SATA RAID 0 with 2 WD SATA HD's

shaungenghis · 03-09-2005, 12:39 PM

This is my first custom build with fresh parts and I am a noob. This should be a simple problem, but doing a search revealed nothing in particular. Flashed updated BIOS of mobo, no problems. Loaded SI RAID drivers, no problems.

Setup striped RAID array with NVIDIA RAID setup, healthly 149 something gig healthly drive so no problems I think. (Doesn't RAID 0 show up as one drive with the combined capacities?)

Rebooted with WIN2000 install disk in CD drive and here is where the problem is noted -> the WIN2000 setup menu wants me to partition the drives and shows two 80 gig unpartitioned drives. Shouldn't it show one 149 unpartitioned drive?

crazijoe · 03-10-2005, 05:30 AM

Did you load the RAID drivers on the F6 prompt?

shaungenghis · 03-14-2005, 12:00 PM

yes, driver's were loaded. Though it is not stated in the Epox motherboard manual, the pdf NVIDIA RAID help file included on the MOBO driver's CD states that the SATA drives can be used in a RAID array only as RAID 0+1, which isn't what I was planning for.

It kinda seems inconvenient to have onboard SATA but only as two standalone drives or RAID 0+1. Still, I should have researched this more. So I guess the only way to get RAID 0 is to fork out more cash for two IDE drives. Please post something if someone thinks I am wrong on this.

crazijoe · 03-14-2005, 12:43 PM

Since you are using Win2K this will only see max of 137GB because it does not support 48 bit LBA (unless you have SP3 slipstreamed into your install disk.). However if you can configure a RAID 0 array of 147GB in the BIOS then during the setup Win2K should report a single drive of 137GB. I would double check to make sure that when you configured the array, you save the settings. I have never heard of a RAID controller that will only set up a RAID 0+1 array and nothing else.

03-09-2005, 12:39 PM	#1 (permalink)
shaungenghis Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 3 OS: WIN2000/Mandrake10.0	SATA RAID 0 with 2 WD SATA HD's This is my first custom build with fresh parts and I am a noob. This should be a simple problem, but doing a search revealed nothing in particular. Flashed updated BIOS of mobo, no problems. Loaded SI RAID drivers, no problems. Setup striped RAID array with NVIDIA RAID setup, healthly 149 something gig healthly drive so no problems I think. (Doesn't RAID 0 show up as one drive with the combined capacities?) Rebooted with WIN2000 install disk in CD drive and here is where the problem is noted -> the WIN2000 setup menu wants me to partition the drives and shows two 80 gig unpartitioned drives. Shouldn't it show one 149 unpartitioned drive? __________________ mobo: EPOX EP-8KDA3I nForce3 250 psu: CMAX 400W CX-400 SL RT CPU: AMD 64 2800+ RAM:400MhzDDRAM512MB HD: 2 SATA HD WD7200JD 8MBcache 80gig CDRW: CDRWLITEON Vcard: cheap

03-10-2005, 05:30 AM	#2 (permalink)
crazijoe Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Omaha, The Center of the Universe Posts: 7,632 OS: WinXP, Win2K3 My System	Did you load the RAID drivers on the F6 prompt? __________________ Microsoft MCSA + Messaging, MVP, A+, Network+ http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...other/Help.jpg Do you want a real Republican? HDD diagnostic tools / HDD data recovery software

03-14-2005, 12:00 PM	#3 (permalink)
shaungenghis Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 3 OS: WIN2000/Mandrake10.0	yes, driver's were loaded. Though it is not stated in the Epox motherboard manual, the pdf NVIDIA RAID help file included on the MOBO driver's CD states that the SATA drives can be used in a RAID array only as RAID 0+1, which isn't what I was planning for. It kinda seems inconvenient to have onboard SATA but only as two standalone drives or RAID 0+1. Still, I should have researched this more. So I guess the only way to get RAID 0 is to fork out more cash for two IDE drives. Please post something if someone thinks I am wrong on this. __________________ mobo: EPOX EP-8KDA3I nForce3 250 psu: CMAX 400W CX-400 SL RT CPU: AMD 64 2800+ RAM:400MhzDDRAM512MB HD: 2 SATA HD WD7200JD 8MBcache 80gig CDRW: CDRWLITEON Vcard: cheap

03-14-2005, 12:43 PM	#4 (permalink)
crazijoe Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Omaha, The Center of the Universe Posts: 7,632 OS: WinXP, Win2K3 My System	Since you are using Win2K this will only see max of 137GB because it does not support 48 bit LBA (unless you have SP3 slipstreamed into your install disk.). However if you can configure a RAID 0 array of 147GB in the BIOS then during the setup Win2K should report a single drive of 137GB. I would double check to make sure that when you configured the array, you save the settings. I have never heard of a RAID controller that will only set up a RAID 0+1 array and nothing else. __________________ Microsoft MCSA + Messaging, MVP, A+, Network+ http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...other/Help.jpg Do you want a real Republican? HDD diagnostic tools / HDD data recovery software