Hey all,

I just purchased a couple new Seagate Barracuda ATA IV's, 40gb a piece, and installed them in my Epox 8K7A+ system. I installed them each on there own Raid IDE channel and ATA100 cable. I then Fdisked the array, about 76gb total size, into one partition. Then formatted, which took a LONG time it seemed, like 2 hours+. Anyway then after installing Windows ME on the array everything seems fine, it's detected in windows as a 75gb drive and all seems well, seems faster than a single drive for sure. Also to mention I installed all the drivers for the MB, the miniport, the 4in1's except agp part, and the Highpoint 370a Raid driver.

So I go ahead and try some benchmarks to see what I get. In sisoft, the score was only slightly higher than a single ATA100 drive, and much lower than there Raid ATA100 setup showed. In HDtach, I get peak transfer rates lower than 35mb/s, and even my new 60gig Seagate drive gets 39 or more. Also in Winbench, my diskmark and inspection test for the 2 40's Raid is about same if not lower than the single 60gig. Overall the raid array is getting performance about the same or less than a single drive, so to say the least I'm disappointed so far. I hope I'm doing something wrong.

Oh one more important thing I noticed was when I went back into the Raid bios, and checked the status of the array, it listed one of the drives as HDD-0, and the other as hidden. This struck me as a little weird but I just figured it has something to do with making them look like one drive, but maybe not.

So ANY help or advice on how to get this Raid setup running like it should, is greatly appreciated.

opps DOUBLEPOST NOT ACCEPTABLE

In 2 different forums? That's not acceptable?

Not really. This is one forum with multipul catagories. Posting once and in the correct catagory is the best way to get a response. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif
Sorry I can't help with the RAID, I am sure someone will be along soon that can.

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If I tell you to think for yourself, then you're not doing it.
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This is not directed at those asking questions in order to gain knowledge. That shows you are thinking.

[This message has been edited by bassman (edited 09-07-2001).]

Right but say some people only go to the, How do I, section of the forums. I was just trying to get my question the most exposure. Not everyone goes to every section of the forums. Either way I know the rules now so.

Hope someone knows the solution to my prob.

..

[This message has been edited by daction (edited 09-07-2001).]

Just another hint, most of the regulars, who do the bulk of the answers DO check all the sections...

Well format a single really large partition will take some time, so that wasn't to unusal.

Now my question is do you have the option tho enable DMA for the drive? And is it enabled? It should be in Device Manager under disk drives -> settings...try it both ways if you have the option.

Here are a couple of links that have some info on how to setup RAID arrays...RAID Your Guide (http://www.pcmech.com/showdoc/296/) and Setting up a RAID array (http://www.kickassgear.com/Raid_array.htm)

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

Thnx Mjc, that's what I'm thinkin it has something to do with. I have a checkbox for DMA for my 60gig drive, but it doesn't seem to be there for the 2 40's raid drive. It's not even there at all for some reason, instead I have a checkbox for disconnect, sync data transfer, and one called removable. Not sure why it doesn't have an option for DMA, darn it.

I've got an HPT368 chip on an IWILL PCI board. Its BIOS (control, h) needed to be set for "stripe" mode. Upon boot-up, both hard drives are shown as "Striped".

The review I read for your motherboard showed a separate user's manual for the RAID function.

RAID 0 increases average latency time unless your hard drives are spindle synchronized. This will decrease performance for many systems. Note that latency time is in milliseconds: Averaging about 4+ milliseconds per I/O on a 7200 RPM Disk (maximum latency 8.333 milliseconds). Increasing latency time hurts.

RAID 0 is not a good idea for ordinary system usage. It is best when each I/O order reads or writes a huge amount of data. It is bad for a system which ordinarily uses I/O for small chunks of data.

If you do not defrag regularly, a RAID 0 system gets slow in a hurry if used for ordinary applications.

Another problem with RAID 0: If either disk goes bad, you cannot read any data from the good disk. Recovery is a nightmare with RAID 0.

I have two systems with 3 physical drives each, and would not consider using RAID 0.

I have my OS & applications software on one Disk. All Data Files are on the second. I use the third disk for the OS swap file and to backup the other two disks. Benchmarks show a modest performance increase due to this organization. It minimizes head movement time, which is measured in milliseconds and is significant.

I am not sure how I would organize a two disk system. Obviously put the OS and appliation software on one disk, with data files on the other. I am not sure where I would put the OS Swap file.

Another bummer for R

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Gouverneur
Eschew Obfuscation!
If one hundred million people believe a foolish idea, it is still a foolish idea.

Obviously put the OS and appliation software on one disk, with data files on the other. I am not sure where I would put the OS Swap file.
That's an easy one. I always move my swap file to the second disk, so the 1st one is not looking for the OS and swap file at the same time. Both drives can operate independently of each other, so if it needs to find application or OS files and swap file at the same time, it can do it quicker, the read/write head does not have to try and go back and forth between them on one drive. It's a minor improvement in performance, but added to other available tweaks it adds up to a moderate performance increase.


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Hello all!

i 've got the intention to use raid o whatever the risk and everything I could encounter ... will do my everyday back ups...

so i'd like to know what to consider with the os installation and the way to work with that kind of system ....how to deal with the installation of the os.. the softwares
... should I install all these on a drive... and work in a raid setup with two other hard drives ? Or there is something better... I'd like to know... what I can say is that I could work with four hard drives . So I hope to have some help . it would be appreciated

thanks!