Multiple RAIDs possible?

[meerkat]

I'm planning on buying a Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H in the very near future and would like to do something I don't even know is possible......


I currently have 2, 1TB drives set up in a RAID 1 running Windows XP.

When I migrate to my new system I am going to add 2, 4TB drives and would also like them set up in a RAID 1 (will be running Windows 7 on a SSD).

To add to that I also want to keep my XP system so I can dual boot, at least until I am happy with Windows 7 doing everything XP does atm.

Sooooo  it is possible to have the 2, 1TB drives mirrored and the 2, 4TB drives also mirrored at the same time (and dual booting)?

Thanks in advance for anyone who can help resolve my confusion.

[dmdilks]

It will not be possible because there is no drivers for XP. You better do some research on the boards and make sure they support XP.

[meerkat]

It will not be possible because there is no drivers for XP. You better do some research on the boards and make sure they support XP.

Well now THAT puts a kink in my plans. I didn't even think about OS support and just figured because of all the other backwards compatibility with other older tech, XP would just work. OK

So I can't dual boot with this MB but if we eliminate XP from the equation, will it work?

I will be doing some research today but is there a Gigabyte MB that supports XP and can also have a socket 1150 for my i7-4770K chip? or is this combination just not possible?


After a bit of looking I found multiple BIOS updates that claim to have this MB working with ALL Windows.

http://drivers.downloadatoz.com/vendor_gigabyte/gigabyte-ga-z87x-ud3h-rev-1-0-bios/os_windows-all.html


Of course, for all I know, "All" could mean Vista forward. I know there does have to come a logical point where something gets dropped off the back end like I'm sure all doesn't include Win95.

[dmdilks]

Yes every thing will work under win 7. Plus try and find a board that has 4 gsata's too.

That way you can run AHCI on the SSD and the Array's on the hard drives using the Marvell controller.

Because if you use the Intel controller and setup the array's with that controller you SSD will more likely run as a IDE.

I just giving you some heads up before you jump on something. Then found out that you are not happy.

[meerkat]

Yes every thing will work under win 7. Plus try and find a board that has 4 gsata's too.

That way you can run AHCI on the SSD and the Array's on the hard drives using the Marvell controller.

Because if you use the Intel controller and setup the array's with that controller you SSD will more likely run as a IDE.

I just giving you some heads up before you jump on something. Then found out that you are not happy.

No no, that's the type of info i have been looking for to work the kinks out of my build before buying it. Thanks to you my new task is to find a MB i like with 4 gSTAT slots.

Also, thanks to your information, I came up with a work around for the XP thing......I will simply buy a KVM DVI/USB switch. It's not as convenient as having it all under one hood but it is better than trying VM and having things go wrong.

I will post back with a new MB. Thank you!

[meerkat]

So it looks as if the next MB up the line that has 4 gSATA slots is the GA-Z87X-UD5H. I didn't find any closer to the price of the UD3H.

Any suggestions or is that the next best one?

[dmdilks]

I have been doing some reading on AHCI vs Raid. Some people say they are the same.

So what they are saying if you run raid on the Intel controller you get the same speed with you SSD as if you were running AHCI.

That is if you had the SSD connected to that controller with the raids. Raid is older technology vs AHCI is newer technology.

But the thing is AHCI will give you newer technology feature. I might be wrong but if you put your SSD on the raid controller with your drives.

I say you lose the newer technology that you would get in AHCI. I would go with the way we have talk about it.

[shadowsports]

meerkat,
I think its time and others would agree...  to dump your xp.  MS is officially discontinuing support in April of this year.  You'll be much happier on windows 7 or 8

Before deciding on which controller and RAID level to go with, think about how you will use your system.  If for gaming, video, photo editing, I'd put my OS on SSD's on the intel controller in RAID0.  You won't get faster performance.  If your primary concern is redundancy and fault tolerance RAID1 fits that bill.  But this RAID level comes with additional overhead, cost and small decrease in performance.  
  
If your board only has two controllers, (example) Intel and Marvel, you'll need to pick one RAID level and controller and go with it.  The Z87 controller only supports one RAID level or operate mode at a time.  While it's possible to have more drives connected, each one is either included or excluded from the RAID, but you can't specify that disks on ports 0 and 1 will be RAID 1, and drives on ports 2 and 3 (or others) are another RAID.  Before anyone jumps in and says RAID10 is 0+1, to the controller its still one array.  It just gives the speed of 0 with the redundancy of 1  

To achieve what you describe, you'll want to put another array on a secondary controller.  

May I suggest that you use the intel controller for your boot drives (RAID0).  These will be your SSD's, and use the secondary controller for your data - large drives RAID1.  This will provide great boot and OS performance and balance when copying large amounts of data between your boot drives and data array.  You data will have an additional level of protection being in RAID1 as each disk will have a complete image of your data.

You will get the same features and performance using either AHCI or RAID.  Disk performance, TRIM and anything that is support by the drive and OS will be equal. Occasionally, a MB manufacturer will cut a corner and botch something with the way they chose to implement or support a feature, but in general you will not need to worry about this based on the scenario you described.

Most importantly.  Back up your data.  Implement a back up solution.  Do not rely on any RAID level to protect against data loss.