RAID setup on C drive

Hello, I'm trying to make a mirror for my c drive on which my Windows server 2008 is installed and running. When I try to convert it into a dynamic disk, it shows some warning that the operating systems installed on it might not work properly. What should
I do? Please help asap.
pf

TYes you can convert them to dynamic disk but you will not able to revert the drive to basic
And also you need to reboot the server to complete the dynamic disk conversion for the system drive
First, you must convert your boot disk to a dynamic disk. Then convert your target disk to a dynamic disk. Once that is done, you can setup the mirror
If you have multiple Operating system you should not convert the disk to dynamic as it will fails to boot
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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.

3-Drive/4-Drive RAID setup questions

I'm contemplating purchasing a new 8-core Mac Pro. I understand RAID but I'm not an expert. That said, I'm thinking of doing one of the following but I don't know if both are doable:
One setup is 1 hard drive for Mac OS X, and 3 RAID drives for the video capture (3TB total RAID 0 Seagate 7200rpm drives).
Or, my question, can I just RAID 0 all 4 drives together and then create a partition for Mac OS X? It seems like this would give A LOT faster bootable drive, plus the benefits of seperating the media storage from the operating system.
The reason I ask now is this makes a difference in my purchase decision. If I can RAID all 4 drives together, do they all have to be the same capacity for RAID 0? If not, I'll just get a standalone 320GB drive for the OS, and RAID the other three 1TB drives together.
Last question, would it help to use a dedicated RAID card like the CalDigit card (or Apple card) instead of software RAIDing within Mac OS X?
Thanks in advance.

First off - DO NOT put your system on your capture RAID. No no no. bad bad bad.
Yes you can RAID your other three drives into a RAID 0 configuration using Disk Utility. All drives should be the same size. Recognize two things with this setup --
1. If your system crashes, you loose the RAID partition as it is created and maintained through system software.
2. If you loose one of the three drives, you loose all the information on all three drives.
A more secure way to go is with a hardware RAID controller. Apple sells one with the MacPros and Caldigit has one as well.
With the Caldigit you can set up the 3 drives as a RAID 5 which will give you data security. I'm not sure what RAID configurations beyond 0 the Apple card supports.
Good luck.
x

What RAID Setup do you use for your Macbook Pro Scratch Drive?

Is there any benefit to using an Express-ESata Raid Enclosure vs a single esata drive as the scratch drive?
If so, is there any benefit to using a 4 drive Raid 0 vs a 2 drive raid 0?
What Raid setups are any of you all using with your MacBook Pro's? Is there a significant performance difference between using a E-Sata drive and a FW800 drive. Is RAID the right way to go?
Sorry I'm not making a lot of sense right now, but I've searched through 20 or so pages of the forum and didn't see that anyone had addressed this question yet.

OK, just to give you a frame of reference, I just performed the following tests -
I hooked up my Sony AVCHD camera to my Mac Book Pro 2.4 ghz with 4 GB ram - (pretty close configuration to yours) - and imported a 26 second clip into FCP 7 with the following drive configurations:
Capture to internal Mac Drive, no externals: 26 Second clip takes 44 seconds
Capture to external WD USB2 drive: 26 Second clip takes 44 Seconds
Capture to external CalDigit 2 Sata Drive Array, Raid 0, via Firewire 800: 26 Second clip takes 42 seconds
OK, so now I move the camera over to my Mac Pro 8-Core, 2 x 3.2 Ghz Quad Core Xeon with 14 gigs of ram, and capture *to the same external CalDigit 2 Sata Drive Array,* Raid 0, via Firewire 800: 26 Second clip takes 11 seconds
My conclusion would be the drives and drive throughput is not as consequential as the CPU horsepower in doing the conversion from AVCHD to Pro Res. However, there are many very knowledgeable people who look at these threads, and I would be interested to hear what they have to say.
Hope this helps.
Message was edited by: Meg The Dog to correct typo

Cannot see other drives after RAID setup

heys..ppls. i just setup my first RAID array with help from vango44..thnx alot m8.. all worked out perfectly.. but..when i was done and installed XP i hooked up my ''old'' drives and yes i put the jumpers to slave.. they dont appear in Windows and it takes a considerable amount of time to start XP while b4 this all XP started very quickly..can ya'll help me out?
btw here's the guide i used.. i am using the Intel controller..
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threadid=38845&sid=

First of all sorry for being incomplete with info .. but i just came home from a long vacation.. tired ..cranky.. computer not working .. u know the usual agony..
anyhows..
I have 2 drives as u can see in my sig that i want to use as storage. And yes they are IDE
The Raptors are for my OS, games and programs.
My bios on chip ata settings are:
Native Mode
S-ata only
sata and pata both active
pata channel both
config sata as raid yes
How do i reconnect my 2 Maxtors.. physically? I presume on IDE2..?
And is it a problem that one 1 of those Maxtors an old version of XP is installed?
And yes during the RAID setup i dissconnected my 2 Maxtors..
After have gone to bed yesterday i shut down my pc with 2 Maxtors connected and when i started it up this morning all settings were gone.. RAID gone at least not activated.. and i had 2 activate the RAID settings again. I just removed the Maxtors and activated everything again.. RAID is working fine.. please help :(
Need more info? just hollar..

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.

HOW TO install RAID/ AHCI 975x PUE Driver Guide

As below on how to install the matrix driver, there is no 'how to install on a system not already preconfigured with raid/AHCI'. This driver creates a F6 Floppy disc, why? because windows will not recognise your hard in AHCI mode without the driver installed. This is why we get a reboot with AHCI enabled. It gets to a point then when windows loads with no driver it reboots. If you try to load the driver first, the hard ware has not been enabled so there is nothing to install. Reinstall Windows is the only way.
* 5. INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE
5.1 General Installation Notes
1. If you are installing the operating system on a system
configured for RAID or AHCI mode, you must pre-install
the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager driver using the
F6 installation method described in section 5.3.
2. The 'Intel(R) Chipset Software Installation Utility'
must be installed on the system after a supported
Microsoft* Windows* operating system has been installed.
3. To install the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager,
double-click on the self-extracting and self-installing
setup file and answer all prompts presented.
4. By default, all installed files (readme.txt, help, etc.)
are copied to the following path:
<bootdrive>\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager
5.2 InstallShield* Installation from Hard Drive or CD-ROM
Note: This method is applicable to systems configured for
RAID or AHCI mode.
1. Download the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager setup file
and double-click to self-extract and to begin the setup
process.
2. The 'Welcome' window appears. Click on the Next button
to continue.
3. The 'Uninstallation Warning' window appears. Click on
the Next button to continue.
4. The 'Software License Agreement' window appears. If you
agree to these terms, click on the Yes button to
continue.
5. The 'Choose Destination Location' window appears.
Click on the Next button to continue.
6. The 'Select Program Folder' window appears. Click on
the Next button to continue installing the driver.
7. If the InstallShield* Wizard Complete window is shown
without a prompt to restart the system, click the Finish
button and proceed to step 8. If it is shown with a
prompt to restart the system, click 'Yes, I want to
restart my computer now.' (the default selection) and
click the Finish button. Once the system has restarted,
proceed to step 8.
8. To verify that the driver was loaded correctly, refer
to Section 6.
5.3 Pre-Installation Using the F6 Method
Note:
The Steps 1 and 2 can be skipped if you use the F6 Floppy
disk utility provided by Intel. This utility can also be
downloaded from the following website. These methods
are applicable to systems configured for RAID or
AHCI mode.
http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df/Product_Filter.asp?ProductID=1809
1. Extract all driver files from the installation package.
See Section 7.2 for instructions on extracting the
files.
2. Create a floppy containing the following files in the root directory:
iaAhci.inf, iaAhci.cat,
iaStor.inf, iaStor.cat,
iaStor.sys, and
TxtSetup.oem.
3. At the beginning of the operating system installation, press F6
to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver.
4. When prompted, select 'S' to Specify Additional Device.
5. When prompted, insert the floppy disk you created in
step 2 and press Enter.
6. At this point you should be presented with a selection
for one of the following depending on your hardware
version and configuration:
- Intel(R) 82801GR/GH SATA RAID Controller (Desktop ICH7R/DH)
- Intel(R) 82801GR/GH SATA AHCI Controller (Desktop ICH7R/DH)
- Intel(R) 82801FR SATA RAID Controller (Desktop ICH6R)
- Intel(R) 82801FR SATA AHCI Controller (Desktop ICH6R)
- Intel(R) 82801FBM SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH6M)
- Intel(R) 82801ER SATA RAID Controller (Desktop ICH5R)
- Intel(R) 6300ESB SATA RAID Controller
7. Highlight the selection that is appropriate for the
hardware in your system and press Enter.
8. Press Enter again to continue. Leave the floppy disk in
the system until the next reboot as the software will
need to be copied from the floppy disk again when setup
is copying files

Well I went for it, RAID that is. I borrowed a 300GB SATA II Seagate Barracuda from work to backup to and got started. I shall layout how I did it for those having trouble.
So my old config was Maxtor SATA II 80 DiamondMax system drive and a Maxtor SATA I 250GB DiamondMax for Data. Now with the 300GB SATA II to backup to and running in IDE mode enhanced with speed disabled in bios. HDTach benchmarking is in above posts for these drives.
I copied all that data I wanted to extra drive and made a boot floppy and copied the files from the 975xPUE CD for the Intel RAID controller.
CDROM:\IDE\Intel\ICH7R\Floppy\32
Now I shut down my system, removed the bachup drive and entered the bios.
*I set back all my setting to default, no overclock.
*Integrated peripherals/Onboard JMB361 mode: Disabled JMicron controller
*Intergrated peripherals/SATA Devices Configuration/SATA Mode/ Set to RAID,
*SATA Port Speed/Disabled.
*Set system to boot from CDrom.
I put in my floppy and the XP CD and rebooted, CTRL +I to enter the Intel RAID setup and first thing I found out was that with my 80GB and 250GB drives in a RAID 0, I was getting 152GB of a logical drive. So I setup the RAID and rebooted.
80GB+250GB=152GB RAID 0 (I have about 200GB backed up, so I going to have to get another drive, SATA II 300 maybe)
Now the system booted off the XP CD and as it started to load, it read the floppy and I DID not press F6. I noticed that just before the setup screen the system loaded the driver automatically from the floppy. And low and behold it recognised my hard drive 152GB and I kicked off the install.
* Note: After Setup had finished formatting the partition, the system loaded the drivers from the floppy again and then started copying files from the CD before restarting to boot from the hard drive. So if you had already removed the floppy, the drivers for the Intel RAID controller would not be loaded and the second stage of install would never get started, blue screen or not recognise you hard drive.
The rest of the install went very quick and I installed all the drivers and NOW for the juicy bits.
Ok so I thought, how am I going to read my backup drive which is IDE/SATA on my system if it is in RAID. So I connected the drive to the Jmicron SATA port 5 enabled the JMicron controller in the bios and set it to IDE.
*NOTE: After I rebooted the Intel RAID had reverted back to IDE so I had to go back into the bios again and set it back to RAID. When I rebooted I got the Intel RAID slash screen and then the JMicon one showing me the 300GB and asking my to press a button to continue. Quite abit of extra startup time with both enabled.
Windows loaded fine and both my C: 152GB RAID 0 and D: 300GB were there, but the 300GB was showing as a removable device! I know there is a reg fix for that somewhere.
Benchmarking: This is the best bit!
Maxtor Diamond 80GB SATA II and 250GB SATA I = 150GB Logical RAID 0 test with HDTach 3, 8mb test:
Burst Speed : 320.9 mb/s
Average Read : 120.3 mb/s
Now that is some difference from IDE enhanced so well worth the effort!
IDE: Burst Speed: 215.3mb/s
Average Read: 59.0mb/s
Now I also tested the Seagate 300GB SATA II drive which is connected to the JMicron controller in IDE mode and the results show that the JMicron does not support SATA II drives but maxes out SATA I: so even if I do buy and extra drive will I be able to add it to the RAID 0 or will I be stuck with SATA I speeds on the JMicrom controller. No doubt I will soon find out.
Seagate: Burst Speed: 150.5 mb/s
Average Read: 50.5 mb/s
Thanks for the tip Insomniac34
Gaucho

Multiple RAID setups in one Xserve?

Hi hope you can help me, we are a small architecture practice in the market for a new server and we are considering an Xserve and Xserve RAID system. I would quite like to set up the Xserve unit to use two of the drives in RAID 1 to mirror the operating system. My question is it possible and/or wise to have multiple RAID sets in the Xserve RAID unit? For example using four of the bays for 4x500Gb in RAID 1 (1Tb storage) for projects, and then using another 2 bays for 2x250Gb in RAID 1 as well for say Mail, maybe even another 2 bays for holding user home accounts. I understand that with share points this isn't strictly necessary but it seems to make sense to keep functions separate across hard drives for quick replacements. Or is this a lot to ask of a single RAID controller?
Also how easy is to add storage to an existing RAID set-up without destroying the data?; say we wanted to increase the 1Tb project storage to 2Tb easily.
Thanks for your help in advance.
Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Andrew,
I think you are over complicating you setup.
If you do multiple RAID sets the you are really anti-optimiziung. If you asked "How can I get the least performance and lowest capacity out of a RAID?" then I would suggest three mirrored disks w/ spare per controller.
You would have far better performance and capacity if you were to put two drives in the Xserve to mirror, then set up your RAID as RAID 5 across 6 disks with 1 spare (default config).
With Disk Utility you can build multiple file systems on the RAID, so you could slice it up, but again that could be wasting space.
When you get the RAID setup as one file system do not share the root. Set up sub dirs to share:
/Volumes/Raid1 --your RAID root, aka mount point.
/Volumes/Raid1/Mail -- mail
/Volumes/Raid1/Users -- Home dirs
/Volumes/Raid1/Projects -- your production storage
/Volumes/Raid1/Backup -- Save disk images of your server and workstations here.
And yes, changing the size of a file system means wiping it out and restoring from backup.
Also consider the 750GB drives, it's a lot more storage for not that much more money.
Reese

Udev/dmraid not picking up all partitions of a fake RAID setup! [EDIT]

Hey all. I've been having a problem with my RAID setup in Arch. At first Arch wasn't picking up a partition on one of my arrays, (a single large NTFS partition on a 2TB array between two 1TB drives) but after re-creating the RAID array in the Intel Storage Manager I have a different problem. Arch now find the single large partition, but now /dev/mapper isn't populated with the other two partitions on the other array that my operating systems are on (Arch and Windows), when it used to just fine! The only thing I changed was re-creating the partition table on the other array, so I don't know what's going on.
Upon trying to boot, GRUB comes back with the error described on the wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … oot_device
However I can't boot into the fallback image either! This means that I can't apply the fix as described in the wiki.
I'm starting to think there is a limitation in Arch where it can only handle a certain number of mapper devices (seems to be 3), or maybe it only detects the partitions on the first detected array? Now that I recreated the partition table on the larger array, it seems like that's the array that's detected first in both a GParted live session and Arch. But in a live GParted session, /dev/mapper was fully populated with all of my disks and partitions... so why is it that Arch can only find the partitions on one of the RAID arrays?
If you guys need any additional information just let me know... I really want to get my Arch setup up and working so I don't have to use Windows all that often (only games that don't work well in Wine).
EDIT: Changed post and title to reflect new problem after recreating the 2TB array
Last edited by pad76 (2011-08-11 13:15:36)

Does anyone know if I can damage my arch install by using mkinitcpio through a Debian live-cd? I'm going to try and use one to remake my initrd by chrooting using this guide: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … oot_device
Basically the commands I'm looking to execute would be this:
# mount /dev/mapper/isw_ArchRaidPartition /mnt/
# mount -o bind /dev /mnt/dev
# mount -t proc none /mnt/proc
# mount -t sysfs none /mnt/sys
# chroot /mnt /bin/bash
(edit mkinitcpio.conf according to wiki, inserting the "sleep" hook)
# mkinitcpio -p 3.0-arch
So my question is would using the commands from a debian live distro work? I have to use debain since arch live-installs don't detect my arch raid partition, like how I described above. I also can't boot into fallback.

Udev/dmraid not picking up all partitions of a fake RAID setup!

Hey all. I've been having a problem with my RAID setup in Arch. At first Arch wasn't picking up a partition on one of my arrays, (a single large NTFS partition on a 2TB array between two 1TB drives) but after re-creating the RAID array in the Intel Storage Manager I have a different problem. Arch now find the single large partition, but now /dev/mapper isn't populated with the other two partitions on the other array that my operating systems are on (Arch and Windows), when it used to just fine! The only thing I changed was re-creating the partition table on the other array, so I don't know what's going on.
Upon trying to boot, GRUB comes back with the error described on the wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … oot_device
However I can't boot into the fallback image either! This means that I can't apply the fix as described in the wiki.
I'm starting to think there is a limitation in Arch where it can only handle a certain number of mapper devices (seems to be 3), or maybe it only detects the partitions on the first detected array? Now that I recreated the partition table on the larger array, it seems like that's the array that's detected first in both a GParted live session and Arch. But in a live GParted session, /dev/mapper was fully populated with all of my disks and partitions... so why is it that Arch can only find the partitions on one of the RAID arrays?
If you guys need any additional information just let me know... I really want to get my Arch setup up and working so I don't have to use Windows all that often (only games that don't work well in Wine).

Please do not crosspost. Follow forum rules.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=124247
Closing..

Unable to create partition after RAID setup failure

SL - Tried to create RAID 1 with two external 250G drives. The RAID setup failed indicating improper format pair. So....I attempted to re-create the partition on one of the drives with proper settings.
It will not partition at all. It returns a POSIX error: unable to allocate memory.
I've tried the following:
Using startup disk
Partitioning using WindowsXP (which worked....only for Windows)
Tried erasing
Tried to partition with each partition type.
Nothing works! However, when I restart SL, it pops open a window indicating the drive needs to be 'initialized'. I click 'initialize' button, but that doesn't help.

Do the following:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Are you trying to create a RAID using partitions on hard drives or using the entire drive?

Building an editing raid setup with an areca 1220 (8 port)

and here's goes yet another "what should i do raid-wise" question:
gonna build another editing station using some extra parts i have laying around. board is an asus x58 with a intel 980, video will be a nvidia 470. i found my old areca 1220 which i know is a little long in the tooth but would be nice to get some more use out of.
doing a little research i found some articles on what kind of speeds im looking at with it. its obviously not quite what a shiny new card would give me but im hoping with a faster pc and faster drives (articles are from 2007) it'll give decent performance for what i need.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/RAID-SCALING-CHARTS,1635-7.html   (raid 0)
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/RAID-SCALING-CHARTS,1662.html (raid 5,6)
ill buy all new drives for this machine (os, media, etc...). i know harm likes his raid 3 thing and im hoping he pops in with his expertise. so my question is how should i go about my complete disk setup from scratch here? type of disks? how many? which raid setup?
My budget is $1000 for the disks. also i mostly edit hd from my mark iii. im using the ml raw hack for about half my shots (and growing). pp cs6, ae cs6, cinema 4d r14 are my progs, though im a cc subscriber and will be integrating the new cc progs into my workflow over the next month or 2 as they work out the bugs/kinks. TIA

With 8 ports available your choices are somewhat limited, but then your budget for the drives is adequate.
You did not mention how much storage space you need, so I will assume 6 or 12 TB net space is enough for your purposes.
If 6 TB is enough, you could look at Seagate Constellation ES 1 TB disks and keep the rest of your budget for the future, if you need 12 TB you could look at HGST Ultrastar or Seagate Constellation 2 TB disks. I would only suggest enterprise drives.
With 8 ports I would configure them as 7 x raid3 or raid5 plus one hot-spare, giving you a net capacity of 6 disks, protection against failure of two disks and a sustained transfer rate of around 0.85 x (N - 1) x T = 0.85 x (7 - 1) x 150 = 765 MB/s. My preference is raid3, but you already know that.
The advantage of this setup is you have double protection in case of disk failure, you have a very high transfer rate and it is easy to administer. Using two arrays reduces performance, reduces protection and is somewhat more cumbersome to administer.

Different Disk settings in a RAID setup??

Hi guys, a quick question, if i setup a striped RAID, using two 1TB Drives, can i :
Partition the drive into 2 partitions(this i think i very possible)
Can i make the partition i want to use as my system disk be journaled, and the other partition normal mac os extended, and will this affect the RAID systems performance???
Cheers
Lax

RAID isn't always the answer even for speeding up launching apps and doing normal things. A new drive if you haven't replaced what you have been using for the last two years maybe.
Partitioning can add overhead to seeks and I/O as well. The only good reason would be for static backup archive of files you don't need to access but don't want to "let it go to waste."
The outer 1/3 of a 1TB Black Caviar is the faster section. But then why not get a 640GB and save $$$? and still slice and partition to use just the outer 1/2.
Play with RAID if you are new, but not for system. And audio is better served with discreet drives.
Journaling use to kill performance slightly though I doubt it is a concern, it might. Spotlight is a real killer though and you want to disable it for some volumes.
Having an "OS only" drive makes sense. And use 2nd drive for home folder, media files or something - "two wheel traction and drive."
Want to speed up what the OS does? maybe look toward lower cost and higher capacity SSDs later.
Depending on your current boot drive, and free space and what you store on it, maybe splitting files and upgrading to new drive is what you need. Disk drives have improved a lot since 2007. Even 10K Raptor from 2006/7 isn't a match. Or maybe you would be better served with the new 10K VelociRaptor.
And make drives that are designed to support RAID.
I've used 15K stripe RAID for boot, pair of Raptors, etc and it really isn't always a help. It IS or will be if you are working in CS3+ with 2-3GB files (boot RAID) if you already have the striped scratch, AND the extra memory, and still need something more to work with those large files.
Backups. At least two backups of every drive or volume as a minimum. One off line spare that is off line at any given time, minimum.

Will OSX software Raid-0 on external drive be regonized elseware?

Are RAID setups created in Disk util recognized in other computers. Say i have 2 external drives (over eSata on my 08 mac pro) in a raid 0 from disk util, can I plug these two drives into another mac pro and have them work?
Basically, are software raid setups from disk utilily readible from all macs?

Both systems would have to have their own controllers or ports, but yes, they should move and work just the same on both.
There are Port Multiplier cases and controllers, and there are the 2 ODD ports people use, or direct connect SATA external controllers.
You can even create a RAID internal or external and move it and it will work, or change the drive bay and order of your drives, the RAID will still work and be intact.
What often doesn't work are eSATA/FW or eSATA/USB cases.
Mac Pro Discussion focus on using and expanding is here:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=194

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.

RAID setup on C drive

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