Trying to RAID-0 on new non-OS drives...

Cubase · Feb 20, 2008, 03:06 AM

Hello everyone, this is my first post here and I am hoping one of you bright sparks can help me out.

Firstly, my setup so you know what you're up against:

Intel Core2 Quad QX9560
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 (rev2.1)
8gb G.Skill DDRII 800
Gigabyte Geforce 8800 GTS 512
1X 74gb Raptor (XP 32)
1X 74gb Raptor (Empty at the moment... Vista HP-64 to install later as Dual boot)
1X 150gb Raptor (Program files (shared for both XP and Vista)

Info on the Hard Drives:

All drives are SATA.
All Drives were plugged into the ICH9R southbridge SATA ports (as opposed to the Gigabyte SATA controllers, to which there are 4 more ports)
All of the above drives were installed WITHOUT the ICH9R or the Gigabyte RAID/SATA controller enabled in BIOS (this is because I could not get BIOS to recognize the drives with the RAID/SATA controllers switched on).

So far everything is working exactly as it should with Windows XP installed, and all drives functioning as they should be. So far everything is ideal.

Now, I bought 2 more drives to use in my computer:

2X 500GB WD Caviar (once again, I plugged these into the ICH9R southbridge ports, leaving 1 port empty, of the 6 ports in total)

I want them (and only them) to utilize RAID-0… hence, I want to leave my existing drives as they are (non RAID) and just put a striped array on my two new drives for video editing purposes.

Can someone provide me with a solution (because all I can find in the manuals and online are solutions to installing my OS on a RAID setup, when all I want to do Is RAID two separate drives that have nothing to do with my OS).

So far I have tried the following:

I tried switching back on the Intel ICH9R RAID controllers via BIOS so that I can configure the new drives in RAID BIOS post screen, but this did not work because ALL my drives (incl the original ones) failed to be recognized even in BIOS, and computer won’t boot (NTLDR issue).

Current status: almost bald from forceful hair removal.

Here are some questions which might aid in the solutions:

Should I switch my 2 new drives to the Gigabyte RAID/SATA controller ports, and enable only THAT controller in BIOS, thus preserving the non-RAID (and working order) of the ICH9R Southbridge? …and THEN set up the RAID on the gigabyte controller for just these two drives?
Lastly, once this RAID is set up, is it safe to assume that it will be recognized in Vista once I have installed it on the spare 74 GB drive? And do both XP and Vista need RAID drivers installed to recognize the chipset RAID configurations after they are set up? (I am assuming that because none of the OS drives are RAIDed there will be no need to slipstream the RAID drivers during any of the OS installations at all?)

Thats pretty much the bulk of my issue. Any help is greatly appreciated, becuase so far I have researched for days and have turned up nothing.

Thanks!

Appendices:

Motherboard Manual (just in case you need to familiarise yourself with the set-up a little more: GIGABYTE - Support - Motherboard - Manual - GA-EP35-DS4 (rev. 2.1)

**kris23** · Feb 20, 2008, 03:22 AM

i dont know too much about the Gigabyte BIOS but there should be some kind of RAID BIOS that you need to initiate (first you need to enable RAID in the main BIOS usually)

depending on the necessary keys, pressing "CTRL" + "I" should get you there.

next youll need the RAID drivers for XP (should be within the ICH9R drivers

sorry i cant be of more assistance as im going by what my motherboard has, hopefully those pointers above would provide some assistance if anything.

Methious · Feb 20, 2008, 06:47 AM

You'll need the raid drivers installed in each version of windows for them to recognize the raid array. If the OS is already installed I don't know that you can install them w/o reinstalling to OS.

You can install them in each OS and not have the OS drives/partitions in a raid array, then raid the spare drives and they should recognize the array. Unless there's a way I haven't heard of you have to install the drivers on OS install using a flash drive or floppy.

Tipstaff · Feb 20, 2008, 08:35 AM

There is a way to install the RAID drivers after the fact, but the risk is so great, and the pay off so little, that you may as well reinstall your OS instead, as the risk of pooching the OS is almost 98% guaranteed.

BTW, read your manual for installing the RAID drivers. During the install you need to supply the RAID drivers for Windows to load your controller, and thus see your hard drives. For this to happen you need to do one of 2 things:

1) create a floppy drive that has the RAID drivers for your board on it. Remember during Windows installation it said to, "Press F6 to install a third party driver"? This is the point you want to load the driver. Hit F6, and a little further along it will ask you for the driver disk. Then, pick the one for your board, and continue the install. What you will find is that now that the controller is recognized by the Windows installer it will also recognize the hard drives. Of note, later on in the install it will ask you for that floppy again, so keep it handy.

or

2) slipstream the RAID drivers into a new bootable OS installation disc. This way it will automatically load the RAID drivers for your board without the need for the floppy.

The only exception is for Vista. With Vista there is the option of putting the RAID drivers on a USB pen drive.

Cubase · Feb 20, 2008, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tipstaff

There is a way to install the RAID drivers after the fact, but the risk is so great, and the pay off so little, that you may as well reinstall your OS instead, as the risk of pooching the OS is almost 98% guaranteed.

Isn't that only if I wanted to convert my drives which the OS are already on into RAID?

I don't want to touch my OS drives, I only want to RAID 2 completely new and separate drives so essentially my OS should not have anything to do with the RAID initilisation process, only the recognition process after the RAID is already functional.

**temeteus82** · Feb 20, 2008, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cubase

I don't want to touch my OS drives, I only want to RAID 2 completely new and separate drives so essentially my OS should not have anything to do with the RAID initilisation process, only the recognition process after the RAID is already functional.

Well you must when you go to RAID all the SATA ports are in RAID mode so that's why you got those issues. The bets way to get the RAID setup done is to do clean installs of windows. With the newest RAID drivers from Intel.

Cubase · Feb 20, 2008, 09:52 AM

MY RAID LIVES!!

I managed to figure it out... here is what I did:

Installed the two extra drives onto the saparate RAID controller to the main one (the Gigabyte one instead of the Intel one). This enables me to switch on the RAID controller without causing conflict with my existing non RAID OS drives.

Then I booted into the Gigabyte RAID BIOS utility and set up the array. Then once in Windows, I installed the Gigabyte RAID drivers (the latest from the internet).

And then Voila! My RAID-0 striped array is recognised and working in Windows without a hitch!

Thanks for the tips though guys, much appreciated. But it looks like it was possible after all.

Edit > Wow, it's blazingly fast too!

**temeteus82** · Feb 20, 2008, 09:57 AM

Good that you figured it out.

**kris23** · Feb 21, 2008, 12:45 AM

uhh.... does anyone know how reliable the JMicron controller is? afterall, ive been hearing about how crappy they are.

Zelig · Feb 21, 2008, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tipstaff

There is a way to install the RAID drivers after the fact, but the risk is so great, and the pay off so little, that you may as well reinstall your OS instead, as the risk of pooching the OS is almost 98% guaranteed.

Yeah, I just had Vista bugger up my secondary RAID 0 array, even though I'd integrated drivers, just loading setup screwed the array before I had the chance to load drivers from USB.

Thankfully, I meticulously back everything up, but I'd been hoping to save myself some time from having to copy everything back over.

Tipstaff · Feb 21, 2008, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cubase

Isn't that only if I wanted to convert my drives which the OS are already on into RAID?

I don't want to touch my OS drives, I only want to RAID 2 completely new and separate drives so essentially my OS should not have anything to do with the RAID initilisation process, only the recognition process after the RAID is already functional.

Even if you don't intend to use the drives for RAID, you can still install the drivers just fine, and everything will work. They'd just be single drives on a RAID controller. It's what we call a "RAID Ready System". The benefit is that you get access to AHCI mode by having the drivers installed (that means hotswap SATA drives, and eSATA support), and if you ever decide to meddle in RAID you don't have to reinstall your OS to do so (or in your case resort to a different RAID controller).

Let's say, for instance, you only had one drive when you installed your OS, but you planned to setup RAID 0 at some time later, either using that drive, or onto 2 new drives. You could easily switch it over to RAID via this method: image the drive using Ghost either to an image file, or to another drive (or even from that drive directly to the 2 new drives), remove that drive, hookup the drives you want to RAID (say RAID 0 using SATA 0 and 1 ports), get things striped/mirrored and ready to go, then dump the image or clone the drive onto the RAID setup. Same controller for everything, and no need to reinstall.

The same goes for backing up your setup. In my case I have an image of my RAID 0 setup. If a drive ever fails, and I can't get the drive replaced fast enough (no money/time), I can dump an image onto a single drive, and keep things going until I can replace it. Once I do it's just a matter of imaging things back and fourth again. Time consuming, yes, but not the "balding induced by hair pulling" or "spewing profanity in 20 different languages" kinda conniption fit.

Edit: If anyone here is interested in early balding (or wants to see what happens when a blood vessel bursts), when I find it, I'll post the How-To on how to install the RAID drivers with an already existing Windows installed. It's.. um.. fun to do.

Cubase · Feb 21, 2008, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tipstaff

Let's say, for instance, you only had one drive when you installed your OS, but you planned to setup RAID 0 at some time later, either using that drive, or onto 2 new drives. You could easily switch it over to RAID via this method: image the drive using Ghost either to an image file, or to another drive (or even from that drive directly to the 2 new drives), remove that drive, hookup the drives you want to RAID (say RAID 0 using SATA 0 and 1 ports), get things striped/mirrored and ready to go, then dump the image or clone the drive onto the RAID setup. Same controller for everything, and no need to reinstall.

Well would this work then:

Now that the new drives were moved to another controller, there are 2 spare sockets on the first non-RAID controller. If I wanted to add two more eSATA drives to that original controller (where RAID is switched off), would I be able to simply install my RAID drivers in Windows, then enable the controller, thus allowing Windows to use the driver to recognise the controller (even though all drives currently on there are not RAID), then giving me the ability to connect some new ones?

Cubase · Feb 21, 2008, 11:14 AM

Ah nevermind... I don't think it would work.

I don't intend on RAIDing any more drives... and in the case of eSATA (the two new spare plugs are on an eSATA bracket on the front panel) I don't mind not having hot-swappable functionality because the extra drives will be for Video projects where they would stay plugged in anyway, and would only need to be moved once (hence, having to switch off the PC to plug/unplug is not going to bother me).

Once again, thaks for all your help guys. Everything is exactly as it should be now.

Feb 20, 2008, 03:06 AM	#1
Cubase DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 5 Rep Power: 0	Trying to RAID-0 on new non-OS drives... Hello everyone, this is my first post here and I am hoping one of you bright sparks can help me out. Firstly, my setup so you know what you're up against: Intel Core2 Quad QX9560 Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 (rev2.1) 8gb G.Skill DDRII 800 Gigabyte Geforce 8800 GTS 512 1X 74gb Raptor (XP 32) 1X 74gb Raptor (Empty at the moment... Vista HP-64 to install later as Dual boot) 1X 150gb Raptor (Program files (shared for both XP and Vista) Info on the Hard Drives: All drives are SATA. All Drives were plugged into the ICH9R southbridge SATA ports (as opposed to the Gigabyte SATA controllers, to which there are 4 more ports) All of the above drives were installed WITHOUT the ICH9R or the Gigabyte RAID/SATA controller enabled in BIOS (this is because I could not get BIOS to recognize the drives with the RAID/SATA controllers switched on). So far everything is working exactly as it should with Windows XP installed, and all drives functioning as they should be. So far everything is ideal. Now, I bought 2 more drives to use in my computer: 2X 500GB WD Caviar (once again, I plugged these into the ICH9R southbridge ports, leaving 1 port empty, of the 6 ports in total) I want them (and only them) to utilize RAID-0… hence, I want to leave my existing drives as they are (non RAID) and just put a striped array on my two new drives for video editing purposes. Can someone provide me with a solution (because all I can find in the manuals and online are solutions to installing my OS on a RAID setup, when all I want to do Is RAID two separate drives that have nothing to do with my OS). So far I have tried the following: I tried switching back on the Intel ICH9R RAID controllers via BIOS so that I can configure the new drives in RAID BIOS post screen, but this did not work because ALL my drives (incl the original ones) failed to be recognized even in BIOS, and computer won’t boot (NTLDR issue). Current status: almost bald from forceful hair removal. Here are some questions which might aid in the solutions: Should I switch my 2 new drives to the Gigabyte RAID/SATA controller ports, and enable only THAT controller in BIOS, thus preserving the non-RAID (and working order) of the ICH9R Southbridge? …and THEN set up the RAID on the gigabyte controller for just these two drives? Lastly, once this RAID is set up, is it safe to assume that it will be recognized in Vista once I have installed it on the spare 74 GB drive? And do both XP and Vista need RAID drivers installed to recognize the chipset RAID configurations after they are set up? (I am assuming that because none of the OS drives are RAIDed there will be no need to slipstream the RAID drivers during any of the OS installations at all?) Thats pretty much the bulk of my issue. Any help is greatly appreciated, becuase so far I have researched for days and have turned up nothing. Thanks! Appendices: Motherboard Manual (just in case you need to familiarise yourself with the set-up a little more: GIGABYTE - Support - Motherboard - Manual - GA-EP35-DS4 (rev. 2.1)

Feb 20, 2008, 03:22 AM	#2
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 5,990 Rep Power: 121 System Specs	i dont know too much about the Gigabyte BIOS but there should be some kind of RAID BIOS that you need to initiate (first you need to enable RAID in the main BIOS usually) depending on the necessary keys, pressing "CTRL" + "I" should get you there. next youll need the RAID drivers for XP (should be within the ICH9R drivers sorry i cant be of more assistance as im going by what my motherboard has, hopefully those pointers above would provide some assistance if anything. __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Feb 20, 2008, 08:35 AM	#4
Tipstaff HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Real capital of Canada: Torauna Posts: 6,660 Rep Power: 187 System Specs	There is a way to install the RAID drivers after the fact, but the risk is so great, and the pay off so little, that you may as well reinstall your OS instead, as the risk of pooching the OS is almost 98% guaranteed. BTW, read your manual for installing the RAID drivers. During the install you need to supply the RAID drivers for Windows to load your controller, and thus see your hard drives. For this to happen you need to do one of 2 things: 1) create a floppy drive that has the RAID drivers for your board on it. Remember during Windows installation it said to, "Press F6 to install a third party driver"? This is the point you want to load the driver. Hit F6, and a little further along it will ask you for the driver disk. Then, pick the one for your board, and continue the install. What you will find is that now that the controller is recognized by the Windows installer it will also recognize the hard drives. Of note, later on in the install it will ask you for that floppy again, so keep it handy. or 2) slipstream the RAID drivers into a new bootable OS installation disc. This way it will automatically load the RAID drivers for your board without the need for the floppy. The only exception is for Vista. With Vista there is the option of putting the RAID drivers on a USB pen drive. __________________ Portal: The Flash Version _________________________________ Brain: So, you sacked the cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker? Mr. Sackett: The second cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker I've sacked since the sixth sitting sheet slitter got sick.

Feb 20, 2008, 09:52 AM	Thread Starter #7
Cubase DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 5 Rep Power: 0	MY RAID LIVES!! I managed to figure it out... here is what I did: Installed the two extra drives onto the saparate RAID controller to the main one (the Gigabyte one instead of the Intel one). This enables me to switch on the RAID controller without causing conflict with my existing non RAID OS drives. Then I booted into the Gigabyte RAID BIOS utility and set up the array. Then once in Windows, I installed the Gigabyte RAID drivers (the latest from the internet). And then Voila! My RAID-0 striped array is recognised and working in Windows without a hitch! Thanks for the tips though guys, much appreciated. But it looks like it was possible after all. Edit > Wow, it's blazingly fast too! Last edited by Cubase; Feb 20, 2008 at 10:02 AM.

Feb 21, 2008, 12:45 AM	#9
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 5,990 Rep Power: 121 System Specs	uhh.... does anyone know how reliable the JMicron controller is? afterall, ive been hearing about how crappy they are. __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Feb 20, 2008, 06:47 AM	#3
Methious DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 62 Rep Power: 0	You'll need the raid drivers installed in each version of windows for them to recognize the raid array. If the OS is already installed I don't know that you can install them w/o reinstalling to OS. You can install them in each OS and not have the OS drives/partitions in a raid array, then raid the spare drives and they should recognize the array. Unless there's a way I haven't heard of you have to install the drivers on OS install using a flash drive or floppy.

Feb 21, 2008, 11:14 AM	Thread Starter #13
Cubase DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 5 Rep Power: 0	Ah nevermind... I don't think it would work. I don't intend on RAIDing any more drives... and in the case of eSATA (the two new spare plugs are on an eSATA bracket on the front panel) I don't mind not having hot-swappable functionality because the extra drives will be for Video projects where they would stay plugged in anyway, and would only need to be moved once (hence, having to switch off the PC to plug/unplug is not going to bother me). Once again, thaks for all your help guys. Everything is exactly as it should be now.