Best Raid Setup

Hi All,
I have 4 bays free in my Mac Pro and would like to know what you think the best and safest way to work would be.
My OS and Applications will be installed on OCZ VTX3-25SAT3-120G Vertex 120GB SATA 2.5 inch SSD drive which will be placed under my optical drive.
I will be filming a lot of weddings in the next few months and I will be editing in full HD 1080, I want to A) make sure I am using my 4 bays in the best possible way and B) Make sure that if a drive fails I do not loose any work.
I have already purchased 2 x Western Digital 2 TB Black drives and thinking about purchasing 2 more.
Many Thanks

I assume that I cannot use different size drives in a setup, correct?
That depends.
You can use different sized drives but, depending on the RAID format, the larger drives may be treated like the smaller drives - for example, if you try to create a RAID 5 array from three 250GB drives and one 500GB drive, the 500GB drive will be treated like any other 250GB drive - the additional space is lost.

Similar Messages

Creating the best RAID setup for my MacPro using FCP

I have a MacPro, 2 x 3GHz Dual Core, 16GB ram, 4 x 500GB drives and I work in FCP 5.1.4 and with my Hardware setup I feel it should be faster and I've been wanting to set up a RAID but not sure how to do it, or the best way way to do it.
Out of the 4 drives I have, Drive one is my main drive (boot drive, apps etc.) Drives (2 & 3) which is a TB combined, I'd like to turn those into a RAID) to speed up rendering, editing etc. In FCP and Motion. Drive 4 is where I keep all my working files.
My files are backed up regularly onto external harddrives and kept offsite.
Can I leave everything I have on my entire system the way it is and just turn Drives 2 & 3 into a RAID that's best for this application? People who work in VIDEO I know do this all the time to speed things up but I can't find the steps for the best way to do this. Bits and pieces all over the place but I can't put this puzzle together.
Can you point me in the direction in how to do this?
As I'm doing this is there anything I should be careful about?
Please help me understand this process.
Just in case you need to know what kind of drives I have here's the info:
Capacity: 465.76 GB
Model: ST3500641AS P
Revision: 3.BTA
Native Command Queuing: Yes
Queue Depth: 32
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk1
Bay Name: "Bay 1"
OS9 Drivers: No
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Volumes:
Startup Drive:
Capacity: 465.44 GB
Available: 367.86 GB
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk1s2
Mount Point: /

My advice would be 'yes' to what you are saying... with the exception of the Softraid stuff - not that I think its wrong, but I've never used it, so I can't comment if you need it or whether the Mac OSX raid is sufficient - but others here say they prefer it so fair enough. You can see some comparisons here http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/softraid/351/
amug always have indepth benchmarks of stuff.
I wouldnt call myself an FCP guru, but I think that your suggestion of putting the FCP scratch disk and client, video files on the raid are the best idea. The scratch folder is essentially where the temp-rendered clips go, so its audio and video - you want that folder to be on a really fast volume. You also want your source video files to be on a really fast volume, so they can be streamed fast enough to play in realtime too when playing unrendered areas, or building a preview.
Some might say in FCP you get bast performance when your scratch disks and video files are on seperate disks. Thats totally true, so it can read from one disk and write to the other at the same time. But in your case you have a 3disk stripe, which is roughly 3x faster than either of your disks! So it would still be faster to have them all on the same stripe.
You can leave your FCP app on the sys drive, keeps things cleaner (drive1 for sys and appsm raid for data). You can keep your project files where ever you want, they're not very big and are kept in memory so dont affect performance at all. Though to stay clean I would keep it on the raid, so again the raid is for data, and you can back it up accordingly. The system drive is only for apps and system so you can back that up accordingly too (less frequently probably).
P.S. Technically your 'point 8' is inaccurate. After creating the raid you will not see drives 2,3 or 4. You will see only one 'volume' for all 3 drives. Overall your mac will have 2 'volumes': the system drive, and the stripe of 2,3,4. Physical drives and 'volumes' that mount in your OS are completely seperate. You can create multiple partitions in a single drive, or you can combine multiple drives into a single volume (e.g. using raid). But basically yes, you copy your client files back to the raid.
And remember, if any ONE of the disks in the stripe dies, you lose ALL of the data on the entire 1.5TB volume. So it is pretty important to backup regularly!!!!
(I dont wanna confuse you any more, but raid5 is a good option if you want more security and don't mind paying extra :P, you'll need more hardware for that, and more drives to make it worthwhile - but I would say skip that for now, as you can build your raid0 for free or almost free and use that until you think you need more)

Best RAID setup for Home Directories

Hi there,
I'm looking to upgrade our existing infrastructure which is 5 or 6 years old. We have an old Xserve RAID which has 4x 250Gb disks in a RAID 5 configuration which gives about 640Gb of storage for home directories. However the peak number of users has shot up to something like 85.
I want to be able to increase the storage space for home users but also to provide a RAID storage solution that has optimised performance for the number of users we now have.
Is there any kind of ratio or guideline to the kind of configuration/system I should be looking at? Can anyone offer any advice?
It's a gigabit ethernet network, so obviously I realise that performance is limited by that also.
Any help much appreciated.

OK, that helps a lot.
The CPU load on the server seems a little higher than I'd expect. What's the activity level of the RAID? Are the disks continually active? Are the fiber channel activity lights (the vertical columns of LEDs in the middle) all active?
That will help track the issue to the host system or the RAID.
If the disk activity lights are always busy then it may be an issue with the number of drives for the number of users, and more physical drives would help.
This could also be indicative of a too-full volume (RAID 5 volumes will degrade in performance over about 85% full. At 95% full performance may be excruciatingly slow).
If the fiber channel activity levels are high then the problem is the amount of disk access and your best bet would be to expand to the other half of the array (this will double the available fiber channel bandwidth between the host and the RAID).
If the RAID activity levels aren't high then it could be a network bottleneck on the server, in which case link aggregation could help - it isn't just for redundancy, it will load balance client traffic over the links, effectively increasing performance for clients.
You are right that if you try to expand the current volume with drives, the drives will be sized to 250GB, regardless of their physical capacity. For this reason you would need to build a new array on the other side of the RAID and copy the data over.
The ideal situation would be 14 new drives which you could build into two 7-disk arrays which are then striped on the host system.

Best RAID setup for MSI Z77A-G43

I currently have my desktop set up with an SSD as C: and 2 x 1TB HDD as D: in a RAID 1 configuration.
I'd like to add a second SSD to increase capacity of my C: drive. Ideally I'd like to set both SSDs at RAID 0. Would this be possible without having to rebuild the OS? Alternatively, could I configure them as JBOD without affecting the current installation?
Any help would be appreciated.
David.

Quote
I'd like to add a second SSD to increase capacity of my C: drive. Ideally I'd like to set both SSDs at RAID 0. Would this be possible without having to rebuild the OS?
don't think so, you have to combine them both and format after that before use it

Best RAID setup for me?

Hi
Harm has advised me - and everybody else - to go RAID! So I am about to investigate a bit before I take the big step...
My MOBI supports (according to website) RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10. I think - after reading a lot about it - that I could be tempted to chioose RAID 10 - I have 2 1,5 TB disks allready - so I thought about buying another two with same size and set it up as RAID 10 - because as Wikipedia says:
RAID 10
RAID 1+0 (or 10) is a mirrored data set (RAID 1) which is then striped (RAID 0), hence the "1+0" name. A RAID 1+0 array requires a minimum of four drives – two mirrored drives to hold half of the striped data, plus another two mirrored for the other half of the data. In Linux, MD RAID 10 is a non-nested RAID type like RAID 1 that only requires a minimum of two drives and may give read performance on the level of RAID 0.
What about that? Good or bad? I don´t know if my MOBO supports 1+0 or is 1+0 and 10 the same thing?
This is my MOBO: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard& ProductID=2988&ProductName=GA-EX58-UD4
Morten

Bryan and Morten,
Can you please provide me with a link how to do the softmod on GTS250? I'm not into posiiton to purchase GTX285 at the moment so, I'll give the 'soft mod' option a shot before I decide which to upgrade first - the GPU or the 6 gigs of RAM i have in my system.
My misfortunes with Adobe/AVCHD are the exact same ones experienced by Morten - even a sinle layer of avchd content in the timeline stutters in both the source monitor and the outcome monito in CS4 and is pain to edit for that reason. Try to add a single video effect (like colour correction) or even a signle transition and ... oh, boy! the editing becomes hell and I start feeling sorry that I did not go for Canon HV40 camcroder that shoots HDV on those good old casettes.
Back to your question Bryan regarding the allocation of hdd - this is the advice I got from Harm on the topic. Also included here is advice on which drives to set in Raid 0 in priority order. Hope this helps:
System with 3HDD
C: OS & programs
D: page file, media cache and renders/previews plus miscellaneous
E: media and exports
System with 4HDD
C: OS & programs
D: Windows page file and renders/previews plus miscellaneous
E: original media
F: media cache and exports
Alternative suggestion:
C: OS & Apps
D: pagefile, temp files (Windows), miscellaneous and exports.
E: media
F: projects and rendered/scratch files
Which to put first on Raid 0?
1. Media cache and renders/previews is useful to put first if you do a lot of scrubbing and previewing.
2. That leaves media in the middle.
3. Exports would be last on my list to put on the raid. Export is a one-way street and time is not really critical.

Best configuration for RAID-setup?

After reading the post about what FS would be best for 5x500GB, it occurred to me that I have to migrate my RAID-setup soonish and that I would like to hear some more opinions before doing so.
At the moment, my server is running 64bit Arch for 1.5 years now, and it is composed of new parts (C2D 8400, 4GB RAM and 3x320GB HD) with an 'old' 6-port SATA RAID-controller (HP-rebranded Adaptec 2605-card) that I recuperated from our previous office-server. Since I had never worked with RAID before in my life, I was very happy that installing an FS on it and installing arch on that FS went without a hassle.
Now I have to grow the capacity, and although I have some spare ports (3 out of 6 are free), I fear that I'll have to rebuild the FS, since I didn't install LVM. Rebuilding the array might include a risk to lose my data, so I'm thinking of just starting over and doing it right this time:
1. Separate disk for the OS, not in a RAID-array
2. 3-disk RAID-5 array, with LVM
3. Partition the LVM in two slices (1 for work and 1 for 'play').
Are there any considerations I have to think of before doing this? I think Ext4 is the FS-of-choice for a server that will be doing mainly NFS (media), CUPS, and some HTTP/PostgreSQL...

All sounds good to me... I'm not personally a fan of RAID-5 just due to personal preference, but with 3 disks it's your only option really.

What RAID setup is best for FCP 6?

I'm new to high-def editing, having evolved out of Canon XL1s mini-DV work on a G4. Now I'm using FCP 6 in OSX 10.5 on a MacPro 2.8gb 8-core, 10gb RAM, RAID card and four 500gb drives. Footage will be from my Sony PMW-EX1 at full resolution 24p (35mbs). I'll be using a tiny bit of very moderate effects including overcranked shots to be slo-mo.
My question: what would be the best RAID array for me to set up? (Obviously drive 1 will have the apps, so I'm asking: what do I do with drives 2, 3 and 4? Stripe? Raid 5? And should music stay on drive 1?)
Thanks,
Shan

Good question on your part. Thanks. My timeline's going to hover around 90 minutes in length and the video tracks will be around 3 deep. That said, I imagine it might be overkill to set up a RAID but since I'm shooting at a ratio of 20 to 1, my total media storage needs are only about 30 hours. Wouldn't a RAID help ease this edit session? ( <= Not a rhetorical question.)

Reformatting external drive to Mac OS Extended but maintaining RAID setup

Hi again,
I am considering taking the leap finance-wise and purchasing [this external drive|http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-WDH2Q20000N-Studio-Interface/dp/B00 16P7H3Q/ref=cmcr_pr_producttop]. It comes pre-formatted to HFS+ or something, so I guess I will need to reformat it to Mac OS Extended to use it with FCE.
So here are the questions:
*1. Would it make more sense to use it in RAID 0 mode for faster speed, or RAID 1 mode to keep a safer backup of my files?*
*2. Would reformatting it to Mac OS Extended for use with FCE still allow it to use normal RAID abilities?*
I realize this is not the right forum for posting this, but I thought someone here might be knowledgable about backup in general and how to best format an external drive for use with FCE, while maintaining the ability to have a "mirrored" RAID setup. Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance,
Sasha
Message was edited by: skalicki`

So just one more question because I'm pretty new to this whole RAID thing:
Say I formatted the drive to RAID 1 so in theory I have 1TB of space that is "mirrored" over to the other external drive.
*When I ingest my footage, will copies be stored to both drives, so if one fails, I will still have my media?*
I gathered this was the idea but didn't know how it works with FCE.

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.

Best RAID block size for media drive?

What block size give you best performance when it comes to pushing data?
For a striped RAID setup.
32 is standard but since most of the media files are big and consistent would a higher value like 128 or even 256 KB be better?

"fools step in where angels fear to tred"
Well I'm not volunteering to be one of those.
Jerry, if your fiber channel raid is giving you the throughput that you need, don't be concerned.
(I had a quick look through your manual and I'm also confused. But I can't afford that kind of setup so...?)
I have a simple two 250GB LaCie d2 raid 0 set via SoftRaid and firewire 800 using the G5 port and a LaCie card firewire 800 for dual channel setup.
This houses my media for FCP.
My stripe size is set to 128K simply because that's what the SoftRaid manual recommended for video applications.
This two drive setup is fine for multiple SD streams of DV, but can only manage a single 8 bit uncompressed HD 1080i stream without dropped frames.

The best RAID level for video editing that has some form of redundancy?

I've been asked to help find the best solution for importing and editing large amounts of HDV (25 Mbit/s) video. However, those whom I am helping also want a level of redundancy that will allow a single drive to fail and their data to be preserved. So what I'm trying to figure out is the best RAID level (or levels) for their need. I'm fairly certain that either 0+1 or 10 is what I'm looking for, however the I/O performance differences between 0+1 and 10 aren't quite clear to me. If someone could explain that to me I would appreciate it. Additionally, if someone knows a better level than either 0+1 or 10 for the needs I described, please don't hesitate to let me know.

The difference between RAID 10 and RAID 0+1 is how the array is created.
RAID 0+1 creates a RAID from multiple RAID 0 arrays that are mirrored.
You can tolerate any number of drive failures in any one side of the mirror (that side of the mirror goes offline as soon as any one disk fails, so it doesn't matter how many other disks fail in the same array), but one drive failure on both parts of the mirror will trash your data.
RAID 10 creates a stripe of multiple RAID 1 mirrors.
In this setup you create RAID 1 mirror sets and stripe them together.
In this setup you can tolerate one disk failure in each element of the stripe.
For example if you have 6 drives you might create three mirrors of two drives each, and each mirror is then striped.
You can lose one drive in each mirror, but if you lose two drives in any mirror set, you're out of luck.
In both cases, though, you're not going to get the best usage out of the array since mirroring has a 50% overhead - meaning you're only going to get 50% of your total disk capacity as usable space.
With the XServe RAID, the RAID 5 performance is very good - good enough for your 25MB/sec throughput so I'd go with RAID 5 arrays, not RAID 0 or 1 on the XServe RAID itself.
Then, depending on your space requirements, you can either stripe or mirror them together for a RAID 50 or 51 array. In this way you gain the data redundancy of RAID 5 with better disk utilization than 10 or 0+1.
RAID 50 will give you the best performance (and the most usable space), RAID 51 will give you the best redundancy.
At the end of the day it's up to you to decide which format to use based on performance and usable space requirements.

What RAID setups work for each setup?

Can anyone point me to a source that can give me detailed information about what RAID setups are best for each situation. Our current situation is that we have:
2x Xserve RAID running on Xsan with two Xserve G5 servers, one for media and the other for Metadata.
We are thinking about using one whole RAID (2x LUN) for Media, and 1 LUN of the other RAID for metadata, and then the second LUN of the second RAID for switchable media (backup on HD's). So what RAID is best for media and what is best for metadata? Is it possible to set a whole RAID with two LUNs as RAID 0 or would it need to be seperate?
If someone has some info about what RAID setups work best I would be happy to hear about it!
We will be connecting 3x FCP machines through fiber, but other workstations will be connected through a deticated ethernet switch with 1Gb connection to the Xsan but 100Mb connection to the Switch.
Best regards,
Orvar Halldorsson
Sagafilm

You can also try the Xsan Tuning Guide. It recommends that the Meta info be striped as raid 1. When you are in RAID admin and click on create array it will tell you which raids are good for speed and which ones are good for protection. Here is the link as well
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Xsan1.1TuningGuide.pdf
There is also an app you can download to test the bandwidth of the volumes.

What's the best RAID solution for my iMac / MacBook?

I think it's time I invested in a larger backup hard drive, and for data security I'm looking at 2-drive RAID devices. Is the Lacie 2Big Network good for this purpose? http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?pid=10953
What's the reliability and speed really like on such devices?
I have a 1Gbit switch that I could attach a network storage drive to, and the idea of having a public ftp area on it sounds quite cool and useful, anyone know just how secure it is?
What about replacing drives in these things - is it just a case of taking existing hard drive out of a caddy and putting a new one in? (same type, size and speed, presumably)
At work we have some dinosaur Dell servers that have big hardware RAID arrays in them, I've only just started using them myself but can see how versatile the concept is.. are there any drawbacks to having a small home hardware RAID setup?
Thanks!

If you are not limited to NAS, take a look at CalDigit for a great eSATA/FW800/FW400/USB RAID 1/0 external drive.
http://www.caldigit.com/CalDigit_VR/ , we will get one soon.
AFAIK, the CalDigitVR connects using either eSATA, FireWire 800, 400, and USB2.0. The RAID is configurable as performance (RAID 0), protected (RAID 1), or SPAN. The CalDigit's products are used by serious individuals, photographers, movie studios, etc. and are as bulletproof as you can get.
Everything is swappable (including the fan assembly) and can be daisy chained through FireWire port when out of capacity. If know you are using iMac, but if you have a MacPro, you can use their SATA kit to speed up to 200 MB/s !!!.
In the past, RAID protection doesn't come cheap but neither does true peace-of-mind. There are other solutions to be sure, but none offer the longevity and flexibility of the Caldigit products. And the best part is CalDigitVR 500GB starts at only $399.

Audigy 1 & Audigy 2 ZS Linked to RAID Setup Probl

It would seem Creative's Audigy and also Audigy 2 ZS sound cards produce unwanted sound problems with RAID setu
ps.
Specifically, my testing was done on an onboard Promise 378 RAID 0 setup.
The following setup was configured:
Windows XP (Tested both Home & Pro)
Intel Pentium 3.4C Ghz HT 800FSB
2GB Corsair TWINX PC3200
ASUS P4C800 Deluxe
2xWestern Digital 60GB Caviar's Special Edition 8MB Cache in RAID 0
Onboard Promise RAID Controller Fasttrak 378 (old and newest drivers tested)
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy MP3+ Retail & Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Retail (all available drivers tested)
The sound problems are heavily distorted sounds, cracks, cut-outs, and hissing when any type of audio is playing and is especially apparent with using the hard dri'ves.
The standard Intel based Non-RAID configuration contains zero problems with any sound. It is only when users are using RAID that these problems occur.
It would definitely be in Creative's best interest to investigate this issue and resolve a solution. This problem has been around for a long time, with no support from Creative.
Please note, the onboard sound audio was tested with RAID setups and non-RAID setups and there were never any sound problems with either. All available PCI slots were tested and various PCI Latency configurations were tested within the BIOS. No solution was found.

terror_adagio wrote:
It would seem Creative's Audigy and also Audigy 2 ZS sound cards produce unwanted sound problems with RAID setu
ps.
Specifically, my testing was done on an onboard Promise 378 RAID 0 setup. The following setup was configured:Windows XP (Tested both Home & Pro)Intel Pentium 3.4C Ghz HT 800FSB2GB Corsair TWINX PC3200ASUS P4C800 Deluxe2xWestern Digital 60GB Caviar's Special Edition 8MB Cache in RAID 0Onboard Promise RAID Controller Fasttrak 378 (old and newest drivers tested)Creative Sound Blaster Audigy MP3+ Retail & Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Retail (all available drivers tested)The sound problems are heavily distorted sounds, cracks, cut-outs, and hissing when any type of audio is playing and is especially apparent with using the hard dri'ves.The standard Intel based Non-RAID configuration contains zero problems with any sound. It is only when users are using RAID that these problems occur. It would definitely be in Creative's best interest to investigate this issue and resolve a solution. This problem has been around for a long time, with no support from Creative.Please note, the onboard sound audio was tested with RAID setups and non-RAID setups and there were never any sound problems with either. All available PCI slots were tested and various PCI Latency configurations were tested within the BIOS. No solution was found.
Hi, have you find a solution?
I try to disable the Promise PDC20378 controller and the problem seems disappeared.

Request for Advice re RAID Setup / Backup Options

I would be grateful for any comments on my RAID setup, or suggestions for improvement:
I have four LaCie Firewire drives. Each is 250 GB. Two are the Porsche design, and the other two are the ones designed to stack under (and resemble) the mac Mini. I'd like to not buy any additional storage hardware at this time.
I have two main needs for storage -- (1) my iTunes library, which is mostly Apple Lossless, and (2) backup of my PowerBook. These two needs presently take up about 300 GB.
Currently, all four hard drives are connected to a mac Mini. Both of the two pairs of hard drives is configured through OS X Disk Utility as RAID 0. Consequently, two fire wire drives of roughly 500 GB each show up on the mini's desktop. I mainly use the mini as a jukebox -- the video out connects to my TV, and the audio out connects to my receiver (through a buggy as he.ll M-Audio Transit, but that's another story). So the iTunes library for the mini lives on one of the RAID drives.
The other RAID drive serves as a backup. Using Silverkeeper, I incrementally backup the music library. Silverkeeper also backs up my PowerBook, when it is on the network.
Does this sound like the best way to go, if you accept that I don't want to get into a hardware RAID solution for now? Does OS X allow for software RAID 0+1? In other words, can I RAID the two pairs of drives independently as they are now, and then have them mirror each other? I'm not really worried about accidental file deletions and the like -- my biggest concern is one of these hard drives failing. If RAID 0+1 is available through software, is that advisable? Are there other alternatives I should be thinking about?
Any comments on this will be very helpful. Thanks in advance for your time.
PJP
PowerBook G4 15 | Mac mini G4 | 60 GB video iPod Mac OS X (10.4.6)
PowerBook G4 15 | Mac mini G4 | 60 GB video iPod Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Hi, PJP.
My take on RAID: Unless you're running a high-availability transaction server, IMO RAID is overkill for the home or SOHO (Small Office / Home Office) user. It's "cool" and has a certain amount of "geek" cachet, but as far as being practical for the average user, it adds an unnecessary level of complexity.
You may have specific reasons why you've decided to implement RAID, but from what you've described as what you're doing with your Macs, I don't really see the need for it.
Like you, I run backups to FireWire drives of all our Macs. I maintain at two current backups for each system, one backup per FireWire drive. This gives me the same kind of drive-failure protection for my backups without having to go the RAID route.
For advice on the backup and recovery solution I employ, see my "Backup and Recovery" FAQ.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

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