Setting up my first RAID-0 with two Samsung 840 Pro SSD's, any tips?

[ferrari91169]

As the title says, I just ordered two Samsung 840 Pro's, planning to put them in RAID-0, and this will be the first RAID setup I've done. I'm wondering if there's any tips or tricks I might need to know.

To get the best performance out of them, what steps should I follow? I read a lot about updating the firmware on the SSD's, and getting specific driver versions for things like the SATA RAID driver, and such.

How exactly should I go about doing things like that. Should I connect both drives as Slave Drives before setting up the RAID Array, and update their firmware that way?

I also read something about doing a Secure Erase, though I'm not sure how to do it, or when to do it, as I've never performed one before, even on my SSD's I own now.

I'm just looking for the best possible steps to set this up the correct way.

Thanks for any help!

 

[banderson1386]

I am looking at doing the same thing, did you ever find any information on this?

 

[ferrari91169]

I am looking at doing the same thing, did you ever find any information on this?

Nope, never got any replies. My 840's should be here in a day or two so I just decided I'd probably run them as slaves first, upgrade the firmware if needed, and then just start up the regular RAID menu and set them up that way without taking any additional steps.

I was just wondering about a lot of the other things that I've seen people talking about, such as getting certain firmwares for your RAID controllers, and certain firmware's for your SSD's, etc...and also the Secure Erase, which I've never used.

But guess I'll just be setting them up pretty basically for now.

 

[Dereck47]

FYI, there's no fault tolerance for drives in a RAID-0 array. So if one of the drives in the array dies then you lose all of your data. So make sure you have a backup plan.

Yes, your SSDs should be on their latest firmware version. It also wouldn't hurt for your motherboard's BIOS to be on its latest version also.

Yes, connecting the drives as secondary drives (SATA drives do not have Master/Slave settings) before setting up the RAID array in order to update the firmware is best.

The way to restore any SSD to fresh-out-of-the-box condition is to Secure Erase it.
Since your drives are new there's no reason for you to do it.

If your motherboard has Intel 6Gb/s ports then connect the drives to them or best performance. If you use an AMD CPU then connect the drives to the AMD 6Gb/s ports (If your motherboard has them).

After you've updated the firmware & BIOS then create your RAID array.
When you install Windows don't preinstall any drivers. Let Windows install its own default RAID drivers.

After Windows installation is complete you can then install your motherboard's latest RAID drivers.

 

[ferrari91169]

FYI, there's no fault tolerance for drives in a RAID-0 array. So if one of the drives in the array dies then you lose all of your data. So make sure you have a backup plan.

Yes, your SSDs should be on their latest firmware version. It also wouldn't hurt for your motherboard's BIOS to be on its latest version also.

Yes, connecting the drives as secondary drives (SATA drives do not have Master/Slave settings) before setting up the RAID array in order to update the firmware is best.

The way to restore any SSD to fresh-out-of-the-box condition is to Secure Erase it.
Since your drives are new there's no reason for you to do it.

If your motherboard has Intel 6Gb/s ports then connect the drives to them or best performance. If you use an AMD CPU then connect the drives to the AMD 6Gb/s ports (If your motherboard has them).

After you've updated the firmware & BIOS then create your RAID array.
When you install Windows don't preinstall any drivers. Let Windows install its own default RAID drivers.

After Windows installation is complete you can then install your motherboard's latest RAID drivers.

Thanks for the reply. I do realize that I'll lose all my data if just one of the drives fail, but I keep all my important items on separate drives, and keep multiple back-ups of everything. The RAID Array I'm setting up will just be for my OS, some games, some programs, things like that...nothing that won't be easily replaceable if a drive fails.

I'll update once I receive the drives and set up the Array...should be within' the next three days.

Thanks again for the reply!

 

[Dereck47]

No problem. Also when you're installing the O/S on your array don't connect any secondary or backup drives until the installation is complete. Just connect your 2 Samsungs and the CD/DVD drive that contains the O/S.

 

[ferrari91169]

No problem. Also when you're installing the O/S on your array don't connect any secondary or backup drives until the installation is complete. Just connect your 2 Samsungs and the CD/DVD drive that contains the O/S.

Thanks for the tip. I would've left all my secondary drives connected had I not known that.

 

[cball1311]

No problem. Also when you're installing the O/S on your array don't connect any secondary or backup drives until the installation is complete. Just connect your 2 Samsungs and the CD/DVD drive that contains the O/S.

Made that mistake and now my system partition is on my HDD and not my SSD RAID0 array. Does this hurt anything or just a stupid mistake on my part?

 

[Dereck47]

I doesn't hurt anything. It's just now you need your HDD connected in order to boot.