Promise RAID vs. Via RAID

When I was setting up my system I wasn't really sure which RAID controller I should use in order to get the best performance...I opted to go with the Via controller as it is an integrated part of the KT800 chipset whereas the Promise RAID controller is an optional add-in chip (or such is my understanding), so I figured using the Via controller would give the best performance...but I'm curious as to how the Promise controller performs. Has anyone tried setting an array up both ways and testing to see which controller performed better?
I'm running two 36 GB WD Raptor SATA drives in RAID-0 off the Via controller, and I get a score of 61 MB/sec in Sandra 2004's File System benchmark...if anyone is running a similar array off the Promise controller and could post their benchmark results, I'd appreciate it.

I've 'tested' both controllers.
Before the K8T, I was using a KT4 ultra with a Promise 376 and two raptors RAID0 (around 60-70Mb/s with HDTach)
Then I switched to the Promise 378 of the K8T (I keep promise to keep data). A little bit better than with the 376 of the KT4V but not very clear. I recently put the two raptors on the VIA. A little bit better but again, not very clear. It seems however that with the VIA the output is more 'unstable' .. I mean: with Promise, HD Tach gives me a straight line from the begining of the disk array to the end; with VIA, it's less straight.
I think I will crash my RAID 0 to test with one raptor on the VIA and one on the Promise. OSsystem for a disk, software and apps for the other one. I'm not sure that it's a goo idea

Similar Messages

Urgent - No 64bit Promise SATA driver (not RAID)

I'd already installed XP64 on an old PATA drive without problems, so today I decided to use the new VIA SATA drive to dual-boot it off my SATA drive, along with my main XP32 installation. Unfortunately, although it found the VIA driver at F6 and got to the GUI install it locked solid at Devices. Worse than that it's totally screwed all the boot files so I now can't get to anything on either the SATA or PATA drives, and blue screen on any attempt to boot either drive. That's 4 OS installs gone.
I moved the SATA over to the Promise controller thinking I'd seen 64bit Promise drivers for weeks, but it seems these are only RAID drivers and are called "Promise FastTrak 378 (tm) Controller". Needless to say they don't find a single SATA drive. What I need would be the driver called "Promise SATA378 (tm) Controller" but I can't find it. Have Promise really released a RAID driver but no single SATA driver for the same controller???
If I don't find it I guess I'm looking at 4 days spent formatting and reinstalling.

Hi Jocko
OK, I'll try explain (and remember!)
First I installed XP32 on the lone SATA drive. No problem as it was the only drive.
Then I added an old PATA drive, which BIOS and Windows Setup always sees as Disk 0 and the SATA as Disk 1.
I then installed XP32 onto the PATA drive. No problem, I think it was because Windows saw it as Disk 0 as it put the MBR in the right place.
I then put Server64 and XP64 on the PATA drive to test them (leaving by day-to-day install safe on the SATA drive. Again, no problems, it updated the MBR correctly to let me multiboot between the 3 OSes on the PATA drive.
I then tried to add an install of XP64 to the SATA drive, but because I left the PATA drive connected, Windows setup updated the MBR of the PATA drive instead. On subsequent reboot it failed because it was pointing to the wrong drive (I think). So I had half an install on the SATA drive, and a boot.ini on the PATA which pointed to a non-existent half installation. Even with BIOS listing the SATA drive as the boot device, each time the PC restarted it tried to carry on the installation and of course failed.
That's when I had to refer to my book on Recovery Console...
So it seems that if multiple drives are installed, it will update the MBR on the lowest ID drive, which is not necessarily the drive the installation is actually going on to! I think!

Promise Pegasus J4 striped raid - error-36

Hi
I have a new macpro running mavericks
I have a promise pegasus j4 that I'm trying to set up as a striped raid..via thunderbolt
I have 4x crucial m500's in it.
Using disk utility I can see the individual drives.
on each I erase date and format as mac os extended journaled
I've individually deleted the partitions on them
I've then selected the 4 drives and created a striped raid set (mac os extended journaled
Untitled striped raid set icon appears on my desktop.
Any data I write to it stops after about 2gb. error -36
I've written 100gb of data to each of the drives individually - all fine.
I've tried using softraid - same issue.
Drive Genius says i/o on disk
Crucial say it's a problem with the Promise Pegasus.
Promise say I'm creating the RAID wrong.
"Current Response : No this is not right. you need to delete the partition then create the RAID and then create the partition and formatting.
but once the Untitled striped raid set icon appears on my desktop there's no way to then create the partion and format - the options aren't there in disk utility - and now their tech support have gone silent.
Advice appreciated
Kindest'
Jon

I encountered this error too, and it does indeed appear to be a weak power supply in the Pegasus J4. I am currently using the device with a sort of hackish work around...
SSDs use maximum current when writing; reading and idling draw far less power. So instead of defining one big RAID set, which causes all 4 drives to be writing nearly simultaneously on large transfers, I set the unit up as two independent RAID volumes, each comprised of two disks. This configuration works well for me since I do not do large writes to both volumes at the same time... this restriction may not be acceptable for everyone. As long as I don't write large amounts of data (over about 2 gigabytes) to both volumes at the same time, everything works reliably. This would tend to support the theory that the power supply just is not up to the task of keeping 4 M500s writing simultaneously for long periods of time...
Hope this helps someone (actually I really hope Promise improves the power supply - this unit is not exactly cheap and a wimpy power supply is pretty inexcusable).
BTW - does anyone know where you can download the Pegasus J4 FW updater software? I cannot find my original CD...
-Rory

Differences between RAID SB and RAID Promise

HI all,
I would like to know all the differences between the raid SB and the raid Promise of the KT6 Delta-LSR and KT6 Delta-FIS2R (that have two kind of raid (SB and Promise).
Please help me, I don't know what to buy!

one is built into the southbridge and has been proved to be faster because of this
the other is on a seperate chip
Serial ATA/150 controller integrated in VT8237.
- Up to 150MB/sec transfer speeds.
- Can connect up to two Serial ATA drives.
- Supports RAID 0 or RAID 1.
so sata drives only
Supports Ultra ATA, Serial ATA, Ultra ATA RAID 0 or 1 , Serial ATA RAID 0
or 1, Ultra/Serial ATA RAID 0+1 supported.
• Connect up to 2 Serial ATA devices and 2 Ultra ATA 133 devices
promise allows use of normal ide drives
promise will take a single drive the via one as ive read it seems to want 2 in raid 0

MSI K8T NEO 2 VIA RAID & 2x120GB S-ATA Connection Problem

Hello,
I have 2x120GB S-ATA HDDs. I tried connect them to VIA Raid Controller (Raid 0), but Second HDD connected on S-ATA 2 is not detected .. I don't know why. I've connected them to Promis PDC 20579 and everything works fine. But now I wanna install Windows XP 64bit edition, and there are no 64bit dirvers for PDC20579, So I wanna connect it on VIA RAID, where drivers are available. Can anybody help me please ? (Can I lost my data if i reconnect from Promise to VIA ?)

I agree, but it seems that the VIA controller is more sensitive to it then the Promise one
Still, I think the entire SATA cable+connectors are poor design in total....rushed out the door so to speak....I wish they asked me....

VIA RAID Combo Diskette?

Ok, so I'm building a new SFF PC using a K8MM-V motherboard and a Western Digital SATA HD. I'm also using an external floppy drive to load the SATA drivers when prompted with F6. The disk that came with my motherboard did not work when loading these drivers, so I had to go and download the drivers and put them on a floppy disk of my own. When I get to the screen to load the drivers everything works fine. Windows goes on, loads its stuff, I hit F8, partition, etc. Problem is that after I partition the drive I am prompted to put the "VIA RAID Combo Diskette" in my floppy drive and press enter to continue before Windows goes on to setting up its files. I have no idea what this disk is. I tried the one that came with my motherboard and the one that I created, both yielding no luck. All that happens when I use those two disks is that I hit enter but nothing happens, like, the drive doesn't even try to access the floppy.
Anyone know what this disk is, or if I'm doing something wrong? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Im having a similar problem.
I have Windows X64 bit edition with an Athlon 64 3200+
When I boot from the CD I press F6, it loads the drivers fine (that I downloaded from the MSI website http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/driver/dvr/spt_dvr_detail.php?UID=574&kind=1 )
I then go through the other various steps and at the end when it begins to copy files (before the reboot) it asks for the VIA RAID Combo Diskette.
I try using the disk I already have - from MSI website.
I have also tried many times fiddling around with files and puting them onto the disk, from the X64 download from MSI.
No luck. Any help would be muchly appreciated

KT4 ULTRA / Promise Fasttrack TX2 100 RAID problems

I have my decided to retire my old MAXTOR and get 2 WD800JB for my new Promise Fasttrack TX2 100 RAID card. I set the RAID and stuff up everything is working fine but first I realized that my RAID benchmarks are low. I tried different stripe sizes(16/16 - 64/64), drivers and even tried both drives independent on different chanels RAID card.
I was still using old installed OS from my old HDD and I decided to install new OS on RAID 0 array and see how fast it boots up. I installed windows properly no problems but when I restart the system without WinXP CD in the CD drive RAID card did not boot up, I was getting an error message saying "error booting from the previous device" but when I put WinXP CD back in after cd boot screen it boots from RAID drives.
My RAID System;
KT4 ULTRA SR
Promise Fasttrack TX2 100
2 x WD800JB
here is my question; do you guys know any issues between KT4 ULTRA and Promise TX2 card. If no I'll get another card and see if there is sth wrong with this one.
btw my system is working fine!!!!

1 got the wd drives either jumperless........stand alone master or cable select
on the black end of the ide
2 have you set scsi second to cdrom in bios boot order
3 never have any other hard drives connected in the box when installing raid either

Uninstall VIA RAID tool

I mistakenly installed the VIA RAID tool from Live Update - however I only have 1 SATA drive and do not intend to add further drives. The RAID tool now loads at windows start up and I cannot find any options to prevent this or even to unistall. Any ideas?

Just to conclude..
BIOS doesn't show RAID (at all.. KM4M-V) - I also disabled 2nd SATA drivebut as I suspected the VIA RAID Tool still loaded at start-up. I was unsure about removing SATA RAID driver from device drivers as apart from the offending tool loading at power up everything was working sweetly. So I installed Winpatrol and removed RAID Tool from start-up items.
Now I'm happy

Updating VIA RAID Bios on K8T Master-FAR 2

How do I update the VIA Raid bios that came with the v.220D SATA drivers?
I see the two rom files (6420R231.rom and 6420N231.rom) in the bios directory, but no directions on how to update the bios.
Tim

You don't. You have to wait for MSI to integrate any RAID BIOS improvements into a new BIOS release for the board.

K8T NEO - MSI/Via Raid Tool useless

I am one of those unfortunate people who bought a K8T Neo FSR Motherboard (Mine has been replaced 3 times after failing totally but whose counting?). I am now having serious problems with my fourth version of this motherboard or at least I think I am. I am not sure!
Let me explain:
My SATA HDD Disk drives keep failing - or more correctly - I am getting messages from Windows Error Reporting that tells me there are disk problems. The exact error messages are reproduced below:
Event Type:   Error
Event Source:   viamraid
Event Category:   None
Event ID:     9
Date:      31/08/2006
Time:      8:32:41 PM
User:      N/A
Computer:   MASTER
Description: The device, \Device\Scsi\viamraid1, did not respond within the timeout period.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 0f 00 10 00 01 00 6a 00 ......j.
0008: 00 00 00 00 09 00 04 c0 .......À
0010: 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0018: 5b 09 00 00 00 00 00 00 [.......
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0028: 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 ........
0030: 00 00 00 00 07 00 00 00 ........
This is immediately followed by the following message:
Event Type:   Warning
Event Source:   Disk
Event Category:   None
Event ID:     51
Date:      31/08/2006
Time:      8:32:41 PM
User:      N/A
Computer:   MASTER
Description: An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk2\D during a paging operation.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 04 00 68 00 01 00 b6 00 ..h...¶.
0008: 00 00 00 00 33 00 04 80 ....3..
0010: 2d 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 -.......
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0028: 57 87 00 00 00 00 00 00 W......
0030: ff ff ff ff 03 00 00 00 ÿÿÿÿ....
0038: 40 00 00 44 00 00 02 00 @..D....
0040: ff 20 0a 12 88 02 20 40 ÿ ... @
0048: 00 00 01 00 0a 00 00 00 ........
0050: 00 00 00 00 00 06 6c 84 ......l
0058: 00 00 00 00 60 36 62 86 ....`6b
0060: 00 00 00 00 f7 04 81 05 ....÷..
0068: 2a 00 05 81 04 f7 00 00 *...÷..
0070: 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .......
0078: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0088: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
I started getting these messages from a brand new SATA HDD which I immediately replaced. All went well for a week or so and then I started getting the exact same error messages all over again!
Were both HDD's really defective? I am beginning to wonder!
The practical implication of the above errors is that my computer freezes totally - I can't do anything at all - no mouse - no keyboard - no saving work - nothing! When I reboot and run Scandisk /F /R I sometimes get some disk surface errors but mostly I don't.
To my way of thinking there are two possibilities:
(1) Both these disk drives have genuine technical problems (ie such as surface errors)
(2) The MSI/Via SATA disk controllers on the motherboard are faulty and this is causing disk errors or possibly even disk crashes (is this even possible? I don't know!)
After the bad run that I have already had with K8T NEO motherboards please forgive me for being suspicious that my HDD problems really could result from a faulty SATA/HDD/Controller rather than genuine disk errors.
To help resolve the issue I downloaded and installed MSI's latest SATA HDD disk drivers which includes the VIA RAID TOOL. The raid tool includes an option to "check the status of controllers and disk drives" and a system "log" which is supposed to record all error conditions/events that occur on devices it controls.
The main problem here is that *IT DOESN'T WORK* !!!
Just a short wile ago my system started acting strangely and then it froze again (third time this hour). I opened the MSI/VIA Raid Tool from the System Tray and checked the logs - There was nothing in them at all - and yet in Windows Error Reporting there were 5 distinct error conditions reported. Obviously the MSI/VIA Raid Tool doesn't work too well.
I am at a loss as to what to do next. Has anybody out there had similar problems?
What steps should I take to resolve these issues?
Any comments/suggestions?

Not sure how a scope can let you know if you are supplying enough amps. Ripple and noise are basically non issues as the voltages are further regulated on the MB before they get to the componant level.
Almost everything is now regulated from the 12v supply unlike past systems were. As Watts do not tell how much 12v is being supplied by the PSU it is a non starter when you desribe your PSU. You can have a PSU that is 500w and only provides 8a on the 12v rail. That will not even allow an A64 system to startup. As is said over and over again in the forum don't assume that a 500w PSU will ruin your Rig. 24 or more amps on the 12v rail is recommended for a small to mid size build now days. More may be needed as you add parts to your system.
As this is not a common problem on that board, and I should know as I built a fairly large rig from one... We need to have complete specs. Did you know that a high end ATi Vid Card can use more juice than many CPU's you can use on that board? See why this is a concern that we get all the specs?
Like Hans said though I won't bother asking again either. Without some idea what we are looking at all we are doing is looking into a crystal ball. We would like to see if we can help but working with a crystal ball isn't in the tech manual.

Raid spare or Raid Slice

I have a four disks Sonnet set to configure in RAID 1.
When configuring it, Disk Utility gives me the option
of "Raid spare" or "Raid slice" for each disk.
What is the best option ? Slide or Spare ?

PS : I suppose I'll just have to type RAID 1+0 in the field "RAID Set name".
You can type whatever you want. It's just a label.
why the application RAID utility is unavailable in my iMac ? When I click on the icon, it says "RAID utility is not suppported on this computer".
RAID Utility is for controlling the hardware RAID card in an XServe (or MacPro). Your machine does not have a RAID card, therefore it is not needed.
Everything described here is software-RAID and can be done via Disk Utility (although I'm not sure how you're getting 4 drives in an iMac...

While transferring several files to the G-Raid, the G-Raid device locks up with the following warnings: "The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in (whatever file) can't be read or written (Error code - 36)."

While transferring several files to the G-Raid, the G-Raid device locks up with the following warnings: "The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in (whatever file) can't be read or written (Error code - 36).” NOt sure this is a G-Raid problem, can anyone help?

This is likely a problem with the drive itself. This error indicates unspecified I/O errors with the drive, which can be from a hardware fault, or a formatting issue. If the drive has valuable data on it, then try connecting it to another PC to get the data off, and then try fully partitioning and formatting the drive with Disk Utility. If this corrects the error then you should be able to use the drive again as it was likely a formatting issue, but if the problem continues then it is likely a hardware fault and the best solution is to be safe and replace the drive.

I replaced the battery on my RAID card, when I booted my mac pro up, I get the folder with the question mark. I used a boot USB drive to boot and when I looked in the RAID utility, my RAID 5 volumes were no longer showing, advise.

I replaced the battery on my RAID card, when I booted my mac pro up, I get the folder with the question mark. I used a boot USB drive to boot and when I looked in the RAID utility, my RAID 5 volumes were no longer showing, advise.
Ernest

Not sure if I'm following you. I have 4 hard drives installed on my Mac Pro. I had a RAID 5 configured and functional for about 5 months. My battery died on the RAID card. I replaced the battery, seated the RAID card back in the slot I removed it from. When I booted to the USB drive to look in the RAID utility, I could see the battery is charged but my volumes are not showing.
The drives don't show in disk Utility. I built the RAID with the RAID Utility and they did show there. I have a early 2008 Mac Pro, Mavricks OS running Mac Server

RAID 0 or RAID 5 for SSD's in Virtual SAN

I guess I WAS missing something. Oops. Ingore me, carry on.

Is it better to use RAID 0 or RAID 5 in a three node virtual SAN all flash system? Since two of the three nodes can fail and all of the VM's are still up and running, I was thinking RAID 0 may be the way to go. I've read that with 6 flash drives in each of the three servers, RAID 0 creates less wear & tear on the flash drives then RAID 5 does, but not sure if that is true. However, I might sleep better with RAID 5. Our vendor is recommending RAID 0.
This topic first appeared in the Spiceworks Community

On-board RAID and PCI RAID controller

Hello everybody,
I am new to the forum. So, please excuse me if that topic was already covered...
I have MSI MAX2-LR (MS-6398E) board. It works just fine, no problem so far. Though I have 2 problems with add-on cards:
1. I was planning to use on-board RAID and additional PCI RAID controller = FastTrack 100 TX2 to cover 6 hard drives into 2 mirrored sets: 4drives one and 2 drives the other.
It doesn't work! I can use either on-board RAID or PCI RAID. As soon as I have any drive connected to on-board RAID, the PCI RAID disappeares. If I have no drives connected to on-board RAID, I can see both RAID controllers, they have different I/O and IRQs, and PCI RAID is working just fine. If only I connect one drive to the on-board RAID, it gets activated on startup, and the other one disappeares. :O
I believe it's a BIOS bug. I wander, if that can be fixed easily????? :D
2. I have a new Matrox Video card = Parhelia. It doesn't work in AGP slot! System doesn't recognize it, and beeps non-stop. I am dealing with Matrox Tech Support on that matter. ?(
Maybe, it's a known issue, and somebody can save me time by telling what's that about.
Appreciate any imput. Have a great weekend.!!! :]

Hey I also have the same Raid card and also the Matrox Parhelia, and I see that you also have some problems with the card I got also problems with the card, but they couldnt help me at theire forums (http://forum.matrox.com/mgaforum/Forum10/HTML/005085.html), I hope we have got more luck here :D

Replace the Hot Spare that Shared between Raid 1 and raid 5

I have ProLiant ML370 G6 with Smart Array P410i Controller on System Board
I have two Logical Drive (Logical Drive 1 - Mirroring (RAID 1) And (Logical Drive 2 - Distributed Data Guarding (RAID 5)
The logical Drive 1- Mirroring (RAID 1) Have two Physical Drives
The Logical Drive 2 Distributed Data Guarding (RAID 5 Have three Physical Drives
And There Are One Spare Drive Shared btween RAID 1 and Raid 5
Controller Configuration Summary
2 Data Array(s)
2 Data Logical Drive(s)
5 Data Drive(s)
1 Spare Drive(s)
The problem :
there are that the spare Drive FAil and have warining To replace it
I replace this drive with new one but the repulid for the Drive not start and Give Inactive
How Repulid the Hot Spare drive ?

Hello Amostafa,
Welcome to the HP Forums, I hope you enjoy your experience! To help you get the most out of the HP Forums I would like to direct your attention to the HP Forums Guide First Time Here? Learn How to Post and More.
I understand that you are looking to rebuild the hot spare drive on your ProLiant system, and I would be happy to guide you towards a resolution!
I am sorry, but to get your issue more exposure, I would suggest posting it in the commercial forums, since this is a commercial product. You can do this at:
http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/ProLiant-Servers-ML-DL-SL/bd-p/itrc-264
I hope this helps!
Regards
MechPilot
I work on behalf of HP
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Promise RAID vs. Via RAID

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