990FX RAID 0 with EVO SSDs: Windows doesnt recognized array during installation

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mnick

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I'm having a hard time trying to setup my new Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 motherboard with Windows 8 64bit using the onboard AMD RAID controller. What I'm trying to achieve is to install Windows 7/8 Pro 64 bit on the Samsung SSD drives in a RAID 0 configuration. I've tried a lot of different configurations which I'll go over in a moment. I've spent the better half of this last weekend reading the forums and I just can't find a solid answer. I'm starting to believe its unsupported?

Here is a overview of the hardware environment-

* 990FX R2.0 running Firmware 2501 (latest)
* SAMSUNG 850 EVO-Series MZ-75E250B/AM 2.5" 250GB SATA III 3-D Vertical SSD ** Running as RAID 0 ** (OS Drive)
* WD Red NAS Hard Drive WD30EFRX 3TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" ** Running as RAID 1 ** (Storage Drive)

// * RAID Hard Drive Configuration *

I've confirmed that I'm using the AMD RAID controller.
I've configured the BIOS to use the SATA configuration as RAID.
I've built the RAID0 in the Legacy RAID ROM with the Samsung disks, with default settings (I've also tried with other settings within the RAID configuration).
I've built the RAID1 in the Legacy RAID ROM with the WD disks.
I've verified that after configuring the two RAID arrays that the BIOS sees the logical disks.

// * Attempt at installing Windows OS *

I get the same results whether I'm using a USB drive(s) or DVD ROM discs, I've gone as far as using different *.ISOs even when creating them with Rufus. The part that I get stuck on is the Windows installation does not recognize the RAID array containing the EVO drives. I've tried RAID 0/1 and both don't show up. The RAID 1 WD array shows up, no problem. I haven't tried to install to this as this isn't my end goal,

I go to load the RAID controller drivers from Asus's website and AMD's website and they don't work. I'm not able to get the AMD driver to even display on the list. Asus's driver shows the driver available and it loads it but still does not display the RAID 0 SSD array. On that note here are some details as to what I've tried-

I removed the WD drives from the equation (only the SSDs are connected) but the array does not show up under Windows Vista/7/8 Pro 64 bit installations.
I've unchecked the "hide drivers that aren't compatible with my system" when loading the drivers and individually loaded each of the the drivers on the list (even though they all show the same driver ahcix64s.inf).
I've canceled out of the loading drivers screen and swap USB ports (wild guess as previously suggested)
I've tried different USB drives, different USB ports (2.0 vs 3.0).
I've removed all the disks from arrays and they all show up during the Windows installation when the board is configured for AHCI.
I've tried the AMD SATA 3.0 controller ports on the board.
I've tried to install AMD's drivers even with "hide drivers that aren't compatible with my system" unchecked, including 32 bit as this supposedly has worked for some, without luck.

I'm sure there is more that I've tried but honestly, my head hurts. I'm open to suggestions at this point hence this forum post.

What is the workaround? Install the OS on a drive I don't need, as a temporary OS and then install Win8 64 bit Pro onto the RAID 0 from the GUI and reboot but upon rebooting, unplug all the drives except for the RAID 0 which contains the SSDs?

I was going to check the firmware on the EVO drives as I haven't explored that avenue yet.

Anyhow, thanks for reading

Cheers!
 
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if you were running an intel processor, i'd say get the ASRock C226 WS since it's been working perfectly for me. but for AMD, no clue. though it is kind of an interesting "story" here. curious to see what happens next and what you're going to do.
 
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I will give this a shot right now!! Thanks for sharing!! I did see something similar in a YouTube video where another user was trying to prove a bug of some sort and he claims he had to change those settings however I didnt know if it would apply to me.

I called Asus back this morning because no one ever called me back and I was able to talk to a technician who was in touch with Level 2 support the entire call but still ended up forwarding my ticket to the support engineers. Someone will be in touch with me within a week.

I did find this interesting forum link though-
http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?12960-AHCI-IDE-to-RAID-and-back-No-Reinstall-Concept-Guide
 
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Tried this with Windows 8 x64 and Windows 7 x64... No go.
I also tried this configuration with RAID 0/1 and Raid Ready... No go.

:??:
 
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Have you tried this yet?:

1.) Install Windows on a spare drive
2.) Boot to your spare drive with your RAID-0 SSDs connected
3.) Go into Windows Disk Management, initialize the RAID array and quick format it
4.) Shut down system, disconnect the spare drive
5.) Boot to your Windows install disk and see if it sees your array

 
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I will try this now.

 
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Man, that took me a minute or 2 hours how to figure out how to do. My temporary drive is a 3tb drive and I needed a UEFI bootable media to get Windows 8 64 bit installed. But hey, I learned how to do it which was great.

After getting Windows 8 installed the array did not show up in Windows. I went back and made sure the board was in RAID mode which it was (I actually had to make my temp Windows hard disk RAID READY in order to install Windows on it). The two SSDs were in a logical RAID as well.

I call NewEgg earlier and they said these drives are hit or miss (at least that is what my representative told me). I got them to refund me the full amount of the drive. I have to cover the return shipping but I suppose that is OK as I'm grateful they are helping me out.

I'm starting to believe the drives aren't compatible. I'm not sure what drives I should order next though. Any suggestions?

meanwhile, I do have a ticket open with Asus so I will await their phone call back.

Thanks for everyone's tips/suggestions/efforts in assisting me.

EDIT: What are you guys running on your boards for SSDs that are compatible in RAID 0/1 or RAID READY mode(s). I want to reorder new drives but I want to make sure they work this time. Are the PROs any good? Do they work? NewEgg suggested Crucial but I really haven't had good luck with them in the past
 
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LOL, the only thing I'm married too is my wife.

As far as the new computer build goes that I just financed through NewEgg, I'm kinda screwed. I purchased $1500 worth of goodies from them for this build. So yes, come to think of it, I suppose I'm married to this build currently as it would be A LOT of work to return all of it and return freight.

I was looking at the drives on their "qualified list" and they are expensive. I was going to see what their support engineers say when they call.

I suppose if all else fails I could buy a RAID controller that actually works but I'd like to try and utilize everything I have without spending an arm and a leg.

I thought it was funny though- NewEgg told me that the 990FX chipsets are "hit and miss" with the Evo drives. How do you even tell a customer that?!
 
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This started around Jan 21st 2015 not to muddy the waters but I am having a similar situation ASRock 990FX Extreme9 originally ordered 3 840 EVO 250GB for setup in raid 0. AMD option Utility ran just fine with the 3 250's went back into eufi and set up the raid function there just fine went into Windows 7 install and worked like a champ. Decided I would rather use 2 500GB I decided to buy 2 Crucial MX100 512GB (on sale) went through the setup like before and the Crucial's loaded windows fine first time in Raid 0. Life was good -- Since I had the raid running the way I wanted it was time to put everything in the case, I forgot to mark the drives as to which sata port it used and that when everything went casters up could never get raid working and had to reinstall at that point because the drives weren't recognized I got in touch with Crucial's Support and the tech told me that there is a known problem with the AMD raid driver, the Crucial guy said they are working with AMD to get it sorted out. Didn't have a time frame though but he took my name and said he would call when there was news. Crucial was very very helpful Didn't want to wait so I returned the Crucials for 2 Samsung 850 EVO 500GB figuring since the 250's work I'll stick with Samsung. I cannot get the Samsungs 500s working either. I can throw the 3 250's back in anytime and they will load the OS without a problem. I talked to Samsung and the Tech more or less told me the drives weren't made for raid or some happy BS like that -- I could tell he didn't want to be bothered. After the call I happened upon the Samsung SSD FAQ http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/support/faqs_01.html last item on list and it states

"What is the best RAID configuration?

There is no "best" RAID configuration. Consumers who choose to set up a RAID configuration should choose the option best-suited to their particular usage scenario. Each RAID configuration has specific advantages and disadvantages. Those looking for the highest possible performance may configure at least two SSDs in RAID 0 mode.

So much for what he told me -- At any rate my course of action is a letter to the Chairman/President of Samsung America and tell him how unprofessional his tech support is, just to see what happens. A couple of times while I was a Systems Engineer in marketing at IBM and a customer sent a complaint letter to the Chairman there was an immediate call to the office in question and the Branch Manger was told in no certain terms that the CEO didn't want to hear about this again, whatever you have to do make it go away. I used this with Adobe who were trying to screw me over about their licensing and Office Depot about returning a purchase and the each time I received several calls from different levels in their respective companies. Hell, Office Depot even gave me a $100 gift card.

Everyone has been telling the original poster not to bother with Raid 0 -- I beg to differ and have seen several benchmarks with Raid 0 the second drive can add as much as 40% more throughput but adding a third only increases about 3-6% so it does have diminishing returns as you add more drives. Works just about the same as a spin drive the more heads you have reading and writing the better performance. I know there are no heads in an SSD, At any rate that's why I'm going to use Raid 0 as soon as I can get it running, if for no other reason -- it should work and I am not going to let this problem kick my a$$ I don't know if I mentioned it or not I can setup the 250's anytime I want in Raid 0 and install Windows 7 x64
 
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WOW! Thanks for taking the time to write all that.

I do have an UPDATE as to what I've found.

I called Samsung and had the same experience that you did and was told the same thing however, I liked the technicians way of handling the call. I felt he was very experienced and his answers were very solid. I did not find the same link that you posted and quoted which is very helpful. I will too just wait it out until this is supported, I guess.

Asus never called me back. So much for hearing from a Support Engineer, jerks, lol. If I think about it I might call tomorrow and pick their brains and see what came of it. It would be nice if we could get an ETA on when this is supported. I think they are sticking to their guns as to what SSDs are supported which I linked in an earlier post.

As far as "What am I going to do now?"- I decided to install Win8 x64 on one of the SSDs plugged into the ASmedia SATA ports. They are still SATA III, still support AHCI and still seem fast. Not as fast as my buddies RAID with 3 SSDs (Samsung 128GBx3) but I guess it is what it is. He is running an MSI board without any problems with RAID drives and SSDs.

As far as the AMD controller goes, I used that as I planned for spinning RAID1 arrays. All is well there.

If I have anything more to add, I will at a later time.
 
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Hey MNick! I know this thread is old, so I apologize for "Hi-Jacking" or what ever the thread junkies will call this, but I just wanted to talk to you for a minute.

I just ran into the SAME EXACT problem as you. Slightly different board, same chipset. I have the Asus M5a99fx pro R2. Our boards are pretty similar.

Let me start off by saying, I got SO IRRITATED when I searched this problem, found your thread right away, and instead of people trying to help you with your problem, they tried to talk you out of doing RAID 0 W/ SSDs. Literally half of this thread is people trying to push their own viewpoint instead of trying to give an actual solution. I am so glad you stuck to your guns, and in a polite way, so that some actual HELPFUL information could be contributed to this thread.

I also want to say that before even buying my 2 850 EVO's, I was and still am successfully running 2 240GB OCZ Vector 180 SSDs in RAID 0, and there IS a NOTICABLE performance boost. For everyday operations, like internet surfing or Word processing, there is really no noticeable benefit. But for Gaming, Recording Music/Audio, Mixing and Mastering, and Video Editing, there is a HUGE difference between the Sriped Raid SSD and the single disk. People should learn by now not to trust Synthetic Benchmarks for gauging REAL WORLD Performance. I don't care what a benchmark says, until you have actually used a drive configuration for your specific computing needs, you have no right to tell everyone that something won't benefit them.

My problem was that I ran out of space. I also wanted to go ahead and add a second raid array to use just for the Audio/Video editing/mixing, and keep the Vector 180 as the OS/Program-Install array. I did have a problem with the 990FX chipset and Raid with my OCZ SSD's, but it would recognize the Raid just fine. My Problem was when I hit a certain Throughput, at about 920MBps read or Write, the array would just drop out of windows, windows wouldn't recognize it any more. If I was booted to the array, obviously that causes a major problem, the computer just freezes, and then eventually restarts with no blue screen or anything. But I had a third OCZ AMD R7 SSD to troubleshoot with, so I cloned over the OS to that drive, and then did some tests, and thats when Synthetic Benchmarks came in handy.

I was able to prove that the array would remain stable until it hit that certain throughput, and then it would just disappear each time. But upon Restart the AMD RAID ROM would say my array was fine, and Windows would see it again until I did something that got the drive back up to about 920MBps.

Asus wasn't very helpful at all and pointed me to the drives being bad. After I proved the drives weren't bad, and eventually even RMA'd my original 180's for a new pair just to prove my point, then Asus said it was a limitation of the chipset. AMD said the chipset is fine, that it was Asus problem. I finally gave up and came up with a better solution.

I work with Servers all day long, (MIS Administrator by day, Audio Engineer by night) and decided to get a tried true and tested LSI Raid Card (The same brand I use in all my server builds), threw that in my Desktop Rig, and the Raid 0 has been stable, and FAST ever since. The only obvious problem was that the card adds a good 45 seconds to boot times. That really sux, but I still think its worth it for the performance boost I get while Mixing.

But, I thought, well maybe this is just a limitation with The AMD FX990 Chipset and OCZ Drives, and I decided to get a pair of these Samsung 850 Evos that everyone is raving about. I personally love my OCZ 180s, but I couldn't pass on that $99 Per 250GB drive deal that NewEgg was having on the 850s last week.

I finally just had the time to install them yesterday, and thats what eventually led me here. Now, its not really that big of an issue for me, because since I am going to continue to boot to the OCZ array, I don't have to use the Asus Board to create the array, I could just Windows Raid 0 it, since I don't plan on booting in the long run. But, before I set that up, I wanted to test my theory and see if I could use the AMD RAID to Raid 0, and see if it would still drop the array at around 920MBps, I didn't even need to install the OS from scratch. All I did was build the array with the Legacy AMD Raid ROM utility, and then boot up to my current Windows 7 OS to run my tests, and thats when I found, that Windows won't recognize the array. I have a RAID 1 Array with 4 WD Enterprise Class HDD's, and I can see that just fine as usual, but it won't see my Samsung Raid 0. I also tried unplugging all the WD drives, so the only thing plugged into the AMD Ports are the Samsung drives, and no go. Of Course in AHCI Mode I can see both drives individually, but once I have them in an AMD RAID 0, NO GO.

Of Course, just to see, I put them in a RAID 0 with my LSI card, and it works like a champ that way. So if you are still interested in Utilizing both of your 850s in a RAID 0, I can confirm that they work great with a LSI RAID CARD. They aren't cheap, but they are worth it. Newegg sales a used one, that uses actual Sata Ports instead of SAS, it has 4 6Gb/s ports, and its refurbished and sold through a 3rd party store called the "Server Store", its the cheapest one they have that utilizes a x8 PCIE2 slot (So you have plenty of Bandwidth), and I think its like $180 after shipping. Its called the LSI 9212-4i. Technically it’s a HBA, but it comes loaded with the “IR” firmware, so it Raids (Raid 0 and Raid 1 Only though.) I just bought one for myself (More ports for a spare server) and for a client, and can confirm it works GREAT with the 850 evos. I put it in my desktop temporarily and ran the SSD's through 12 Hours worth of Benchmarks, and the array worked great, at a Peak of about 980MBps Read and 965MBps Write, if you’re a fan of benchmarks... This card has no onboard Cache, but you won't need them with these SSD's, unless you have a really slow processor, but with the board you have I am guessing you probably have at least a 6 Core AMD FX CPU, so you'll be fine.

There are a lot of people that say, if you want to Raid with a Desktop system, go with intel. I used to fight that opinion SO HARD as I have always been an AMD guy. But especially now, with about the last 4 years of Chipsets AMD have created, the Intel geeks are right. I build a lot of Workstations for clients, and service a lot of computers and servers, and the desktops that run Intel and Raid, just work. I rarely have problems with Intel RAID, AMD on the other hand, its hit or miss, especially with SSD's.

Again a lot of people will throw Benchmarks at you and tell you it isn't worth it to RAID 0 SSD's, and if your just a common everyday internet browser and light gamer, I would agree. But If you do anything that requires more Throughput, like Audio or Video editing, or even hardcore gaming, the RAID 0 IS DEFINITELY WORTH IT. It might even add .03 to your access time, but the performance benefits you gain are phenomenal! So I'm with you man, Raid 0 your SSD's all day. Just with AMD, an LSI HBA or MegaRaid Card, is the way to go...

Anyways, I think I have more then said my peace. I might just publish this in a book... I hope you get it working, if for no other reason than to just to get it working, so you can judge for yourself whether or not you think it’s worth it. Have a great night!

Matt
Audio Engineer/Producer
MIS/IT Specialist

Main Rig:
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64Bit
Motherboard: Asus M5A99FX Pro R2
CPU: AMD FX-8350 (Eight Core Beast! Even without Over-Clocking)
Video Card: ASUS AMD R9 290x
Memory: 32GB GSKill RipJaws X Series (19200)
Power Supply: Rosewill 850W Hive Series (Modular)
SSDs: (2) 240GB OCZ Vector 180s In A Raid 0 (Boot And Program Install Drive)
(2) 250GB Samsung 850 Evo's in A Raid 0 (Audio Editing/Mixing Drive)
(1) 240GB OCZ AMD R7 (Extra)
(4) Enterprise Class WD 2TB in a RAID 1
LSI MegaRaid SAS 9260 8i
All Backed Up To A Self Built Server currently hosting 32TB’s of Space, running Raid 5
 
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I'm afraid some of the posts here are tldr... So if I repeat what has already been said, I apologize.

I just spent a couple of frustrating days trying to set up a couple of Samsung 850 EVO's in a RAID 0, and I couldn't get Windows to detect the array. This also was a board with an AMD chipset, and I've come to the conclusion that these particular drives just won't work in a RAID 0 on an AM3+ chipset board.

On exactly the same board I had set up four Mushkin SSD's in two separate RAID 0 arrays, with few problems--once I knew what I was doing that is...
 
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i guess that explains why there aren't many Workstation-class boards based around AMD chipsets!

on the flip side (sort of), i was thinking that one could always use a 2-4 port SATA card in a PCIe slot to "break away" from the AMD chipset issues. but that would only make sense if the point of the RAID 0 is for speed of random 4k read/writes, instead of silly sequentials.
 
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I'm inclined to believe that AMD's real problem in an enterprise context is power consumption. AMD chipsets and cpu's just aren't as energy efficient as Intel's right now.

As for this specific issue, like I said, I had no problem setting up RAID 0's with Mushkin SSD's. I'd probably lay the blame at Samsung's feet. I'd say there's a firmware problem with the EVO 850.

I couldn't even get the bios to detect individual Samsung EVO 850's without CSM being enabled. With CSM active the bios recognized both the individual drives and the RAID, but Windows couldn't detect the RAID during setup, either with or without CSM.
 
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Some drives simply aren't compatible with on-board (AMI for example) RAID controllers.
I had a 2 drive RAID on my system, and wanted to expand it to 4.
The original 2 drives were inexpensive LITEON 256GB drives. Actually one is 240GB, the other is 256GB.
I had these in RAID 0, and it worked like a charm and greatly increased the speed - something many claim won't happen with an SSD.
So I thought if 2 was good, 4 would be better.
I got 2 Samsung 850 EVO drives.
I backed up the RAID, reclaimed the drives and set the new raid for all 4 drives.
I couldn't get this to work. At all. Windows would simply never see them.
So I tried making a RAID with just the Samsung drives.
Windows installer after loading the RAID driver would only see the LITEON single drives, not the Samsungs in RAID.
Finally I put just the LITEON drives in RAID 0, and left the Samsungs as single drives.
Windows installer only saw the RAID drives, and didn't see the Samsungs at all.
I repeated this process swapping the SATA cables from Liteon to Samsung.
Same results.
Conclusion, some drives simply aren't compatible with AMI RAID.
In SATA non-RAID mode, the drives worked fine.

 
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Well, "some drives" appears to be Samsung SSD's specifically. And yes, you are correct, some people say RAID 0 is wasted on SSD's, but I'd politely disagree. I love my setup. I have two RAID 0's with SSD's, one for systems, and the other for programs and files, and they are a thing of beauty.

The nice thing about RAID 0 and SSD's is that you can get pretty spectacular results with truly inexpensive SSD's. I thought I was doing my friend a favour by getting the much more expensive Samsungs. However, it wasn't a loss. He can put Windblows on one and GNU Linux on the other...
 
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I have 3- EVO 120's raid 0 on a crosshair V formula-z with windows 10 upgraded from 8.1 works great no issues, I bought the 3 EVO'S at the end of last year, So my son has the same Board with 2 Corsiar GT's Raid 0 and I bought him 2 Samsung EVO's 120's for an upgrade. the board will not see the EVO's raided. And neither will my pc and I have three of them raid 0, so I'm thinking that the new EVO's have a different firmware then the old ones I bought last year. Not sure this helps though.
 
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Probably means you could fix the problems with a firmware upgrade. You'd have to plug them into a working rig to do it.
 
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Kudos and a bump!

I just spent a small portion of my life trying to raid 1 two SanDisk Ultra II on a Gigabyte 990FX. It can't be done.

Thanks for letting me move on.
 
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People why do you throw this poor man a cup of lava instead of a cup of sugar? Did it ever dawn on you that he doesn't care about the speed but rather the added storage raid 0 provides? It's a great way to get a bigger ssd for less.
 
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