Raid setup with g-tech raid

hello there.
bit confused by this raid business. Just got a 4tb g-tech raid system which has 2 drives of 2tb each.
It shows as one disk in finder. DO i only have to set 'RAID Type' to 'Mirrored RAID set' in disk utility? Do i need to make 2 partitions first?!
its just that it still shows 4tb available and i was presuming it would say 2tb?
any clarification welcome..! Dan

I don't know much about these, but since nobody who does has happened along . . .
There are different kinds of RAID. The two most common are:
A +Concatenated RAID Set+ (or RAID-0) combines multiple disks into one volume; the size is the total of all the disks in the set. It sounds like that's how yours is set up.
A +Mirrored RAID Set+ (often called RAID-1) keeps identical copies on each disk, so if one fails, you don't lose any data, and can keep running. The size is the size of the smallest disk in the set. It sounds like that's what you want.
If all the drives are in one enclosure, they're usually configured by hardware switches on the controller, or possibly software options you can set via an app that comes with the set.
Check with the maker (or instructions that came with the system) for setup information.

Similar Messages

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.

SATA RAID conflics with POMISE T3 RAID Bios

I've read quite a few of the RAID setup issues concerning the "Extra" RAID settings under "integrated peripherals" for the K9A2 Platinum. My problem seems to be a bit unique. I can't get both the SATA RAID and the Promise "Fast Track" to work together. If I enable the Extra RAID Controllers the Fastrack Bios does not recognize my SATA RAID.
This simply means that for some reason the motherboard SATA RAID conflicts or disables the PROMISE RAID Bios and vice versa. So I have not been able to activate my eSATA ports or use anything connected to the SATA5-6 ports without going into the CMOS and setting SATA DEVICES to IDE and then turning on the EXTRA Raid Controller under "Integrated Peripherals" in the CMOS. Unless I'm wrong. I am almost sure that this scenario is right.
The second issue is that I cannot get my ram to go in DUAL CHANNEL mode. But I will post that issue another time.
thx
Please Advise.
Ami Bios v1.4
K9A2 Platinum MB, 790FX,
AMD 9850 Black Edition,
8GB GSkill RAM (800Mhz),
Samsung 500GB SATA11 (x4),
Radeon HD 3870 512 MB Video,
Rosewill 950Watt PSU,
Pioneer DVD RW,
NEC DVD RW,
9-in-1 USB Card Reader
2 ext (USB/eSATA) hard Drives (eSATA will not work because these ports are controlled by the PROMISE T3 Bios)

With Vista Ultimate SP1 on my machine the USB Flasher Tool kept on crashing when the BIOS was at v 1.2 on the KA92 mainboard.
The DOS window came up fine but it appeared that every susequent module that was brought up for detecting the motherboard caught some kind of conlfict and terminated causing Vista to summon the program terminated message box. Eventually the dos prompt would state that it could not detect the motherboard and close. All in red text. This happened only when I flashed the BIOS with v1.2. I wanted to go back to 1.3 just to verify that the BIOS version was the cause and the only reason I got back to 1.3 or 1.4 easily was becaus it was backed up by the tool so all I had to do was rename the backup.bin file(s). Again everything went as expected with the USB Flasher Tool until I loaded the v1.2 BIOS. It could not even detect the mainboard.
The only reason I didn't need the tool anymore was that it backed up the versions of the bios for each time that I had flashed the bios previously.
Ami Bios v1.2
K9A2 Platinum MB, 790FX,
AMD 9850 Black Edition,
8GB GSkill RAM (800Mhz),
Samsung 500GB SATA2 (x4),
Radeon HD 3870 512 MB Video,
Rosewill 950Watt PSU,
Pioneer DVD RW,
NEC DVD RW,
9-in-1 USB Card Reader

Ghost a raid setup with 1 floppy

I had used Driveimage 7.0 but it would no longer work, I found this image program:
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/
look for Image for DOS and Image for Windows.
It all fits on 1 bootable floppy that it helps you make!
Easy to use, no need to load your raid drivers to restore, Makes images inside windows,
Does eveything Driveimage did plus it is faster. I have restored my raid drive many time with this.
This software is worth paying for ;] That why I did!

Dont need the raid drivers to make a image or restore one using image for dos.
thats whats so simple about the program. nice and clean no muss no fuss.
no fancy menus, just create or restore, lets me use all my drives, usb drives,dvd\cd
all with one floppy! restores my raid drives twice as fast as driveimage.
the menu is simple, just choose your drives and go!

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.

Need a help on AHCI & RAID setup during Win 7 installation

Hello,
Sorry for a newbie question, but I need to reinstall Win 7 Professional with my new rig.
I would appreciate your help.
What are the procedures for the windows installation?
I would like to set up AHCI and RAID controller, as someone had suggested that Intel recommends RAID setup even for non-RAID configurations.
Here's the spec of my rig:
Motherboard: P67A-GD65 (B3)
CPU: Intel Core i7 2600k
CPU Fan: CoolMaster V8 (180W)
RAM: G.Skil F3-17000CL9D (4GBx2)
GPUs: Palit GTX 560Ti (x2, no SLI)
SSD: Crucial C300 (64GB)
Hard Drive: WD 1002FAEX (1TB)
Optical Drive: Lite-on BR Burner
Case: Corsair 650D with stock case fans
PSU: Corsair TX750W
Thanks in advance

The board should comes with a Manuel for you to refer on the installation of different drivers for the controllers.

P35 Neo 2 RAID setup

Hey Everyone;
Just picked up this motherboard today and i'm trying to get a couple of 150GB Raptor drives running in RAID 0.
I don't get the intel storage matrix RAID configuration tool on POST like the manual says i need to get. So needless, to say, when i go to install windows XP (yes, i still don't really want to install Vista) I can see the drives just fine but i can't create a RAID setup with them.
I have gone through the BIOS settings, but perhaps i'm missing something in there. Can anyone detail what i need to do to get this running?

I guess that's the only reason, but glad you found it

Mac Pro RAID 0 setup with bootcamp

I'm about to take the plunge and buy a Mac Pro as soon as I get the money (or credit) to. There have been things here and there that have turned me off but I found ways around some concerns, but this one I haven't been able to find.
I am a musician and want to utilize raw power that Mac does so well with. But unfortunately my DAW of choice doesn't support OS X. I hate Vista, I never upgraded, I stayed with XP but have been willing to change to OS X with XP as well, to get the best of both worlds. Then i find my DAW doesn't support XP 64 bit so i am going to have to use Vista 64-bit (bummer).
What I haven't been able to figure out is if it is possible to run a RAID 0 of the windows OS and all its data. The Mac Pro RAID card doesn't support any Windows OS so i am wondering if there is anyway possible to get the Windows OS in RAID, any good hardware or software that will accomplish this. Like if i get the Mac Pro RAID cad, is there a good software or hardware RAID that will allow me to install windows in a RAID 0 configuration?
If its possible I would have no reasons to not move over, but I really need to have my RAID setup in windows since I am using latency sensitive disk streaming programs that need to stream files in the GBs
Also could I just opt out for the Mac Pro Card and get a generic RAID card that supports both Windows and OS X? And if so any recommendations?
Message was edited by: jmoss211

I'm glad you are in the planning stages!
The question I didn't know to ask is always the one that bites the worst.
One of the best options might be the RR 4320
http://www.hptmac.com/US/product.php?_index=50&viewtype=details
http://www.barefeats.com/hard109.html
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Highpoint%20Technologies/RRAID4320/
One of the first Mac Pro RAID and Boot Camp work?
Games, hence the whole gaming graphics area, has and is not high on the list of features, which had been a large reason for people installing Windows on Mac.
I didn't want to see you invest in SAS and not get performance level you want.
StorageReview Performance SCSI/SAS vs VelociRaptor
Here is the card Barefeats felt was the card that Apple has to beat, and points to some of the limitations of SAS on the Mac Pro. http://www.barefeats.com/hard104.html
MacWorld SanFran in a couple weeks is when Apple traditionally would use to announce some of the new products for the next year (Snow, Mac Pro '09, new iMac, etc).
Apple is not very upgradeable. It would cost me more to upgrade the cpu than buy new (though can get a good $$ on my system - in part because it runs the prior version of OS X 10.4 "Tiger". New systems will only run the current/latest OS, you won't be able to run Leopard if a system comes with Snow. The graphic choices and upgrades can be lame. It is almost a closed box.)
I've talked to people that were into audio that used Fibre Channel in part due to low latency, increased queue depth (which is one area SATA has never implemented, 32 vs 256 I/O per sec).
+Forget trying to use the Apple search to find threads, it is 'busted' if I can't find the thread mbean and I had with someone only last week on RAID5/6. I turned to Google to find this thread +
Multi-core compiler optimization is big on Santa Intel's wish list to get into the hands of developers and vendors.
*3 GHz Nehalem outperforms the latest Opteron by a margin as high as 80% and more.*
Intel has apparently allowed HP and Fujitsu-Siemens to break the NDA on the Xeon 5570 processor for PR reasons as both companies have published SAP numbers on a Dual Xeon 5570. The Xeon 5570 is based on the same architecture as the Core i7. It is a 2.93 GHz quad-core CPU with 4 times a 256 KB L2-cache and one huge shared 8 MB L3.
http://anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=532
And AMD just gave Intel a new run for the money.
AnandTech’s Johan de Gelas has taken a look at AMD and Intel quad-socket servers. The quad-socket six-core Intel Xeon X7460 at 2.66 GHz is compared to the quad-socket four-core Shanghai-based Opteron 8384 at 2.7 GHz. And what were the results of a test using VMware’s ESX Server 3.5?
Shanghai’s 16 cores outperformed Dunnington’s 24 cores (or 48 if Hyper-Threading was used) by 6.5% or 8.8% depending on whether or not IBM or Dell’s chipset was used. But if we normalize that out per core, Shanghai outperforms by 59.8% (per core) or 63.2%. That is unbelievable!
http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/amd-cleans-up-in-high-end-server-virtualizati on-20081223/

C240 M3S can't setup first boot with Cisco UCSC RAID SAS 2008M-8i Mezzanine in BIOS

Hi all,
I have a problem with C240 M3S with boot device.
1. There is a Cisco UCSC RAID SAS 2008M-8i Mezzanine in the C240 M3S
2. I set up the raid5 for four SAS disks with Cisco UCSC RAID SAS 2008M-8i Mezzanine
3. When I install the ESXi 5.5, it can be installed in SAS disks.
4.When I press F2 to setup bios for C240 M3S, I can't find the item for the raid of Cisco UCSC RAID SAS 2008M-8i Mezzanine
5. C240 M3S can't boot from the Cisco UCSC RAID SAS 2008M-8i Mezzanine
6. BIOS have been reloaded for many times, it can't work.
Anybody have any idea for this problem? Thank you!

Sorry,
I can't find the item of local storage.
I never setup the boot order ( default bios can find raid card, I don't know that raid can't be found at this time )
Would you please offer any references, thank you
By the way, I check the install guide for c240 m3
If the RAID controller does not appear in the system boot order even with the option ROMs for those
slots are enabled, the RAID controller option ROM might not have sufficient memory space to
execute. In that case, disable other option ROMs that are not needed for the system configuration to
free up some memory space for the RAID controller option ROM.
this means I want to turn off all option ROMs to get more memory ? However, I turn off all option ROMs, I still can't find the raid.
Thank you very much!!

Trying to setup RAID 1 with new SATA drives on xserve 2009 model

Trying to setup RAID 1 with new SATA drives on xserve 2009 model
I have an Xserve rack mount model Xserve 2.26 Quad Core (EMC# 2279) with an Apple RAID card, 24GB RAM (running 10.9 Server software)
Purchased two Western Digital 1TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64MB Cache Black WD1003FZEX drives
It came with three 160GB SATA drives. I'm leaving one of the original 160GB drives for the OS, but I want to replace the 2 other drives and set it up with RAID 1 (mirrored). I bought 2 brand new Western Digital 1TB SATA drives and formatted them on another Mac through Disk Utility with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) formatting. I then placed the new drives in the Xserve and booted it up. After I login it immediately gives me 2 error windows saying...
"Apple RAID Card
The Apple RAID Card installed in your system requires your attention."
It has two buttons underneath this message allowing me to either select 'Ignore' or 'Open RAID Utility'
I've tried to RAID the drives the Disk Utility and through the RAID Utility with no success.
I have both drives mounted on the desktop, as separate drives, but I really need to set these up as a RAID 1.
I've been reading other forums, where others have been able to get this to work by using a jumper on certain pins (5 & 6)of the drive to back down the transfer rate to 1.5 Gb per second. I tried that and it didn't work for me. Maybe I used the wrong pins -- I just don't know. I'm also wondering if there is some Apple firmware that is required on these drives? I'm asking for help from anyone who has gone through this same issue. Thanks in advance.

UPDATE -- I had an issue with the RAID card battery, it was dead and I have since replaced it. But I am still unable to setup the RAID 1 drive configuration. Does anyone know if it has something to do with the faster transfer rates on these new drives. Maybe they need to be clocked down with certain jumper settings on these Western Digital drives? Or am I fighting a losing battle because these drives don't have Apple firmware? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Pros and cons to JBOD/N-RAID setup on MacBook Pro with two internal SSDs

First, to clarify, in this case, I mean the term "JBOD/N-RAID" to refer to a concatenated or spanning set of drives as supported by OS X and Disk Utility.
I've got an original Apple-installed 120GB 3G (3Gb/s) SSD which I'll be moving into the optical bay using an OWC "Data Doubler" and swapping a new 240GB OWC Mercury Electra 6G (6Gb/s) SSD into the main drive bay.
My goal is to avoid having two separate volumes.
Understand that a RAID 0 array would essentially only perform as well as the slowest drive in the array (the 3G SSD in this case), if it would even work at all given the two drives are not identical in make and capacity.
I've read that a JBOD/N-RAID array isn't subject to the "same make and capacity" constraints. But how does this setup perform?
Would the speed of the 6G be hobbled, slowed down to the 3G's speed (or worse?), if I were to set up the two SSDs as a JBOD/N-RAID array?
Is this even a recommended idea - that is, paying for the convenience of having one virtual volume by adding the complexity (and risks?) of a JBOD / N-RAID setup?

I am following your advice and attempting to install Bonjour. I wasn't sure where to install it so I am following the VMWare Knowledge Base #1003814: Sharing a printer with a Windows virtual machine using Apple Bonjour.
I have copied it below to refer to because I've run into a problem.
I have completed steps 1 a-d.
The Problem: Step 1 e. Click Printers. Printers is not shown under Removable Devices. When I try to Add Device (Printers) it says "New Devices cannot be added until the Virtual Machine is Shut Down and then Resumed." I have shut down the Virtual Machine alone, I've shut down AMware Fusion and I've shut down both Windows and Mac. Nothing has changed when I try and add Printers so I can do Step e.
I sure hope someone can help.
To configure a printer connected to your Mac for use with the Bonjour utility and a virtual machine in Fusion:
Configure your virtual machine for Bridged Networking and disable ThinPrint:
Click Virtual Machine > Settings.
Click Network (Adapter).
Enable Bridged Mode. In Fusion 5.x, select Autodetect under Bridge networking.
Click Show All.
Click Printers.
Set printer sharing to Off.
Click Close.
Reboot the virtual machine.
Install Bonjour for Windows. Download and install Bonjour for Windows in the virtual machine. Bonjour is available from Apple at http://support.apple.com/kb/DL999.
Note: The preceding link was correct as of January 20, 2010. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.
Share the printer in Mac OS:
Open System Preferences.
Click Print and Fax.
Select the printer you want to share, and select Share this printer.
To configure the printer in the guest operating system with the Bonjour Utility:
Double-click the Bonjour Printer Wizard.
Click Next.
Under Shared printers select the printer you want to use.
Click Next.
Click Finish.

Steps to Setup a Raid 1 with a clean install of 10.5.2 and 2 new HD's

What are the steps I need to take to setup a RAID 1 with a clean install of 10.5.2 on a G5 tower with 2.0 Ghz dual processors.
(1) Any restrictions on the size or brand of the 2 drives I will install to replace the old drives? Are 500 GB, 750 GB or 1TB Seagate SATA drives ok for this appilcation?
(2) What format do I need for these drives and will Leopard take care of that automatically upon installation?
(3) Do I need a RAID controller card?
(4) Do I set up the RAID 1 when installing Leopard or after it is installed?
Thanks Ron

Creating RAIDs is discussed in Disk Utility Help from the DU Help menu. If you plan to install OS X on the RAID then the RAID must be set up before installing OS X. DU can be launched from within the OS X installer.
There are no current restrictions. In general use drives of the same make and model for best performance.
Drives must be partitioned using GUID partition mapping and formatted Mac OS Extended, Journaled. Partitioning and formatting are also discussed in Disk Utility Help.
You do not need a RAID card as you can create a software RAID using Disk Utility.

Having probs with a raid setup on K8N Neo2

Hey all i have a MSI K8N Neo 2 Platinum [MS-7025 ver 1] mobo with 2 WD 36 gig Raptors ...i am having one hell of a time settin up my raid system
after i load my drivers after the f6 prompt and follow the instructions in my windows setup it shows as me having 2 drives rather then one...and if i try t install, it gives me a blue error screen..i forget the actuall error msg but it is along the lines of a general hardware failure...Both harddrives are good as i have installed os's on both drives seperatly and i have run raid setups on my last 5 systems and never encoutered any probs..I have replaced my sata cables,changed power connections,2 different xp discs,new sata and raid drivers,and updated the bios but with no success.If anyone has a link or a similar experience with this can u plz help me out. i have the 1.4 bios and like i said earlier all new sata cables so i think i have all the basics covered.i love this mobo's features but if i can't get my raid goin its not much good to me so any help would be appreciated
Thx

Here is what I meant:
Unplug the power connector from one of the two raptors so that your system "sees" just one HDD.
Install Windows with just that drive being visible (maybe you have already done that I am not sure).
After Windows is up and running that way, then shut down the computer, plug the power back into the second drive,
set up your raid arry in BIOS and then boot into Windows. You should then see Windows detect the raid and ask you to install the drivers for it.
I think we are saying the same thing but not sure.

Extremely Unhappy with FM2-A85XA-G65 Raid setup

I was going to setup a Raid5 array on my new FM2-A85XA-G65 but it seems to really be an unusable mess. I have updated to latest 1.7 Bios and got no improvement. I am loading Windows Server 2012 Essentials on this machine so UEFI is a must and there for Legacy Raid is out. There was supposed to be an improved way to set up an UEFI Raid 5 array in this new BIOS but I don't see squat. Setting the Legacy Raid seems to be the only way to get into the board's Raid setup but as I said that is a none starter. I had read elsewhere that the 1.7 Bios allowed UEFI Raid setup from the Bios menus (which is how it should be with a board boasting easy graphical UEFI setup) but there appears to be no such thing.
Extremely unhappy and thinking of returning this board. I've currently setup the Raid5 array using the Windows Server 2012 and it seems to work fine but I assume the motherboard based Raid would have significantly better performance, correct?
How much better performance should the motherboard based Raid be, and has anyone got Windows 2012 Server to load on Legacy Raid?
Is anyone using AMD Raid Expert with this Motherboard's native Raid setup?
Is the new Storage Spaces feature in Windows Server 2012 a better option than Raid5?

Quote
Is there any other way to fix it?
Not without a Trinity cpu. Alternatively ask reseller or MSI to flash it for you.
Quote
For example: can I get an old FM1 CPU from a friend to test it?
Of course not. You need a FM2 cpu. FM2 and 1 aren't compatible.
Quote
And what can you tell me about the memory?
Will it work on this board?
Those sticks are ment for Intel systems (http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/KHX21C11T2K2_8X.pdf) but they will most likely work with safe settings. Don't expect them to go anywhere near 2133. First that would be oc as your cpu's mem controller supports just up to 1866. Secondly because the ram is meant for Intel system's it might even with oc not work at the same settings/speeds it would work on Intel systems it is specified for.

I cannot install windows 7 x64 with AMD/ASUS RAID driver

Trying to install Windows 7 Ultimate x64 on an ASUS M5A97 mobo with AMD SB850 RAID, two WD 750GB drives configured as RAID 0. No drives are recognized by W7 install, so I choose Load Drivers. I put the drivers on a USB stick. Install finds the drivers there,
starts loading them, then comes back with "Installing an unsigned 64 bit driver is not supported and may result in an unstable Windows installation." I downloaded the latest drivers from ASUS website which are WHQL certified (as are the one's on the motherboard
disk). I saw other posts that recommend clicking Repair instead of Install, but I don't see where that option is. All I am given as options are Upgrade or Install. Choosing Upgrade tells me to boot Windows first. But this is a brand new install so...
I tried pressing F8 as setup was booting and chose "Disable Signed Driver Requirement" but that had no effect at all. If I turn off the RAID W7 sees both disks and happily installs. I see related posts going back to 2009; surely someone has
a solution for this issue?
Da Bomb

Hi guys,
I have been struggling with the same issue.
Win7 x64. Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 Mobo with Intel core i7-3930K at 3.20 GHz
Marvell 88SE9172 SATA RAID controller with two Hitachi 500 GB spinning disks configured as RAID1
Windows would get to the point of asking for a mass storage drive. It would not see the RAID I had created.
Tried every driver I could find. Tried drivers from the "Station Drivers" website. Tried Marvell drivers for the same chip from the ASUS website. No luck. Tried loading from CD as well as USB flash drive. Always the same result... Windows would find
the drivers appropriate for the hardware found, I would select the RAID version, and after a few seconds, would report that the drivers were unsigned, and the installation was not supported for 64-bit drivers. Clicking OK would take me back to the load drivers
display with no new drives listed in the available drives window.
I tried hitting F8 during startup, and selected the "allow install of unsigned drivers option". That didn't do ANYTHING. Still the same error.
Someone suggested putting the drivers in the root directory. That didn't work. I also disabled all other drives except one CD rom and a USB drive and made sure that my RAID array was the first drive in the boot list.
Tried doing a windows repair, as someone else suggested. (This is an option that is available on the install disk I am using. It's enabled as part of EMS (emergency management services) in setup. Anyway, this was reported to be a workaround
to the signed driver issue. It would allow me to browse to the individual files, but no matter which one I selected, the response was "cannot find hardware appropriate to the driver selected" or some such nonesense. So I gave up on that.
Doing the install with the controller in IDE mode with just one drive connected, would result is Windows installing without a hitch. The problem was clearly when I presented 64-bit windows with a controller in RAID mode.
Long story less long, here's what worked for me....
Out of desperation, I began trying other subfolders in the driver lists. The Gigabyte manual indicated that the AMD64 subfolder was the correct one for the Marvell controller, when using RAID mode with 64-bit Windows. After trying every subfolder of
every driver I could find, the driver in the i386 folder actually worked. It initially came back with the same error about unsigned drivers, but after clicking OK, my RAID drive showed up in the list. I have been able to partition and format
the drive from within Windows setup, and am continuing with the install now. Hopefully won't be any problems booting from the drive post install, but so far it looks good, and I'm relieved that I was able to get it this far.
The whole process has been one of the most frustrating computing experiences I've ever had. This is what it was like back in the 90's when building PCs from scratch. I'm amazed that in this day and age the process is still so poorly documented
and filled with potholes, traps and caveats. Shame on the entire PC industry for allowing this to continue. I'm not asking that they jump in and try to automate it and do all the thinking for me (their solution for everything lately)...all I'm asking for it
clear, concise and accurate INFORMATION.
With the right information, and software that provides accurate feedback, this would all be easy...and even fun.
Hope this helps someone faced with the same problem.

Raid setup with g-tech raid

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