Stereodude

In my experience using Windows XP & XP x64 you can't use the LSI drivers on the Dell cards even if they are flashed with the LSI firmware. However, you can use the LSI MSM software regardless of Dell or LSI firmware.

I'd recommend a large stripe size like 512k.

the_beast

What is the array for? And what kind of files does it contain?

RAID5 for OS = bad idea, so I hope it is for file storage.

Larger files (media etc), go large stripe size (256k+). Smaller files (documents etc) go smaller (64-128k).

Caching - 'write back' if you have a battery or just want max speed with a slight risk of failure if you have no battery. 'Write back' if you have no battery and want max security.

Starbuck5000

Cheers Stereo

Why is Raid 5 for OS bad, imo Raid 5 sounds great for your os increased speed from striping plus the added redundancy from parity meaning if a drive fails you don't have to suffer down time?

I do have a BBU for this

__________________
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Student (Joint Bsc Hons)
STUDENT FINANCE HURRY UP!!!

Has far to many components for a 20 year old, and while you're at it forgive my spelling, the keyboard is dyslexic

the_beast

Because every time you make a small write to the drives (and OSes do this a lot), you have to read data from all the drives in order to recalculate the parity & then write the new data & the new parity bit. This kills any striping benefit, although the cache helps a little to offset the effect.

For OS use I would run RAID10 or just image your drives frequently instead of using redundancy and run RAID0.

Starbuck5000

Didn't know that, I'll give it some thought

__________________
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Student (Joint Bsc Hons)
STUDENT FINANCE HURRY UP!!!

Has far to many components for a 20 year old, and while you're at it forgive my spelling, the keyboard is dyslexic

pippolo

I don't know if you can use an LSI driver with a Dell firmware, but I'm actually using (perc 5/i) an LSI driver with an LSI firmware without problems on Vista x64.
A friend of mine is using the Dell driver with the LSI firmware on XP (the opposite).

The main problem is the Hardware ID. Also if you change the firmware, the HW ID is the same (the DELL; PCI\VEN_1028&DEV_0015 for the perc 5/i).
With my Vista x64 I can install the LSI drivers without problems selecting manually the driver (it complains that the driver compatibility isn't verified, but it's ok).
With Windows XP I think that you have to modify the drivers. Probably the megasas.cat file and also the oemsetup.inf adding the Dell HW IDs to the oemsetup.inf file, but I can't verify that.

If you are using Windows 7 I don't think that you have any problem.
I'm using the last LSI driver (3.9.0.64) from the LSI MegaRAID SAS 8704EM2 support page. The 8704EM2 card is completely different (the perc is an 8408E controller) but the driver available from here is newer and compatible also with the perc 5.

eric06303

Does anyone know what this warning and error means? I'm thinking it's the memory that's bad.

I initially got a warning that said, "Controller ID: 0 Single-bit ECC error; warning threshold
exceeded: ECAR
= 0x510002 , ELOG = 0xcc319d10 , ( Read error from ATU on bit 65)".

Then a few hours later, the warning became a critical error, "Controller ID: 0 Single-bit ECC error; critical threshold
exceeded: ECAR
= 0x510002 , ELOG = 0xcc319d10 , ( Read error from ATU on bit 65)"

Stereodude

I'd try re-seating the memory (assuming you have a card with removable memory).

LuciferX

Hi, im new. Im searching in ebay but the perc 5 is far from 100 uss, can someboy give me a good link? (with BBU if possible) My idea is run RAID5 not spending to much

Saludos desde Argentina

EDIT: Perc 6 is a nice idea to ... mmm ... RAID5 vs RAID6, well, if the price is not so much more expensive i think about it

waLIEN

I have a question about needing a BBU or not.

As it stands, I have a UPS unit which will supply just enough juice to enable my computer to shut down in the case of a brownout or power failure. Should I still invest in a BBU?