AHCI SSD + RAID array

[ClearBlueSky85]

I have been having trouble getting my SSD to work with AHCI along with my RAID array. I have a GA 890FXA UD7 rev 2.0 mobo, two 2TB mech drives in RAID, and a SSD.

Currently I have the two mech drives in RAID 0 (stripe) on the first four SATA3 (6 Gbit/s) SATA3_0 ~ SATA3_3 ports and the SSD on the last two SATA3_4 ~ SATA3_5 ports. From what I understand the BIOS settings for the south bridge AMD SB 850 On-Chip SATA controller only will allow IDE, RAID, or AHCI for the four SATA3_0/1/2/3 ports. For the other two SATA3_4/5 ports it will allow you to either have the mode the same type as the previous settings or disables RAID for those ports and configures as IDE instead. I have the latest BIOS version F5a and have the SATA3_0/1/2/3 ports set as RAID and the SATA3_4/5 ports set as IDE. I don't see a way to have both RAID and AHCI on the same controller.

I tried to put the SSD on the GIGABYTE SATA2 (GSATA) controller, on one of the two GSATA2_6 ~ GSATA2_7 ports, even though they would be slower SATA2 (3 Gbit/s). I thought it seemed like I could set the On-Board GSATA2 controller type to AHCI mode. When I tried putting the SSD on one of the GSATA2_6/7 ports, the BIOS just hung and didn't find the SSD, so I ended up clearing the CMOS and putting the SSD back on one of the SATA3_4/5 ports. The BIOS didn't seem to like that I put that drive on the secondary controller.

Does anyone have any ideas with how to get the SSD in AHCI mode with this setup? I have seen other comments say that if the controller type is set as RAID, then the drives that are not in the RAID array will default to AHCI, so does that mean I should put the SSD on one of the SATA3_0/1/2/3 ports set to RAID? or change the SATA3_4/5 type to be same RAID mode instead of IDE mode? Any help would be appreciated


here is my mobo:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3416#ov

these posts seemed related:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/292750-32-raid-help
http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/247133-ssd-hdd-w-ahci-fresh-install.html

 

[marko55]

Can't say I know your board directly but your comment should be accurate: If you set the group of 6 SATA ports to RAID mode, not all drives connected to those ports need to be part of a RAID array. You'll just have the option to choose which drives connected to those ports (your two spin disks in your case) will be members of a RAID array.

Any chance you've got a bad SSD? Do you have any other hard drive (SSD or not) that you can try connecting to one of the open SATA ports that are set to RAID mode?

 

[ClearBlueSky85]

OK I did not realize that if I set the ports as RAID, then the disks not included in the array would default to AHCI. I don't think there is a problem with the SSD. I think that I just had the BIOS setting incorrect, where I had the last two of the six SATA ports (that my SSD is pluged into) set to IDE instead of RAID (I thought that it had to be separate from the RAID array).

In the BIOS I changed the SATA3_4/5 ports (the last two SATA ports that my SSD is on) to be same as the others (the first four SATA ports that are set to RAID) so now the RAID controller finds it (although the SSD is not part of the array). Previously I had the SATA port that the SSD is on set to IDE mode instead.

Now Windows says the SSD is not an IDE disk drive, but rather says it is a SCSI disk drive, which I think is good and what I want. Is that right by the way? I thought it would say AHCI or SATA instead of SCSI.

There are two drivers available from the GIGABYTE website: AMD SATA AHCI Driver and AMD SATA RAID Driver. I don't remember which one I installed, or if I installed both. I think I installed the AMD SATA RAID Driver.

In Windows Device Manager, the Disk Drives say Corsair Force GT SCSI Disk and AMD 2+0 Stripe/RAID0 SCSI Disk drives. Both Disk Drives have drivers provided by Microsoft (disk.sys and partmgr.sys). The Storage Controller says AMD AHCI Compatible RAID controller. The Storage Controller has the AMD SATA RAID Driver provided by AMD (ahcix64s.sys).

I think it is now configured correctly, or at least better than what it was, although it is still all somewhat confusing to me

 

[marko55]

OK I did not realize that if I set the ports as RAID, then the disks not included in the array would default to AHCI. I don't think there is a problem with the SSD. I think that I just had the BIOS setting incorrect, where I had the last two of the six SATA ports (that my SSD is pluged into) set to IDE instead of RAID (I thought that it had to be separate from the RAID array).

In the BIOS I changed the SATA3_4/5 ports (the last two SATA ports that my SSD is on) to be same as the others (the first four SATA ports that are set to RAID) so now the RAID controller finds it (although the SSD is not part of the array). Previously I had the SATA port that the SSD is on set to IDE mode instead.

Now Windows says the SSD is not an IDE disk drive, but rather says it is a SCSI disk drive, which I think is good and what I want. Is that right by the way? I thought it would say AHCI or SATA instead of SCSI.

There are two drivers available from the GIGABYTE website: AMD SATA AHCI Driver and AMD SATA RAID Driver. I don't remember which one I installed, or if I installed both. I think I installed the AMD SATA RAID Driver.

In Windows Device Manager, the Disk Drives say Corsair Force GT SCSI Disk and AMD 2+0 Stripe/RAID0 SCSI Disk drives. Both Disk Drives have drivers provided by Microsoft (disk.sys and partmgr.sys). The Storage Controller says AMD AHCI Compatible RAID controller. The Storage Controller has the AMD SATA RAID Driver provided by AMD (ahcix64s.sys).

I think it is now configured correctly, or at least better than what it was, although it is still all somewhat confusing to me

You're in good shape. IDE would definitely not work and was what was causing your issue actually. AHCI is different than RAID is different than IDE (which is OLD!).

Any drive that's connected to an interface that's controlled by a RAID controller (dedicated or on-board chipset) and presented to the OS by that RAID controller will show in Windows as a SCSI drive. Its normal.

Look at SATA as a connection type basically, that allows for fast speed (6Gb/s for SATA III). Then AHCI runs on top of SATA as a sort of protocol that adds features to SATA connectivity, like hot-swap capabilities. So these aren't the same thing.

When a physical SATA interface is run in good old AHCI mode by your mobo, the connected drive is presented to the OS as an ATA device. But, when you set that SATA port to talk RAID with the controller behind it, any drive (physical or logical volume) connected will be presented to the OS 'by the RAID controller' and the OS will see it as a SCSI drive.

If you have created your RAID-0 using the BIOS utility and Windows is seeing the virtual disk, and windows is also seeing your SSD, and you're able to give them drive letters then you're done. You need no further drivers. Windows would need a driver to talk to at least the RAID-0 volume because your RAID controller (AMD AHCI Compatible RAID controller) is a new hardware device that windows needs a driver for in order to see any volumes that have been created by it.

 

[ClearBlueSky85]

Thanks for your very informative explanation. With the SSD being managed by the RAID controller it seems to be working fine now