Intel Matrix RAID Questions

CapBBeard · 03-16-2008, 08:46 PM

Hey all,

I will soon have 4 new 500GB 7200.11 drives and plan to create a RAID out of them. I have an ASUS P5B-E motherboard (ICH8R chipset).

Originally I was just going to create a single 1TB RAID 10 volume and be done with it, but I've started pondering using matrix RAID to create a 300GB RAID 0 volume for my OS/apps, and then an 850GB RAID 10 volume for my user data.

I've done a LOT of reading on the merits of each RAID type, so I'm not really after a discussion on which is better, but more about what happens in a drive failure situation.

With the single RAID 10 volume, obviously I can just rebuild the RAID 10 and off I go again.

In the case of the mixed RAID 0/10, I'll clearly need to recreate the RAID 0 volume and reinstall my OS. The question is, what ramifications does this rebuild have on the RAID 10 volume?

According to Intel, in the case of a RAID 0 OS volume and RAID 1 data volume, you need to delete the RAID 0 volume, copy data out of your RAID 1 volume, delete the RAID 1 volume, and then create the RAID 1 volume again. I'm not keen on this at all; ie, why can't the RAID 1 volume just be rebuilt?

So, my question is, if I go with the mixed RAID 0 / 10 matrix setup, and a drive fails, can I just rebuild the RAID 10 volume, or will I need to copy all my data out and more or less start from scratch?

[Side note: Yeah, I'm aware that running a RAID 10 is no substitute for a real backup, cheers :)]

Any help would be appreciated!

rockstat · 03-18-2008, 05:44 PM

As far as I know once your RAID 0 volume crashes, your O/S will obviously be gone and you may or may not have access to your other volume. I also have a 2TB custom computer that I built using Intel's Matrix RAID and I have had it crash many, many times. I try out different combinations every time and none have been as versatile as I would like it to be. It only worked out once that I had created a separate partition on my system that led to my data being safe. Also ideally, this is how it is supposed to be. But there is still a chance that the system may or may not recognize the other partition properly after an O/S re-install. Thus, out of rebuilding my O/S and partitions 10 times or more, I would say that this trick has worked maybe once or twice. So now I just rely on RAID 5.

So I would say that if must keep your O/S separate then carry on with your plan but as i mentioned there are no guarantees.

03-16-2008, 08:46 PM	#1 (permalink)
CapBBeard Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 1 OS: Vista Ultimate	Intel Matrix RAID Questions Hey all, I will soon have 4 new 500GB 7200.11 drives and plan to create a RAID out of them. I have an ASUS P5B-E motherboard (ICH8R chipset). Originally I was just going to create a single 1TB RAID 10 volume and be done with it, but I've started pondering using matrix RAID to create a 300GB RAID 0 volume for my OS/apps, and then an 850GB RAID 10 volume for my user data. I've done a LOT of reading on the merits of each RAID type, so I'm not really after a discussion on which is better, but more about what happens in a drive failure situation. With the single RAID 10 volume, obviously I can just rebuild the RAID 10 and off I go again. In the case of the mixed RAID 0/10, I'll clearly need to recreate the RAID 0 volume and reinstall my OS. The question is, what ramifications does this rebuild have on the RAID 10 volume? According to Intel, in the case of a RAID 0 OS volume and RAID 1 data volume, you need to delete the RAID 0 volume, copy data out of your RAID 1 volume, delete the RAID 1 volume, and then create the RAID 1 volume again. I'm not keen on this at all; ie, why can't the RAID 1 volume just be rebuilt? So, my question is, if I go with the mixed RAID 0 / 10 matrix setup, and a drive fails, can I just rebuild the RAID 10 volume, or will I need to copy all my data out and more or less start from scratch? [Side note: Yeah, I'm aware that running a RAID 10 is no substitute for a real backup, cheers :)] Any help would be appreciated! Last edited by CapBBeard; 03-16-2008 at 08:47 PM.

03-18-2008, 05:44 PM	#2 (permalink)
rockstat Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Where ever I live Posts: 108 OS: XP_Pro-SP3/Vista_x64_SP2/Linux	Re: Intel Matrix RAID Questions As far as I know once your RAID 0 volume crashes, your O/S will obviously be gone and you may or may not have access to your other volume. I also have a 2TB custom computer that I built using Intel's Matrix RAID and I have had it crash many, many times. I try out different combinations every time and none have been as versatile as I would like it to be. It only worked out once that I had created a separate partition on my system that led to my data being safe. Also ideally, this is how it is supposed to be. But there is still a chance that the system may or may not recognize the other partition properly after an O/S re-install. Thus, out of rebuilding my O/S and partitions 10 times or more, I would say that this trick has worked maybe once or twice. So now I just rely on RAID 5. So I would say that if must keep your O/S separate then carry on with your plan but as i mentioned there are no guarantees. Last edited by rockstat; 03-18-2008 at 05:46 PM.