Noobie Question about HDD and RAIDS

[akgeek21]

So..How do you link 2 Hard Drives up when your installing it on the MOBO...my mobo has 6 RAID connectors

thank you

 

[Dante_Jose_Cuervo]

You just plug both of them into any available slots. If I were you I'd put them in the most logical connectors like 0 and1 or 1 and 2 depending on how your mobo labels them.

 

[chookman]

Any ports will do but as Dante said be logical about it.

After this you will want to enter the RAID config which is usualy displayed on boot, i think my enter config keys are CTRL+F but it differs, in there you will be able to set what you want as an array, with 2 drives im assuming that you are going to use either RAID0 or RAID1

 

[russki]

The guys above are wrong (at least in part), but like I said before, if you have to ask this question, RAID is not for you.

 

[chookman]

Id like to know how im wrong?

 

[Dante_Jose_Cuervo]

Yes, I'm curious as to how we're wrong?

 

[ausch30]

The guys above are wrong (at least in part), but like I said before, if you have to ask this question, RAID is not for you.

First of all no one is born knowing how to setup RAID so therefore everyone who has done it had to learn somewhere. Secondly you can't go around saying people are wrong without giving reason for your disagreement.

To the OP it really depends upon your board, some boards support RAID on all SATA ports some on only certain ports and some boards have multiple SATA controllers so you would have to make sure both drives are on the same controller. What board do you have?

 

[Dante_Jose_Cuervo]

I agree with AUsch30

@ russki

Dude, the guy just asked a simple question. Don't go saying something stupid like that, these forums are here for people including him. He wanted help, and guess what, he got it. It wasn't a big deal.

 

[raptorxt]

it totally depends on what kind of drives you have and what kind of motherboard you have

(sas and scsi drives most of the time require a controller so i am guessing you dont have those because those come with instructions and support cds)

-i assume you have sata drives
-you attach the sata cables to the back of the hard drives and plug the hard drives into the motherboard separately.
-you then plug the sata power connector to both hard drives so you can power the drives

-check the motherboard you have at google to see which raid setup is best. (jmicron, intel)

-after you have the drives connected turn the computer on and usually you have to go the bios. in the bios go to the ide configuration on the main page. change the configure utility from sata to RAID.
-then you have to configure your RAID in a raid bios. which mine is ctrl -f but yours might be different.
-not very hard to configure raid (usually enter, enter, enter, done)
-after you configure the raid you have to press f6 in the windows installation and install raid drivers (most likely)

TROUBLESHOOTING
-if you ever get a statement saying mass storage device not found you should check you raid driver disk.
-i spent days trying to figure out why mine didn't work and the support cd gave the wrong drivers for the raid
-i had to get the drivers from the bios by putting the support cd in the computer and booting from it.
-all should go well if you get the drivers from booting from the cd.
-install windows normally

previous computer- 2 sata drives in raid 0 using intels raid for the p5w dh deluxe motherboard

computer as of now- 2 sas drives in raid 0 using lsi megaraid controller.
(basically same concept with a few major changes) on a p5w dh deluxe

 

[akgeek21]

My MOBO is http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2219333&sku=M452-2822

thanks again guys

 

[akgeek21]

Thanks alot RaptorXT i appreciate it..

 

[ausch30]

First lesson, don't buy from Tiger Direct. Your board at Tiger Direct is $139.99, the same board at Newegg is $119.99. Look around before you buy.

The 570 MCP allows up to 6 channels for SATA so all of the ones on your board can be used together. Follow what the other's have said, you will have to enable RAID in the BIOS then insert the windows disc (make sure you have a floppy with the RAID drivers on it) and when it prompts you press F6 and windows will install the drivers and let you choose which RAID you want.

 

[akgeek21]

i know newegg has the same board for that price..but newegg dont ship to alaska..so i get kinda screwed sometimes oh and also will an external floppy drive work to be able to install the driver?

 

[ausch30]

What OS are you using?

 

[akgeek21]

XP Pro..i will not use Vista..until Vista is better then ill switch to it but ive never had a problem with XP Pro...my computer that i have now is just getting too old and is starting to slow down alot..

 

[ausch30]

I am using Vista in my current system and the problems with it have been over hyped. I have never had an issue with the exception of Lexmark not releasing a driver for my printer so I had to buy a new one which isn't Microsoft's fault (I bought a Canon, screw Lexmark)

I would imagine that your external floppy connects through USB, if that is the case I don't believe you can install RAID drivers in XP from a USB device although I could be wrong I've never tried. Vista makes it much easier, in fact you can install them from almost anything including flash drives.

 

[akgeek21]

so you think going with Vista would be better than with XP? because if thats the case then i dont mind using Vista

 

[ausch30]

A lot of people on here might disagree with me but my bet is that they haven't even used it they've just seen the same things you have but I think it's good. Basically I tell everyone that if you have a copy of XP laying around you may as well use it but if your buying an OS for a new build buy Vista.

 

[akgeek21]

yeah ill probably go with vista only 10 dollars more not a huge difference...Im only 17 years old..so im just askin around before i actually buy my system..

 

[ausch30]

When you run the XP setup and press F6 it automatically looks at the A: drive and if your floppy is USB it won't be the correct drive letter. I don't think there is any way to change where XP looks for the driver.

 

[akgeek21]

Oh okay..and vista looks other places for the drivers?

 

[ausch30]

You can specify where Vista looks for the driver.

 

[akgeek21]

yeah thats what i meant heh...also i want to thank you for helping me out with the RAID situation and everything else thanks man