RAID Preparation Questions

[pop pop]

I plan to go RAID 0 next weekend so I have to slick my existing Raptor boot drive and start over (yes, I have it backed up in case of disaster). My mobo is an Asus P5AD2E Premium. The manual says it will support just about any RAID configuration and that the Support CD comes with three (count 'em, three) sets of RAID drivers. One is for IDE HDDs only, so that one is out. The other two are Silicon Image Sil3114 and Intel ICH6R SATA (Matrix RAID, I think).

The instructions for each are pretty much the same--create the RAID driver floppy, start the OS install, insert and install the RAID driver when prompted, then later configure the RAID in BIOS.

Here's my question...is there any difference/advantage between the two? Any of You guys built a RAID array on a mobo with native support (no adapter card)? Which one would you choose or does it even matter?

You gotta wonder why Asus included two SATA RAID drivers. I guess one, the Intel, is directly supported by the SouthBridge (ICH6R)??

Wish me luck on this because at the same time that I'll be creating a Raptor RAID 0, I'll be swapping out and upgrading my PSU to an Antec TrueControl 2.0 550 and adding PVR capability. If all goes well, the array will be backed up to a big Seagate HDD.

[Paul Komski]

I have a feeling there may be two different SATA controllers on the mainboard with two channels for each one; not sure - just from memory. In any case you should only need the drivers during the installation and you could always load them both using WinXP's F6 to be on the safe side I guess.

You would need to configure the RAID before installing the OS. Attach the SATAs to include in the RAID and enter the controller's BIOS and stripe them together. Boot up and partition/format/install as per any single drive scenario.

[pop pop]

I think you may have nailed it. Looking at the diagram of the mobo, just below the SouthBridge (ICH6R) there are two chips, one is Sil3114 (the Silicon Image controller) and the other is ITE8212F (the IDE only RAID controller). I think I'll go with the Sil3114 and the SATA_RAID_1 and 2 connectors first.

So...

Connect the dives
Configure the array in BIOS
Boot up and partition/format/install OS and drivers
Enjoy


Thanks Paul

[saphalline]

Go with the native southbridge RAID. This is based on pure performance. The Silicon chip is connected to the chipset by an expansion bus (usually PCI or PCIe) and so would be potentially slower. In terms of functionality, the Silicon chip may be better. But for Raptors ;) use the ICH6R!