GA-990FXA-UD3 best BIOS settings for 1 SSD & 2 RAID1's

[leeoverstreet]

I have a new GA-990FXA-UD3 I recently ordered to replace a GA-880GA-UD3H.  I'm replacing my Win7 operating system hard drive with an SSD.  I have two RAID1's: one with two 2TB drives, and one with two 3TB drives.  I also have a LG Blu-Ray drive.

My question is what BIOS settings are best to make sure the solo SSD is running optimally in AHCI mode, while the hard drives function as RAIDS. (I use the RAIDs for music, photos, videos, etc.  Lots of important personal stuff.)  On the old motherboard, I had the OS hard drive and Blu-Ray drive on GSATA ports 6 & 7 which I believe were set to IDE mode, while the RAID drives were on ports 0 - 3, obviously set to RAID mode.  On the old motherboard, using a hard drive as the OS drive, it hardly mattered if it was set to IDE.  But with a SSD, it needs to be in AHCI mode for optimal performance.

So.... If I set everything to RAID (SATA3 ports 0 - 3 to RAID mode, and set SATA3 ports 4 - 5 to "as SATA type"), can the individual SSD and Blu-Ray function properly as AHCI devices, while the RAID drives work as true RAID1's?

 It seems to me that's my only option other than running the SSD in IDE mode (unacceptable) on SATA3 port 4.  Or I guess I could run all the ports as AHCI and then just buy a RAID PCIe card ($30 and 5 days wait to use the RAID - Bleh!).  From reading other forum topics, this sounds possible, but nothing was exactly on point.  Your BIOS settings advice is much appreciated!   

[autotech]

I don't own that motherboard but I might clear something up for you. When you run raid you automatically in  AHCI mode. So if you turn your ports to raid then all will be fine just go into bios and configure the drives you want to use in raid and leave your ssd as main boot drive. As long as your ports are set to raid you are all good.

Back in the day on most motherboards to run a SSD in  AHCI  wasn't a setting you just had sata, ide, raid so you would set it to raid to run the ssd in  AHCI mode, Load raid drivers and off you go.

[leeoverstreet]

Thanks, autotech! 

So, just to be clear, I'll get full speed and AHCI functionality with a single SSD on SATA3 port 0 (and the Blu-Ray on port 1), even if all ports are set to RAID?  And question 2 for clarity... I will need to use Gigabyte's Windows pre-installation drivers for the RAID as if I were installing Win7 to a RAID, even though it's going onto a single SSD?

Again, thank you so much for your help.

[autotech]

That is correct. Make sure to load raid drivers before you load windows 7 when you load them notice the names of the file it should read raid AHCIx64 for 64 bit and x 86 for 32 bit.

[leeoverstreet]

Thank you again for your help!  Can I bug you for one more question?

I'll copy the relevant drivers to a USB drive.  Should I have the USB drive inserted in a USB port when I initially turn on the computer, or wait to put it in when the Win7 install software asks for it?

Can you tell I'm deathly afraid of screwing it up?  :-)

[autotech]

wait to put it in until it is asked for then browse to the usb drive and pick out what you need. It is no bother it  is what we are here for.  I don't think you will screw it up you knew enough to ask before you tried that puts you ahead of 90% of others right there.

[leeoverstreet]

Awesome!  I got a bit impatient and tried it and so far so good.  I set SATA ports 0-3 to RAID, and set 4-5 to IDE.  Then I put the blu-ray on 4 and the SSD on 0.  I went ahead and put the USB drive in before rebooting.  Started up to the Win7 disc, browsed to the x64 folder on the USB drive, and those drivers allowed it to see the RAID controller.  Installed in about 10-15 minutes.  Sweet.

My plan is to move the blu-ray to port 1, then switch ports 4-5 back to RAID.  That way I can set up true RAID1's on 2-3 and 4-5.  Anything sound wrong with that plan?

Then my next big step is restoring the two RAID1's I had on the old Gigabyte motherboard.  Is there a way to simply tell the RAID system that two drives are already a RAID so that it will recognize them without erasing the drives and starting from scratch?  I can't afford to lose the data on there, and I'd rather not go through a clumsy procedure to transfer all that data off to a spare drive, re-create the RAID1, then copy it all back on.  Ugh.  The motherboard manual only talks about creating a NEW RAID.

[autotech]

Well it falls 2 ways either it will or wont. Last raid I had I was surprised when moving to a new motherboard that it saw them as raid already.

I was so happy that it happened  then 2 weeks later I went ahead and wiped them and started over. Just weird things happened like they would drop out and system errors after I wiped and re did them it was all good.

I hope it happens for you as it did me without my glitches, But if not I am sure you will handle what happens. Your plan looks good to me moving the blueray to port 1 is fine and should work and actually is better that way as your raids will be in pots 2-3 and 4-5 right across from each other and easier to identify.

[leeoverstreet]

Thought I'd bump this up in case anyone is curious how it turned out.  Certainly my scenario of one SSD and one or two RAIDs must occur frequently, so maybe this can be helpful.

In a nutshell, to run one SSD drive with Windows 7 (or , 1 optical drive, and two RAID1's (or RAID0's, etc.), starting from scratch do the following:

1)  Connect optical drive to port 4 or 5, and connect SSD to port 0.  Boot to BIOS, set SATA ports 0-3 to RAID, and set SATA ports 4-5 to IDE (temporarily).  Individual drives work in RAID mode as single drives unless they are assigned purposefully to a RAID. Have proper RAID drivers from Gigabyte CD copied to a USB stick and insert in one of the USB 2.0 ports. 
2)  Assuming all other BIOS settings are correct and PC is assembled and ready for Windows, save BIOS and reboot, allowing PC to boot from Windows disk. When Windows installation asks for drivers, browse to your USB stick where it's stored.  Install will proceed from there.  After install of Windows, install all necessary drivers from Gigabyte CD, then turn off PC. 
3)  Move optical drive to SATA port 1.  Reboot to BIOS, change SATA ports 4-5 to same as ports 0-3 (RAID).  Finish boot to Windows to check function of optical drive, then turn off PC. 
4)  Connect drives to be used as first RAID (I put two 3TB drives on ports 4-5, and two 2TB drives on 2-3, but only do ONE RAID per boot!).  Power up and before boot completes, and while RAID BIOS is scanning drives, hit ctrl-f.  Follow procedure to setup RAID's (see manual or ask here, I'm now somewhat competent in this!). 
5)  Boot to Windows and go to Disk Management, it will immediately ask you to setup the new logical disk (RAID) with a partition scheme (MBR or GPT).  I used MBR for my 2TB RAID, and GPT for my 3TB RAID.  Please note MBR partitioned RAID1's seem to be separable and readable as individual drives, but I was NOT able to view my GPT partitioned drives as individual drives on another PC.  Right click bar representing new RAID logical drive and make new simple volume.  Format, then check functioning. 
6)  Repeat from step 4 for second RAID if you're filing up the SATA ports like I did.

Someone let me know if I left something out here.

So yes, Gigabyte motherboads with 6 SATA ports can have an SSD, an optical drive, and two RAID's, all at once.  Back when I was first researching this, I emailed Gigabyte tech support via their website, and THEY ARE IDIOTS.  I asked if I could do exactly what I ended up doing, and the response I got said no, AND WAS WRONG ON EVERY POINT!  Want some fun?  Here's the actual response I got when I asked how to do this:

"Dear customer,
Unfortunately configuration you have not able to be supported on 990FXA-UD3 board. Board support Raid mode or AHCI mode not both at the same time and single Raid array only not 2. Board using software Raid, Raid array capacity has limitation up to 2TB.
You can set single Raid configuration on SATA port 1-3, connect optical drive to port 5 set to IDE mode, load OS to Raid drive first install all drivers, then change port 4-5 to SATA mode, connect SSD drive to port 4 that SSD drive will works in SATA mode.
Best regards,
Gigabyte technical support team."

Wrong about EVERYTHING!  HA!  Unbelievable... :-P

[autotech]

Makes you glad you posted doesn't it. Glad it all worked out for you and this information might be very helpful to others.

[leeoverstreet]

Yes, very glad.  Thank you again, autotech!

One final related question:  Do you know if I'm right about why my 3TB GPT-partitioned RAID drives weren't separable, but my 2TB MBR-partitioned RAID was?

[autotech]

I actually ran into that, Is a windows limitation and nothing to do with the motherboard. Anything over 2T gives windows fits. So you have to wait until windows loads to tell it what to do.

[leeoverstreet]

When Windows loaded, it saw the GPT-partitioned 3TB drive from the RAID one as "unallocated," as if it were completely empty.  But when I put both drives from that RAID onto SATA ports on the new motherboard, it recognized it immediately, same as with the MBR-partitioned 2TB drives (which worked individually).  Just weird.

Another related problem, which may need its own thread, is that my 2TB RAID from the old motherboard is SLOW on the new motherboard, about 60MB/sec max.  The 3TB RAID, which I blanked and optimized setting for, is screamin' along at about 150MB/sec.  The difference is somewhere in the RAID BIOS settings.  The sector size, as well as the read and write chache settings, etc., are different.  I'll experiment on that and maybe start a new thread.