Another Raid Question

WHB · 01-10-2006, 09:00 PM

Hello, I am running in a raid 0 Intel ICH5R configuration, and I want to know how do I go by adding an additional sata drive as extra storage, mind you that i do not want to run in any other setup other than raid 0, My board is an Asus P4C800-E Deluxe, the 2 drives that are running in the raid array are 2 Seagate 120 GB SATA II, and the one that i want as extra storage is a Maxtor 200 GB SATA. Thank You

PCBruiser · 01-10-2006, 09:17 PM

Your only choice is to put the thrid drive on the Promise controller as a single drive. A P4C800E-Deluxe will not support more than a 2 drive Raid array via hardware (unless you use the Promise controller which will support up to 4 drives - 2 SATA + 2 IDE), and you really do not want to consider a software array. Really having a 3 drive Raid 0 array is just asking for catestrophic loss of your system and data. You should understand that the probability of catestrophic loss in a Raid 0 array is equal to the probability of a single drive failure times the number of drives in the array. That's bad enough wwith a 2 drive Raid 0 array, but going to more than 2 drives is foolhardy.

WHB · 01-10-2006, 09:46 PM

I was thinking that this third drive would be independent of the raid array, and is that possible? and also does this mean that if i do go this route would i have to reformat and everything all over?

WHB · 01-10-2006, 09:49 PM

Oh and BTW i've never heard of a software array???? Break it down

Jorrell · 01-10-2006, 10:30 PM

You should be able to just hook it up to the promise controller and have it work. Don't do any RAID setup on it at all. You'll probably need to format it in Windows.

Software RAID is pretty much like hardware RAID only all of the work is done in software rather than by a hardware controller. Windows has a built in ability to do software RAID which is accessible in the Disk Management mmc applet.

If you want to RAID all three drives together I suspect you're stuck with a reinstall of Windows unless you make a backup image first (perhaps with Norton Ghost).

PCBruiser · 01-10-2006, 10:30 PM

Yes and no. The answers to your questions in order. You just need to attach the new drive to the Promise controller, activate it in the bios, install the drivers in Windows, go to Disk Management and partition and format the drive, and you are good to go.

Windows has the capability to create and support software controlled, rather than hardware controlled, Raid arrays. While most think that this capability is limited to server versions of Windows, XP has this same capability, and can be hacked rather easily to activate this feature. There is a thread on that here with instructions how to do it, posted by swannema, IIRC. Maybe 12 - 15 months ago? Something like that. A quick search and you should find it. Not recommended because software supported Raid arrays are fragile and much more likely to fail than hardware ones.

WHB · 01-10-2006, 10:56 PM

Thanks for the replies, but theres one thing, i don't have to fasttrak drivers installed, so i guess i have to redo everything. and again you have been very helpful, Thank You

PCBruiser · 01-10-2006, 10:59 PM

No, you do not have to redo anything. You can just install the fasttrak drivers right from within Windows as long as the OS is not on that drive. As far as Windows is concerned it is just another hard drive controller that needs a driver set installed to work properly. Two minutes plus a reboot to do the entire thing.

WHB · 01-11-2006, 03:33 AM

Funny thing, I installed the Promise drivers and I plugged the drive into the Promise SATA_RAID1 connection, and for some reason it did not show up in the the Bios nor windows, so i wasnt able to format the drive, so i messed around with it a few, and still wasn't able to have the drive show up in the bios nor windows, all the while thinking that i should try and create an array with just the 1 drive (I am the daring type) just to see what would happen and without a hitch, the drive showed up in the bios, and in windows, and from there i used partition magic to format the drive, now mind you i have the IDE Configurations set right in the bios, but I can't figure out why it didn't work as was suggested to me??? although it's working it just doesn't seem right being that it's not setup the way suggested, maybe you/someone can shead some light on this issue.

grsamf · 01-11-2006, 07:01 AM

You have to create an array (or arrays) using the Promise controller. Choices are RAID 0 (striping), RAID 1 (mirror), RAID 0+1 (striping plus mirror), and JBOD (just a bunch of disks). When you attach only one disk to the drive, JBOD is the only option, which is what you did. Sometimes "daring" is the right option.

The "array" consists of a single disk. You could install another SATA HD on the second connector and create another such "array" with it. As I remember, the P4C800-E-Deluxe documentation only talks about RAID 0, 1, and 0+1 without mentioning JBOD which leads a lot of people to believe they can't run disks singly on that controller. Sounds like you are good to go.

PCBruiser · 01-11-2006, 10:03 AM

Also, you have to enable the controller in the bios. After the bios sees the drive boot into Windows. Once in Windows, you have to partition and formst the drive before Explorer will see it. To do that right click on MY Computer/Manage/Disk Management. You will see he new drive there. Right click on it chose to create a new basic partition, and then after the partition is created, format it. After that Explorer will see it.

01-10-2006, 09:00 PM	#1
WHB Registered User Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Detroit, Michigan Posts: 40	Another Raid Question Hello, I am running in a raid 0 Intel ICH5R configuration, and I want to know how do I go by adding an additional sata drive as extra storage, mind you that i do not want to run in any other setup other than raid 0, My board is an Asus P4C800-E Deluxe, the 2 drives that are running in the raid array are 2 Seagate 120 GB SATA II, and the one that i want as extra storage is a Maxtor 200 GB SATA. Thank You __________________ P4C800-E Deluxe, Bios 1023 Intel 3.2C Ghz 800MHz FSB HTT OCZ Dual Channel Gold 1GB DDR PC-3200 Asus ATI Radeon 9600XT, 128 DDR Thermalright SLK_947 Copper, 92 mm Vantec "Tornado", 2 120mm supplied case fans Antec 550W "True550" Thermaltake Shark Case, Silver 2 Seagate 120GB 7200RPM SATA Drives Raid0 Shuttle CR40 16X DVD Combo Drive Logitech G5 Optical Mouse, and Media Elite Keyboard Windows XP PRO SP2 Detroit, Michigan Interests: A Man of Many Talents
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01-10-2006, 09:17 PM	#2
PCBruiser Registered User Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 13,497	Your only choice is to put the thrid drive on the Promise controller as a single drive. A P4C800E-Deluxe will not support more than a 2 drive Raid array via hardware (unless you use the Promise controller which will support up to 4 drives - 2 SATA + 2 IDE), and you really do not want to consider a software array. Really having a 3 drive Raid 0 array is just asking for catestrophic loss of your system and data. You should understand that the probability of catestrophic loss in a Raid 0 array is equal to the probability of a single drive failure times the number of drives in the array. That's bad enough wwith a 2 drive Raid 0 array, but going to more than 2 drives is foolhardy.
(Offline)

01-10-2006, 09:46 PM	#3
WHB Registered User Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Detroit, Michigan Posts: 40	I was thinking that this third drive would be independent of the raid array, and is that possible? and also does this mean that if i do go this route would i have to reformat and everything all over? __________________ P4C800-E Deluxe, Bios 1023 Intel 3.2C Ghz 800MHz FSB HTT OCZ Dual Channel Gold 1GB DDR PC-3200 Asus ATI Radeon 9600XT, 128 DDR Thermalright SLK_947 Copper, 92 mm Vantec "Tornado", 2 120mm supplied case fans Antec 550W "True550" Thermaltake Shark Case, Silver 2 Seagate 120GB 7200RPM SATA Drives Raid0 Shuttle CR40 16X DVD Combo Drive Logitech G5 Optical Mouse, and Media Elite Keyboard Windows XP PRO SP2 Detroit, Michigan Interests: A Man of Many Talents
(Offline)

01-10-2006, 09:49 PM	#4
WHB Registered User Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Detroit, Michigan Posts: 40	Oh and BTW i've never heard of a software array???? Break it down __________________ P4C800-E Deluxe, Bios 1023 Intel 3.2C Ghz 800MHz FSB HTT OCZ Dual Channel Gold 1GB DDR PC-3200 Asus ATI Radeon 9600XT, 128 DDR Thermalright SLK_947 Copper, 92 mm Vantec "Tornado", 2 120mm supplied case fans Antec 550W "True550" Thermaltake Shark Case, Silver 2 Seagate 120GB 7200RPM SATA Drives Raid0 Shuttle CR40 16X DVD Combo Drive Logitech G5 Optical Mouse, and Media Elite Keyboard Windows XP PRO SP2 Detroit, Michigan Interests: A Man of Many Talents
(Offline)

01-10-2006, 10:30 PM	#5
Jorrell baka neko Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 714	You should be able to just hook it up to the promise controller and have it work. Don't do any RAID setup on it at all. You'll probably need to format it in Windows. Software RAID is pretty much like hardware RAID only all of the work is done in software rather than by a hardware controller. Windows has a built in ability to do software RAID which is accessible in the Disk Management mmc applet. If you want to RAID all three drives together I suspect you're stuck with a reinstall of Windows unless you make a backup image first (perhaps with Norton Ghost). __________________
(Offline)

01-10-2006, 10:56 PM	#7
WHB Registered User Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Detroit, Michigan Posts: 40	Thanks for the replies, but theres one thing, i don't have to fasttrak drivers installed, so i guess i have to redo everything. and again you have been very helpful, Thank You __________________ P4C800-E Deluxe, Bios 1023 Intel 3.2C Ghz 800MHz FSB HTT OCZ Dual Channel Gold 1GB DDR PC-3200 Asus ATI Radeon 9600XT, 128 DDR Thermalright SLK_947 Copper, 92 mm Vantec "Tornado", 2 120mm supplied case fans Antec 550W "True550" Thermaltake Shark Case, Silver 2 Seagate 120GB 7200RPM SATA Drives Raid0 Shuttle CR40 16X DVD Combo Drive Logitech G5 Optical Mouse, and Media Elite Keyboard Windows XP PRO SP2 Detroit, Michigan Interests: A Man of Many Talents
(Offline)

01-10-2006, 10:59 PM	#8
PCBruiser Registered User Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 13,497	No, you do not have to redo anything. You can just install the fasttrak drivers right from within Windows as long as the OS is not on that drive. As far as Windows is concerned it is just another hard drive controller that needs a driver set installed to work properly. Two minutes plus a reboot to do the entire thing.
(Offline)

01-11-2006, 03:33 AM	#9
WHB Registered User Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Detroit, Michigan Posts: 40	Funny thing, I installed the Promise drivers and I plugged the drive into the Promise SATA_RAID1 connection, and for some reason it did not show up in the the Bios nor windows, so i wasnt able to format the drive, so i messed around with it a few, and still wasn't able to have the drive show up in the bios nor windows, all the while thinking that i should try and create an array with just the 1 drive (I am the daring type) just to see what would happen and without a hitch, the drive showed up in the bios, and in windows, and from there i used partition magic to format the drive, now mind you i have the IDE Configurations set right in the bios, but I can't figure out why it didn't work as was suggested to me??? although it's working it just doesn't seem right being that it's not setup the way suggested, maybe you/someone can shead some light on this issue. __________________ P4C800-E Deluxe, Bios 1023 Intel 3.2C Ghz 800MHz FSB HTT OCZ Dual Channel Gold 1GB DDR PC-3200 Asus ATI Radeon 9600XT, 128 DDR Thermalright SLK_947 Copper, 92 mm Vantec "Tornado", 2 120mm supplied case fans Antec 550W "True550" Thermaltake Shark Case, Silver 2 Seagate 120GB 7200RPM SATA Drives Raid0 Shuttle CR40 16X DVD Combo Drive Logitech G5 Optical Mouse, and Media Elite Keyboard Windows XP PRO SP2 Detroit, Michigan Interests: A Man of Many Talents
(Offline)

01-11-2006, 07:01 AM	#10
grsamf Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 3,739	You have to create an array (or arrays) using the Promise controller. Choices are RAID 0 (striping), RAID 1 (mirror), RAID 0+1 (striping plus mirror), and JBOD (just a bunch of disks). When you attach only one disk to the drive, JBOD is the only option, which is what you did. Sometimes "daring" is the right option. The "array" consists of a single disk. You could install another SATA HD on the second connector and create another such "array" with it. As I remember, the P4C800-E-Deluxe documentation only talks about RAID 0, 1, and 0+1 without mentioning JBOD which leads a lot of people to believe they can't run disks singly on that controller. Sounds like you are good to go.
(Offline)

01-11-2006, 10:03 AM	#11
PCBruiser Registered User Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 13,497	Also, you have to enable the controller in the bios. After the bios sees the drive boot into Windows. Once in Windows, you have to partition and formst the drive before Explorer will see it. To do that right click on MY Computer/Manage/Disk Management. You will see he new drive there. Right click on it chose to create a new basic partition, and then after the partition is created, format it. After that Explorer will see it.
(Offline)

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