help with RAID 1

1637 Views 11 Replies 6 Participants Last post by ComGuards, Nov 30, 2009

mazza-

Discussion Starter · Nov 25, 2009

ok so i built my client a computer made for internet and video watching; i put 2 x 1TB seagate, 2 x 160GB seagate both SATA.
i've set the sata configuration as AHCI. i don't see any raid prompt to press ctrl+I for some reason; i think it may be because i had windows installed on there but it didn't boot after for some reason after installing windows. just stopped at bios at where the boot device would be loaded. i installed windows 7 and done software RAID 1 (mirrored OS drives 160GB's; mirrored 1TB data drives, and so turning them into dynamic volumes (what is a dynamic volume?))

the setup is as follows:
Intel E6300 2.8GHz
2 x Lite-On SATA DVD RW
Gigabyte PCI-E 512MB 9400GT
Kingston Value 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800
ASUS P5Q-SE2 (EPU) P45
Vantec ION2 460W
Lian-Li (Lancool) PC-K62

what i want to do is RAID 1 (mirrored) for the 160GB OS drive and 1TB storage also Mirrored so if any fail i can just remove and replace with warranty.

there are 2 dvd drives as my client also likes to burn DVD's - as per his need which i built this computer.

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eflyguy

· #2 · Nov 25, 2009

Set the controller to RAID, not AHCI.
..a

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mazza-

Discussion Starter · #3 · Nov 25, 2009

theres AHCI and IDE :/ do i have to replace the board with another one? because i can - just need to pay a 15% restock fee for the motherboard.

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Buggedout

· #4 · Nov 25, 2009

Does your mobo have a RAID controller? If not you can buy a seperate card that will do this for you.

Eg:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-020-_-Product

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eflyguy

· #5 · Nov 25, 2009

(slaps head)

The P5Q-SE2 is a non-RAID board. It has the ICH10, not ICH10R.

You need to buy a RAID controller, or switch to another MB. You will have to spend more than the cost of a new MB on a good controller.
..a

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mazza-

Discussion Starter · #6 · Nov 25, 2009

dang... i was hoping to have the computer done by this Saturday - for my clients birthday..
i have a computer with an ASUS P5E in it that does RAID that i can swap out for this mobo but the only downfall is there won't be warranty for the motherboard since thats probably run out at 3 years of age..
i guess i have to swap out the P5Q-SE2 for my spare rigs P5E - not like my spare rig is using RAID.

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the_beast

· #7 · Nov 25, 2009

If you do swap out the board make sure you update the BIOS first - the E6300 only works with the latest one.

Wasn't the P5E from ~2007 anyway? If you have a 3 year warranty you should still be good for up to a year or so with it. Even so if the board has worked for 2 years it should be fine - electronics usually either die pretty quick or last forever.

Make sure you clean it up good though - I would be pretty annoyed if I bought a new machine and found an old dusty board inside...

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mazza-

Discussion Starter · #8 · Nov 25, 2009

ok good point.
i will swap out the board, flash the bios (thank asus for easy flashing), clean it up, snd than its ready to go for my clients birthday on Saturday.

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Sunrex

· #9 · Nov 28, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazza-

ok good point.
i will swap out the board, flash the bios (thank asus for easy flashing), clean it up, snd than its ready to go for my clients birthday on Saturday.

Or you could just do a software raid. I have the option for RAID in my BIOS, but set it up as ACHI and then installed software raid through the Linux OS. Here is a guide for you if you are using centos:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/linux/linux_software_raid.htm

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the_beast

· #10 · Nov 29, 2009

He is using Windows - which (at least in the desktop forms) cannot boot from a software RAID array.

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Sunrex

· #11 · Nov 29, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_beast

He is using Windows - which (at least in the desktop forms) cannot boot from a software RAID array.

My bad, sorry.

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ComGuards

· #12 · Nov 30, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_beast

He is using Windows - which (at least in the desktop forms) cannot boot from a software RAID array.

I think they changed that in Windows 7, at least with Windows 7 Ultimate. Not so sure about Pro or Enterprise. Definitely not available in the "Home" versions of the OS.

That is, you can create software RAID-1 arrays using dynamic disks in Windows 7 Ultimate. You can even boot from the dynamic disk

Just one thing to consider though, and I'm sure Microsoft hasn't completely fixed this yet. Because it's a *software* array, there's actually a "primary" disk in the array that Windows reads from. If the primary disk fails, the system crashes. Literally. After you replace the failed drive, you have to manually go in and edit various boot files to make Windows boot off the second disk in the array, and then go back into Disk Manager and re-create the array using the new drive.

Anyways, it's still a very limited implementation. I only use software RAID-1 for archive data mirroring. My boot arrays are still "hardware". Or at the very least, HostRAID or hardware-assisted-software-RAID (i.e. cheapy controllers, Intel ICHxR, etc). At least those array stay online if one drive fails...

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