) and a 250GB partion of a WDC 320GB drive. All drives were zeroed and I used the install disks to load Tiger on the Raptor. I backed up to a LaCie D2 1TB external hard drive with LaCie's Silverkeeeper.
I would like to use the WD Raptor as startup/apps/scratch disk and the RAID 0 for the user folders and other data. I would then like to create a RAID 1 with the RAID 0 and a 500GB partion of the LaCie 1TB external.
I have learned however that what I would like and what I can have are not always compatible.
My questions:
Is the Silverkeeper backup sufficent, or should I have cloned my previous system?
What folders should accompany the application folder on the Raptor? So far I have only put the app folder there and nothing works. I suspect things like 'application support' should be there as well.
Is there a way to keep my home folder on the RAID 0 without using Terminal or spending too much time as the root user? I tried copying my home folder onto to the RAID 0 and putting an alias in the user account I had to create while installing the OS on the Raptor. This kind of works but is not a particularly elegant solution.
I would appreciate any advice on how to proceed or if the proposed configuration is even achievable.

Photoshop files of 1GB+ can eat up memory and scratch. And the more drives for scratch, the better.
Some of the limitations are with the bus, bandwidth, and 'swapping' code in and out of different cores that is inefficient.
Compilers can do some, but from the time new hardware (8 cores) to seeing improvements to compiler, and out to software (applications) and OS, can take a year or more but provide in the neighborhood sometimes of 40%. In which time, newer designs will change the equation. Caching and VM will improve with Leopard, but beyond that...?
So... back to "read world" IF you are in the habit of working with 1-2GB images, then a pair of Raptors for boot is helpful, AND 8GB and more of RAM, AND 4-8 drives for scratch. (Think of those Sonnet Port Multiplier controllers and Fusion 500 style case for 5 drives on one port).
If you work with files smaller than 500MB range, your needs are cut way down.
150GB Raptor boot drive. Small. subtract 25% for minimum free space, 140GB formatted, kind of tight for some. But it handles 60% well.
The outer 30% of 465GB (RE2) is also fast and good performance. I partition large boot drives to keep the OS and apps contained in the outer 1/3.
Mac Pro Memory Usage and Performance
If your work flow means doing more than one thing at a time on your Mac Pro, then you will see significant gains if you spend extra to get the 8-core version. Our Photoshop CS3 actions were completed 39% faster on the 8-core when we had 3 other apps busy crunching. This advantage emerges in spite of the memory bus limitations of the 8-core Mac Pro.
http://www.barefeats.com/octopro3.html
CS3: Justifying 8-Cores
http://www.barefeats.com/octopro4.html
Pshop Test G5 Quad 16GB Raptor RAID
Photoshop and multi-core
http://blogs.adobe.com/scottbyer/
Mac Pro 2GHz 4GB 10K Raptor 23" Cinema Mac OS X (10.4.9) WD RE RAID Aaxeon FW800 PCIe MDD-G4 APC RS1500 Vista

Raid Setup Guide 865/875 LSR/FIS2R Rev 1.04

On-Board Raid Setup MSI 865PE/875P
Revision History
Revision 1.0 (January 2004)
- Original Raid Article
Revision 1.01 (February 2004)
- Reformatted text and fixed spelling/grammar
Revision 1.02 (October 2004)
- Added warnings to temporarily disconnect ALL drives including Zip drives during formatting Raid drives for WinXP.
Revision 1.03 (October 2005)
- Reformatted text and added links to download Promise/Intel Raid floppies if user is missing them.
Revision1.04 (February 2006)
- Minor BB reformatting
Intro
Equipment List For Tests
Description of Tests
Pre-Raid Setup Bios Tweaks
Raid Setup On Promise Controller
Raid Setup On Intel Controller
--->Intel- Migrating from single SATA to Full Raid Array
Intro
This guide is intended to help people configure their Bios and setup Windows for Raid using the Intel ICH5R controller and the Promise FastTrak 378 controller. Although all the tests were done using Raid-0 the methods described should be virtually identical to setting up Raid-1 provided the user is aware of the fundamental differences between the two. It should be useful for anyone with an MSI 865PE/875P chipset on motherboards with LSR and FIS2R suffixes. Before continuing, please read the FAQ thread posted by Maesus and the Raid manual(s) that came with your motherboard. There's also some good info regarding Raid Here and Here and Here
Keep in mind this guide is intended as a reference to help you. It is not a manual. I do not work for MSI and my equipment and time are limited. You will have different equipment and different versions of software.
All the data below is based on tests that I ran and I tried to avoid using any theory that I did not test. If you feel I’ve missed something obvious or if you have something you feel should be added to make this guide clearer or simpler, please PM me with your thoughts. If you have a specific problem that this guide does not help you with, post a detailed thread in the forum on the main page.
Equipment List For Tests
MSI 875P FIS2R Motherboard
Bios 1.8
Enermax EG365P-VE (350w) PSU
P4 2.6c CPU
Kingston KHX-3200A2 2x512MB Memory
Radeon 9800Pro AIW Video Card
WD 400JB 40GB/8MB cache IDE Hdd
2-Seagate 80GB 7200.7 SATA Hdd's
Liteon 52x32x52 CDRW
Floppy Drive
Tests
Generally, tests were as follows:
Configure 2 SATA on Promise controller(serial3&4) as Raid0 and install WindowsXP Home SP1a on Raid
Configure 2 SATA on Promise controller(serial3&4) as Raid0 and add Raid to an existing WindowsXP installation on IDE drive(IDE1)
Configure 2 SATA on Intel Raid controller(serial1&2) as Raid0 and install WindowsXP Home SP1a on Raid
Configure 2 SATA on Intel Raid controller(serial1&2) as Raid0 and add Raid to an existing WindowsXP installation on IDE drive(IDE1)
Configure 1 SATA on Intel Raid controller(serial1) and install WindowsXP Home SP1a on it. Then add 2nd SATA on Intel Raid controller(serial2) and migrate to Raid0 using Intel Application Accelerator-Raid edition.
IDE drive used in these tests was pre-installed with a fresh copy of WinXP Home SP1a using default settings and the following drivers all from MSI setup CD and Raid Floppy Disks that came with motherboard:
Intel INF files - version 1002
Gigabit Lan drivers - 7.0.37.0
SoundMax drivers - 5.12.1.3538
Catalyst 3.7 & Multimedia Center drivers from standard ATI CD came with video card.
Pre-Raid BIOS Tweaks
Before I continue, I'd like to point out a few changes from the defaults that I alway make to Bios before I attempt a WinXP install or hardware change. I can't guarantee that they all apply to you but none should make things worse. If anything differs from a setting that you feel is fixing another problem you're having, by all means leave at your prefferred setting. Anything related to performance and overclocking can be raised again AFTER the Raid is all setup and everything is running smoothly.
Standard Cmos Features
The only thing I change here is to enable "32bit transfer mode" whenever I connect new devices to the Intel IDE controller.
Note: Devices attached to the Promise controller and the Intel Raid(when it is enabled) will NOT appear in the standard Cmos page
Advanced Bios Features
Everything on defaults is usually fine except I always change the following for WinXP:
APIC ACPI SCI IRQ - Enabled
Boot Device select is also on this page and you'll be changing it after all the hardware is setup; more later.
Advanced Cipset Features
Confirm that the memory timing "by SPD" is enabled
PNP/PCI Configurations
Clear NVRam option I always set to "YES" before the first boot after making hardware changes. I'm not sure how important this is but I understand that's what you're supposed to do. I believe it forces the motherboard to detect hardware changes. It reverts to "NO" after the reboot.
PCI/IDE Busmaster set to "enabled" to speed things up outside of Windows.
Integrated Peripherals (Before Raid for most flexibilty)
Onboard Promise IDE - Disabled if you have nothing attached to IDE3 and Serial 3&4
ON-Chip IDE Configuration:
Native Mode (Supported by WinXP- Allows all devices connected to IDE 1&2 and Serial 1&2 to be detected)
SATA Only or PATA Only (select the one that you boot XP with)
Keep SATA Active - Yes (if option available)
Keep PATA Active - Yes (if option available)
PATA Channel selection - Both (if option available)
Configure SATA as Raid - No (if option available)
Leave other settings here at default
Note: Some older Bios versions may appear different than above
Frequency/Voltage Control
Dynamic Overclocking - Disabled
Performance Mode - Slow
Dram Frequency - Auto
Adjust CPU Bus - 201 (for "c" type cpu's)
DDR Voltage - 2.65 (minimum for Dual-Channel Mem stability)
AGP Voltage - 1.55
Note: some features above may not appear with your Bios
Note: performance & overclocking features can be increased again AFTER the Raid array has been setup and is stable with Windows.
Raid On Promise Controller
This procedure should work for anyone adding a Raid array to a system already having XP installed on another drive on the Intel controller or intending to install Windows XP on the new Raid array.
Note: IDE 3 and Serial 3&4 connectors are controlled by the Promise controller.
Note: It is possible to setup Raid arrays using 2 IDE drives on IDE3 or even 2 SATA & 2 IDE drives. I only tested 2 SATA drives on Serial 3&4 connectors.
Note: It is possible to setup Raid 0+1 using 2 IDE drives on IDE3 and 2 SATA drives on Serial 3&4. See HERE for a related thread.
Note: It is possible to setup SATA or IDE drives on the Promise controller as separate drives NOT using Raid but I did not test this. See your manual.
- Attach the SATA drives to Serial 3&4 connectors and ensure that both power and data cables are securely connected. Most SATA drives do NOT need any changes to default jumper positions if any(check Hdd installation instructions).
- Boot into Bios
Integrated Peripherals:
Set Onboard Promise IDE - As Raid
- Save and reboot computer
- Use control-F keys during the boot(when prompted-goes by quickly) to enter the Promise Raid Bios.
Note: You will only be able to enter the promise Bios if you have set the Promise controller to "As Raid" AND there are devices connected and detected by the Promise Bios.
- Use the menus to configure the Raid for your preferences.
Note: I can't say which settings you should use for creating the Raid. It depends on many things. Do some research.
- After saving the Raid array, reboot to Bios.(you should see the configured array for a second or two during the post and it should be "functional")
- In Advanced bios Features>>Boot Device Select:
Set the order you prefer to boot from
- If you already have XP installed on another drive and are just adding the Raid for an extra drive, Ensure that the list is still appropriate and includes your XP drive.
- If you will be installing XP on the new Raid, make sure the new Raid array is in the boot list and any other hard drives are NOT.
Note: Typically, I put the disk with XP first and use F11 key during post to boot from another device. This is not required though.
- Save bios
Important!: If you are installing XP on the new Raid array, you should now shutdown and either disconnect or disable any other drives connected until AFTER XP is installed. This includes USB/Zip drives.(See "Bugs" below).
If Installing XP On The New Raid Array(others skip to below):
- Boot from the Windows XP Setup CD and use F6 key when prompted(at the beginning).
- Follow prompts to load the WinXP Promise FastTrack 376/378 Controller from the floppy that came with motherboard(If Required Download Floppy Here). There are a number of different choices on the floppy. PICK THE RIGHT ONE.
Note: if using Win2K with the floppy, you can scroll down to get more driver options on this screen. It's not readily apparent on the screen.
- Continue setup and Windows should now show you the new Raid array as a single drive available to install to. If it shows other drives that you have connected, re-read the "important" note above and the related section on "Bugs" below.
- When XP setup makes its first re-boot, make sure the floppy has been removed or depending on your settings it may give you a scary moment. Yes I did this(tries to boot from floppy).
- After XP is up and running, you can re-connect/re-enable any drives you disconnected earlier. If they have been formatted, they should show up immediately and be assigned letters after your CD/DVD drives.
- You can also install the Promise Array Manager software(from MSI CD utilities tab or download) which adds some array management settings.
If XP Already Installed On Another Drive(and you're just adding the Raid as an extra storage disk):
- Boot into WindowsXP.
- As Windows starts, it should detect a new Raid device and offer to install drivers.
- Select Cancel. It will tell you that it was unable to install new device. If you want you can confirm the new device is present by checking Windows device Manager. It should show the new device with a yellow exclamation mark beside it since the drivers aren't installed yet.
- Download the appropriate drivers or use the MSI CD that came with motherboard.
Note: The MSI CD detects devices connected and shows available drivers/utilities depending on what it sees. You might not have seen the Promise drivers when using the CD before but now that you have a Raid array connected to it, the drivers will be availble from the MSI setup CD.
- Install the drivers and re-boot
- Device Manager should now show the Raid properly identified by XP.
- If the Raid array was not previously formatted, you can now use Windows Disk Manager (Start > Run and type diskmgmt.msc) to Initialize and then format the Raid array.
- The Raid array should now show in Windows Explorer with it's own drive letter.
Bugs/Surprises
- Trying to install WinXP on the Promise Raid while my IDE drive was connected to the Intel IDE connector resulted in Windows installing boot files to the IDE drive and the rest on the Raid drives. This was especially bad since I had another installation of XP on the IDE drive which was overwritten. The work-around was to disable the IDE drive until AFTER XP was setup on the Raid array.
Update: There have been a few posts on the forum since I wrote this guide where people installing XP have had problems similar to the one above with USB/Zip drives connected so i am adding them to the list of drives to disconnect while installing XP.
- When setting "Boot Device Select", if I selected "NO" for "boot from other devices", the motherboard would ignore my selection and still boot from other devices if the ones in the list were unusable.
- Be gentle with SATA connectors on the motherboard. They can stand firm downward pressure but not a lot of side-to-side pressure.
Raid On Intel Controller
This procedure should work for anyone adding 2 SATA hard drives for a Raid array on a system already having XP installed on another drive or intending to install XP on the new Raid array.
Note: IDE 1&2 and Serial 1&2 connectors are controlled by the Intel ICH5R controller. Only Serial 1&2 can be configured for Raid arrays.
You can also install a single SATA drive and configure the system for Raid BEFORE installing XP on this drive if you intend to add another SATA drive later to form a Raid array. This method was also tested. I will refer to this for the rest of the thread as the Raid-Ready Method.
Note: If you install WinXP on a single SATA drive without enabling Raid and loading Raid drivers, you will NOT be able to migrate the XP disk to a Raid array at a later date. Reinstalling XP would be required.
Note: There is no performance advantage to having a single drive with Raid enabled. But doing so makes the disk Raid-ready and XP reinstall unnecessary.
- Attach the SATA drive(s) to Serial 1&2 connectors and ensure that both power and data cables are securely connected. Most SATA drives do NOT need any changes to default jumper positions if any(check Hdd installation instructions).
- Boot into Bios
- In "Integrated Peripherals>>On-Chip IDE Configuration" set:
Native Mode (Supported by WinXP- Allows all devices connected to IDE 1&2 and Serial 1&2 to be detected)
SATA Only (Even if you will be booting XP from a PATA drive)
Keep PATA Active - Yes
PATA Channel selection - Both
Configure SATA as Raid - Yes
Leave other settings here at default
Note: Some older Bios versions may appear different than above.
- Save Bios and reboot computer
- Use control-I keys during post(when prompted-goes by quickly) to enter the Intel Raid Bios Utility.
Note: If you are using the single SATA Raid-Ready Method, you can skip the steps involving the Intel Raid utility. Go to the step for setting Boot device select in main Bios.
Note: You will only be able to enter the Intel Raid Bios if you have set the "Configure SATA as Raid" option to "YES" AND there are devices connected and detected by the Intel Raid Bios.
- Use the menus to configure the Raid for your preferences.
Note: I can't say which settings you should use for creating the Raid. It depends on many things. The Intel utility does describe the different options well though.
- After saving the Raid array, reboot to Bios.(you should see the configured array for a second or two during the post and it should be "functional")
- In Advanced bios Features>>Boot Device Select:
Set the order you prefer to boot from;
If you already have XP installed on another drive and are just adding the Raid for an extra drive, Ensure that the list is still appropriate and includes your XP drive.
If you will be installing XP on the new Raid or using Raid-Ready Method, make sure the new Raid array or raid-ready drive is in the boot list and any other hard drives are NOT.
Note: Typically, I put the disk with XP first and use F11 key during post to boot from another device. This is not required though.
- Save bios
Important!: If you are installing XP on the new Raid array or using the Raid-Ready Method, you should now shutdown and either disconnect or disable any other hard drives connected until AFTER XP is installed. This includes Zip/USB drives. (See "Bugs" below).
If Installing XP On The New Raid Array Or Using Raid-Ready Method(others skip to below):
- Boot from the Windows XP Setup CD and use F6 key when prompted(at the beginning).
- Follow prompts to load the IAA Raid Driver for ICH5R (If Required Download Floppy Here) from the floppy that came with motherboard. I only had 1 driver to choose from on my floppy but if you have more, CHOOSE THE RIGHT ONE!
- Continue and Windows Setup should now show you the new Raid array or Raid Ready drive as a single drive available to install to. If it shows other drives that you have connected, re-read the "important" note above and the related section on "Bugs" below.
- When XP setup makes its first re-boot, make sure the floppy has been removed or depending on your settings it may give you a scary moment. Yes I did this(tries to boot from floppy).
- After XP is up and running and INF files and other important drivers installed, you can re-connect/re-enable any hard drives you disconnected earlier. If they have been formatted, they should show up immediately and be assigned letters after your CD/DVD drives.
- You can also install the Intel IAA-Raid Program(from MSI CD utilities tab or download) which gives some info and adds the array management settings(Not many. Just the enable/disable cache setting and the migrate to raid option).
If XP Already Installed On Another Drive(and you're just adding the Raid as an extra storage disk):
- Boot into WindowsXP.
- As Windows starts, it should detect a new Raid device and offer to install drivers. Select Cancel. It will tell you that it was unable to install new device. If you want you can confirm the new device is present by checking Windows device Manager. It should show the new device with a yellow exclamation mark beside it since the drivers aren't installed yet.
- Download the appropriate drivers or use the MSI CD that came with motherboard.
Note: The MSI CD detects devices connected and shows available drivers/utilities depending on what it sees. You might not have seen the IAA Raid drivers when using the CD before but now that you have a Raid array connected to it, the drivers will be availble from the MSI setup CD.
- Install the drivers and re-boot
Note: If the IAA Raid program detects that the Raid controller is not enabled or no device is present, it will NOT allow you to install the drivers/utility.
- Using Windows Device Manager should now show the Raid device properly with no problems.
- If the Raid array has not been formatted, you can now use Windows Disk Manager (Start > Run and type diskmgmt.msc) to Initialize and then format the Raid array.
- The new drive should now appear in Windows Explorer with it's own drive letter.
Bugs/Surprises
- Trying to install WinXP on the Promise Raid while my IDE drive was connected to the Intel IDE connector resulted in Windows installing boot files to the IDE drive and the rest on the Raid drives. This was especially bad since I had another installation of XP on the IDE drive which was overwritten. The work-around was to disable the IDE drive until AFTER XP was setup on the Raid array. It is safe to assume this can occur with the Intel controller as well since I believe the problem occurs because of how WinXP setup addresses the hard drives.
Update: There have been a few posts on the forum since I wrote this guide where people installing XP have had problems similar to the one above with USB/Zip drives connected so i am adding them to the list of drives to disconnect while installing XP.
- Be gentle with SATA connectors on the motherboard. They can stand firm downward pressure but not a lot of side-to-side pressure.
Migrating XP System Disk To Raid On Raid-Ready System
This part describes how to use the Intel Application Accelerator-Raid edition to migrate an existing WinXP system disk (1-SATA) to a 2-SATA Raid array.
This procedure is actually very well documented in the last part of the Intel SATA Raid manual that ships with the motherboard but I thought I’d add it to make this thread more complete.
Please note that to use this feature of the Intel raid software the disk you are migrating FROM must have been made Raid-Ready as described above. Basically, this means that Raid should have been enabled in the Bios and the drivers installed from floppy during the WinXP install.
Note: I tested this by migrating to a Raid0 array but Raid1 should work also if the latest Bios and version of Intel-Raid application used.
- Open the Intel Application Accelerator Raid utility.
- With the “Raid” tab window open, right-click on “Raid volume” and select “Create from Existing Disk” as seen below.
- Follow the next several steps to choose the type of Raid array and the strip size.
Note: 64kb strip size is good for general purpose and 128kb best for most desktops and work stations according to Intel. Anything smaller is for specialized purposes. You should research this a little because you can’t change it after easily.
- After configuring the array for your preferences, you will face a couple of warnings telling you that “All data will be deleted from the Raid-controlled drive(s) and is unrecoverable” and ask if you want to continue. Obviously all data(if any) on the new drive you’re adding will be lost but the OS and other data on the disk you’re migrating FROM will be striped to the new array and will remain intact.
Note: Any complex disk procedure such as this carries the risk of losing data. A backup of the disk is important BEFORE beginning the migration process. Don't say I didn't warn you.
- The migration process can take a long time. You should see the window below during the operation.
Note: With just a default WinXP installation, migrating to 2-80Gb drives took about an hour for me.
- After the migration is complete, you will be prompted to re-boot to complete the process.
- During the reboot, as the Intel Bios comes up for a couple of seconds(don’t blink) you will see the 2 drives configured as an array and they will be listed as “functional”.
- After the reboot, you should have a fully functional Raid array with 2 SATA drives and all data from the single drive will have been striped or mirrored into the second one. Check Windows Disk manager(Start > Run and type diskmgmt.msc) to see the status of the new drive. See bugs/surprises below.
Bugs/Surprises
The only problem I had with this test came in the form of a small surprise after everything was completed and the computer had rebooted. Although the Intel Application Accelerator showed everything functioning normally, Windows explorer showed my Raid drive as 74Gb in size instead of the 150Gb or so that I expected. After checking Windows disk Manager (Start > Run and type diskmgmt.msc), I found that the missing GB’s were in fact there but were unformatted. Unfortunately, Disk Manager does not seem to allow merging or extending partitions so I ended up using Partition Magic 8 to format the empty space and merge it with the rest of the partition. This seemed to work fine and I ended up with a single 150Gb drive showing up in Windows Explorer. I also briefly tested the performance to confirm that it was operating as a Raid array.
I know there is a utility for Win2K called DiskPart.exe that is run from command console to extend NTFS partitions but if anyone knows of an easier way or a FREE utility that will format/merge NTFS partitions that they have confirmed works, please PM me so that I can include a reference to it here.
All the data above is based on tests that I ran and I tried to avoid using any theory that I did not test. If you feel I’ve missed something obvious or if you have something you feel should be added to make this guide clearer or simpler, please PM me with your thoughts. If you have a specific problem that this guide does not help you with, post a detailed thread in the forum on the main page.
Vango44

Great work vango44!
Here are some RAID performance statistics I gathered while testing RAID on my system. The testing software was Winbench 99. The hard drives tested were new Seagate ST380013AS drives, formatted NTFS. Winbench was running on a third drive that is not included in the tests and should not affect the results.
The drives were reformatted between tests and chkdsk'ed to try and keep things "apples to apples".
No hardware or software changes other than the RAID setup/connections were made between tests.
Higher numbers mean better performance.
I also ran the same tests on the newish WD Raptor 10K drives:
I couldn't stand all the noise the Raptors made, so I returned them.
On my motherboard:
SATA 1 & 2 = Intel RAID controller
SATA 3 & 4 = Promise RAID controller
If the test title does not include "RAID", then it was a single drive test.
Unfortunately, I don't have a spreadsheet version of the above stats. Otherwise I'd create nice bar charts for us and it's would be easier to deduce performance.
Perhaps some kind reader will OCR the pictures, put them into Excel, and make some nice bar charts for us?
Hope the info helps.

Adding a raid to an 8-core

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