Configuring RAID 5 on new Windows 10 Pro 64-bit using Intel Rapid Storage Technology in UEFI RAID

[sharam]

I configured 5 2TB Seagate SATA disks using the BIOS in a RAID 5 configuration. I also have a 1TB SSD disk for Windows as well. The SSD disk is fine and Windows 10 seems to work. However, it recognizes the 5 SATA disks as a single unallocated 7452.04 GB disk. I suspect that I am missing some Intel device drivers. Is it possible to install the IRST device drivers now or should I go back and reinstall the OS from the beginning?

Thank you for your assistance.

My hardware configuration:
CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 212 LED Turbo (Red) 66.3 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus - ROG MAXIMUS X HERO (WI-FI AC) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory Corsair - Vengeance RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3000 Memory
Storage SSD Samsung - 860 Evo 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage SATA (RAID 5) 5 Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card Asus - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card
Case Cooler Master - MasterCase Pro 5 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply Corsair - 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive Asus - DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer
SATA PCIe Card Vantec 2 Channel 4-Port SATA 6Gbps PCIe Host Card (UGT-ST622)

 

[Alabalcho]

This is the purpose of dedicated RAID controller - to present the disk storage as a single device. That way, RAID work (calculating checksums, writing to all disks etc) will be taken care of by the hardware, and not OS.

And keep in mind that RAID is not a backup solution, but a storage solution!!! If you lose one drive, you'll be ok (till the array rebuilds itself). If you lose two drives, your data is toast. Make sure you have backup solution in place as well.

 

[USAFRet]

5x 2TB drives + RAID 5 = "7452.04 GB".
Yeah, that's about right.

The 'unallocated' is also correct. The OS is seeing a new, unallocated, drive space.
Right click, New Simple Volume, Format, and give it a drive letter.

As above, the RAID is not a backup. Any particular reason you're going that way?

 

[sharam]

I did exactly as you suggested. But I think there is a problem. I did some performance tests using PassMark. I get very poor performance from my RAID 5 array. I get Throughput Read of 38 MB/Sec and Throughput Write 11.8 MB/Sec.

I have 5 Seagate Barracuda, 6 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 64 MB Cache (Model ST2000DM006). Seagate claims maximum sustained transfer rate of 210 MB/s.

I think I should get very good Read speeds above a single drive with 5 disks configured in RAID 5 configuration.

ASUS suggests that I re-install the OS from scratch and load the Intel IRST device drivers.

Any other suggestion is much appreciated.

 

[Alabalcho]

I did not saw what's the brand of your RAID controller - is it on separate PCI/PCIx card, or it's using on-board SATA ports, and is configured thru standard BIOS?

 

[sharam]

It is through the SATA ports on the motherboard and configured using the BIOS