Raid setup

NoReason · 04-25-2006, 06:31 AM

I have a Question. I have 16 Dell 1425 's that were ordered and configured by a consultant here in town. They were supposed to be set up as a RAID 1. They are now active as Domain controllers. Come to find out, they have an Adaptec embedded Raid controller, with 2 80Gb sata drives. RAID is not setup at all. Drive 0 is formatted and in use, Drive 1 is unallocated.

I have heard that you can't do hardware RAID with SATA. Is this true?
If not, is there a way to do it, without losing all the data currently on drive 0?

note: this may need to be in Hardware. Since it dealt with servers I put it here.

dai · 04-25-2006, 02:07 PM

i don't know little or nothing about raid
sata or pata as long as they are identical
set sata for raid in the bios and load your raid driver and as far as i know you have to start from scratch
see if you can find a manual on the dell site

Chevy · 04-25-2006, 10:42 PM

You should be able to go into the card's BIOS and define the array. Since you're using RAID-1 (Mirror), it should take drive 1 and mirror it with drive 2.

Next, do a repair install, pressing F6 and loading the raid drivers when prompted (watch the bottom of the screen).

To be sure, run a full backup so you can do a restore if needed.

Also ... RAID is meant to be hardware controlled. Software RAID is very inefficient, and more susceptible to failures.

NoReason · 04-26-2006, 06:15 AM

So it is true that SATA's can't be setup as hardware RAID? I don't want to have to do Software RAID, But I have 16 of these 1425's with SATA's in it. Too much money to throw away.

Chevy · 04-26-2006, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottcamp

So it is true that SATA's can't be setup as hardware RAID? I don't want to have to do Software RAID, But I have 16 of these 1425's with SATA's in it. Too much money to throw away.

Not at all .... Maybe I wasn't clear. There are hardware RAID controllers for SCSI, S-ATA, and P-ATA drives. Some PC motherboards even allow a mix of S-ATA and P-ATA in an array.

The manuals that came with the servers should show you how to enable the hardware RAID and set up an array. Once you've done one you'l see how easy it is.

04-25-2006, 06:31 AM	#1 (permalink)
NoReason Registered User Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: South Carolina Posts: 556 OS: XP Home	Raid setup I have a Question. I have 16 Dell 1425 's that were ordered and configured by a consultant here in town. They were supposed to be set up as a RAID 1. They are now active as Domain controllers. Come to find out, they have an Adaptec embedded Raid controller, with 2 80Gb sata drives. RAID is not setup at all. Drive 0 is formatted and in use, Drive 1 is unallocated. I have heard that you can't do hardware RAID with SATA. Is this true? If not, is there a way to do it, without losing all the data currently on drive 0? note: this may need to be in Hardware. Since it dealt with servers I put it here. Last edited by NoReason; 04-25-2006 at 06:32 AM.

04-25-2006, 02:07 PM	#2 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,667 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	i don't know little or nothing about raid sata or pata as long as they are identical set sata for raid in the bios and load your raid driver and as far as i know you have to start from scratch see if you can find a manual on the dell site __________________

04-25-2006, 10:42 PM	#3 (permalink)
Chevy Retired Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Notlob Posts: 5,452 OS: Vista Ultimate My System	You should be able to go into the card's BIOS and define the array. Since you're using RAID-1 (Mirror), it should take drive 1 and mirror it with drive 2. Next, do a repair install, pressing F6 and loading the raid drivers when prompted (watch the bottom of the screen). To be sure, run a full backup so you can do a restore if needed. Also ... RAID is meant to be hardware controlled. Software RAID is very inefficient, and more susceptible to failures. Last edited by Chevy; 04-25-2006 at 10:44 PM.

04-26-2006, 06:15 AM	#4 (permalink)
NoReason Registered User Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: South Carolina Posts: 556 OS: XP Home	So it is true that SATA's can't be setup as hardware RAID? I don't want to have to do Software RAID, But I have 16 of these 1425's with SATA's in it. Too much money to throw away. __________________ "Four freedoms: The first is freedom of speech and expression - everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of everyone to worship God in his own way, everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want . . . everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear . . . anywhere in the world." --Franklin D. Roosevelt U.S. President