GA-880GA-UD3H RAID Options

[Dark Mantis]

Yes would have to agree with absic there regarding the use of AHCI on optical drives. Not a good idea.

[collidingstar]

Hopefully I am not hijacking this post..

I have the same motherboard and am having troubles setting up a simple RAID 1.

First off I was able to take my drives from an older computer and was able to boot into windows 7 x64 just fine.
I loaded up the drivers off the Gigabyte disk that came with the MB..  booted and used the computer for a day or two.

Then tried to setup the RAID but unfortunately I KILLED my data.. even though I never got a warning on this..
Now I had an old mirror of my drive which I put back on one of the TB drives and loading things up to about where I need to be..


I have 2 1TB seagate SATA 7200rmp drives and one SATA DVD/CD Burner..

What is the best configuration for this and what it the correct procedure to add the 2nd drive and create the RAID 1 configuration without destroying my existing data.

I believe all the drivers are loaded any way to double check?
I thought I installed the RAIDXpert software but I do not have anything loading at the appropriate localhost url.


Thanks

[collidingstar]

Also I did upgrade to F6 just recently.. (after my first OPPS)

[absic]

Hi there collidingstar,

I have to own up and say I am not too savvy with RAID although I have played with it a bit I have always found it gave me more trouble than anything else.

Looking through the User's Manual (page 85 - 90), I think in your situation you would need to use the GSATA2 ports for your RAID1 Array. I'm not sure if you will be able to re-build this or, if you would have to start over again.

[jannie]

Hi Kep,,If you go to home page and look for off topic section,The poll is in the suggestions page.Under the heading ( hepl for absic and dm )
Where would we be without these experts
Dave

[collidingstar]

Hi there collidingstar,

I have to own up and say I am not too savvy with RAID although I have played with it a bit I have always found it gave me more trouble than anything else.

Looking through the User's Manual (page 85 - 90), I think in your situation you would need to use the GSATA2 ports for your RAID1 Array. I'm not sure if you will be able to re-build this or, if you would have to start over again.

I am wondering if the GSATA2 setup would be easier..
granted those are 6gb/s ports but neither are my drives.

I also found this post which might be worth while to try..
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=300318

[absic]

Hi

That's why I suggested using the GSATA2 ports rather than the SATA3. If I understand what you are trying to do I would have thought you could use your original disk, add the second one and then build your RAID 1 Array.

Reading through the link you have posted, this would seem to back-up my theory that you can achieve this but, they also add a strong note of caution that not all RAID chips allow you to do this and there is the risk of losing your data.

[KEP]

Hi Kep,,If you go to home page and look for off topic section,The poll is in the suggestions page.Under the heading ( hepl for absic and dm )
Where would we be without these experts

Well, they got my vote!  I will say, though, it was tough deciding which option to choose.   

[collidingstar]

Hi

That's why I suggested using the GSATA2 ports rather than the SATA3. If I understand what you are trying to do I would have thought you could use your original disk, add the second one and then build your RAID 1 Array.

Reading through the link you have posted, this would seem to back-up my theory that you can achieve this but, they also add a strong note of caution that not all RAID chips allow you to do this and there is the risk of losing your data.

So using the GIGABYTE Raid is easier I take it?

I had a CHEAP pcchips AM2 board that I got for nothing.. can't remember who's SATA Raid controller but it was dead simple..and it's nice to be able to take a drive out and be able to read it in any SATA machine..  Doesn't anyone ever follow the KISS method anymore?

Any downside to using GSATA2?  speed?


As far as the VOTE.. YOU GOT MINE AS WELL.

Thanks..

[absic]

I haven't had any real issues using the GSATA2 ports in RAID or for controlling individual drives. As for speed it is SATA2 so no problem there.

Thanks for the vote it is appreciated. 

[collidingstar]

Will the procedure be obvious as I go though it?

If I ran though the installation disk are the drivers all loaded or is that another step I need to make sure I do?

[absic]

If you have already loaded the drivers then there shouldn't be a problem. It might be worthwhile having them ready again on a USB stick just in case.

When you go into the RAID set-up utility it should be fairly straight forward. If you check page 86 of the User's Manual it shows the option to Rebuild Mirror Drive which I think is what you want to do. The only problem I can foresee is, if your System Disk isn't recognised as being a RAID Disk as this is the stage it might want to erase the drive.
 
If your main drive isn't accepted as part of the RAID then you will need to build it and that is why you need to make sure you have a back-up of your system drive to re-install, as mentioned in the anandtech's forum thread.

[KEP]

...and it's nice to be able to take a drive out and be able to read it in any SATA machine..  Doesn't anyone ever follow the KISS method anymore?

This is what's hanging me up.  My fear with striping is the loss of that very simple, and incredibly useful, capability.  I'm considering going RAID10, but there's this irritating little voice telling me it's just asking for trouble...

[Dark Mantis]

it's just asking for trouble...





Sorry I just couldn't help it!

[collidingstar]

That's why I just want a simple mirror..

My servers all have RAID 5..  but on my workstation.. I just want the mirror incase of Drive failure..

and the ability to move to another machine.. 

Sure I could get more speed going another route.. but I'll survive for now..

Maybe if I get a Solid State I'll do things differently..