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??

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

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.