Trouble diagnosing SSD/RAID problem

[killerzuchini]

So, I've set up a RAID 0 with two OCZ Agility 3 drives, and after hitting a few snags here and there I ultimately ended up having a stable system after several days. However, it would keep crashing (prior to it even launching). I check the file integrity, and every single time Origin got to 61%, my computer would freeze. So I ran CHKDSK, and sure enough, it found bad files. After not successfully repairing them, I wanted to replace one of my drives. Here lies the issue: after splitting my RAID setup, both drives seem to be fine. I've run CHKDSK on both of them with no errors showing up. Is it possible that the RAID itself was the issue, and that the drives are fine? Or is it more likely there's a problem I just haven't found? Any help is appreciated.

Much thanks, - Josh

 

[Dereck47]

Verify that both drives are on firmware version 2.15.
Secure Erase both drives to restore them to fresh-out-of-the-box condition and re-create your RAID-0 array.
You didn't mention what model motherboard you had but verify that your drives are connected to your motherboard's native ports, not 3rd party ports such as Marvell.

 

[killerzuchini]

Using an EVGA 750i SLI FTW. Using the onboard ports. Going to update the firmware now.

 

[osamabinrobot]

id split them and not run in raid 0, keep one for OS and one for game installs. you're losing TRIM support and not really getting any real world performance increases by running them in 0.

 

[killerzuchini]

They were already using 2.15, it appears.

After splitting them I've noticed that without SATA III that RAID doesn't do... anything, really. I'm now fine with not using RAID at all. However, I got the same freezing issue (everything simply freezes) shortly after using just a single drive. Booting of the OTHER drive, seeing how stable it is.

 

[osamabinrobot]

are they in AHCI with the latest drivers installed?

 

[killerzuchini]

750i doesn't do AHCI, it would appear. Everything is fully updated now, but it looks like updating to the Nvidia drivers over the default Microsoft ones disables Trim. Maybe that could be an issue?

 

[Dereck47]

Use whichever drivers give you a stable system.
If you use the Nvidia drivers then just Log Off overnight once a week or once every other week so that Garbage Collection will restore drive performance.