Raid Problems

Okay, so I have some new hard disks. I'm trying to setup WinXp Pro with Raid 0. My mobo has Raid On-Board, which I used. I now have a functional Raid 0 array. However, Windows can't recognize the array. No matter if I boot from Win98 disk, or right from XP CD. I checked all the BIOS setting, they're ok. When Setup begins, I press F6 for Raid/Scsi driveers, but nothing happens, it just goes on with setup. Any ideas? Raid sounded like a good idea, I hope I can get this to work without getting too drunk.

Asus p4t533 mobo(promise onboard chip)
seagate 40gb hdd (2)
512 rambus
p4 @ 2.75

p.s. would a pci raid card solve this.??....I may have one somewhere.....

**update** I've found some info in another forum (mcmcse.com), and have decided to buy a controller card. Anyone know of a good one??

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Comments

Transatlantic

What sort of disks are you using, SATA or IDE? I've been using promise IDE controllers at work and they're good, I think they also make SATA ones as well but I haven't used them yet.

Ricka182

I'm using IDE. The array failed this moring, so I rebooted, it worked fine, then it was no good, then it was ok.....Well that tells me the on-board crap is just that, crap. I'll pick up a Raid card later today and update then.....thx

garv221

I have raid level 0 running on an MSI board. It should work by pressing F6 or setting the bios to boot first to RAID/SCSI, it takes awhile for the A:\ prompt for drivers in the install.

Ricka182

I'm looking for a card vs the board. I just can't seem to find a store that carries them on-hand. I will order one if I can't find one later today. Well, back to work....grrr(no drinking)

garv221

www.dalco.com they send next day shipping automaticaly, guaranteed.

Ricka182

Well, I picked up a Promise TX2000 raid card. It's essentially the same as my on-board raid chip, which I thought wasn't working. It was. I know that because I get the same errors as before. The array is created, then upon reboot, it fails, or is offline, or one disk isn't found. I have two identical 40gb drives, and a third 40gb, same manufactuer, different model. I find it hard to believe that all three could be bad. I tried installing them as regular IDE, and Windows can find, and identify them. My bios however doesn't seem to like them too much I think. I suppose now, I'll flash the bios of both mobo, and raid card/chip, and try again. I'm trying to get two alternate drives to rule out a the others being bad first though.

Any suggestions?..........

RussS

I have two identical 40gb drives, and a third 40gb, same manufactuer, different model.

Have you considered that this might be your problem? Are all of the partitions identical?
Me, I always use identical drives for RAID, but did once partition some when I was doing a lab study at class.

Remember - although the drive may state 40Gb, that is not its exact size.

Ricka182

There are no partitions yet. I can't get the array to be recognized so I can format and set a partition. When I installed them in Windows as IDE, they registered as 40gb.

RussS

Forget what windows sees - what does your BIOS see?
Also, it helps if they are partitioned and formatted prior to building the RAID - makes things easier sometimes.

Ricka182

Ok, figured one thing out....two drives were bad. I tried them on an alternate system, and they were unrecognizable through Bios. I'll have to get a couple more if I can, and try again. I will also try formatting prior to the Raid setup.

Ricka182

Okay, so Raid totally sucks!!! I just lost my second Maxtor drive too! Yes, kick me in the jimmy!!!

rossonieri#1

disk duplexing -> 1 controller for 1 drive is better for raid. hardware base raid may not be recognized by your o/s - so you must configure it via your bios.