P67A-UD4-B3 - BIOS help (OS on a SSD + add storage RAID later)

[TravisD]

Please help me set up my BIOS.  I have never used RAID before.

MoBo: P67A-UD4-B3
CPU: i5 2500K
OS: Win 7 x64
System drive: will remain a single 80 GB Intel X-25M SSD
Other (current) SATA drives: 1X optical and 2x Mech. HDD; a WD640AAKS for games/storage and a 1TB WD1001FALS for storage

I want to set it up now as listed above.  In the future I will ditch the WD6400AAKS and get two or three 5400RPM drives to set up a RAID 1 or 5 array for storage, and leave the OS on the SSD.  I will put my games on the WD1001FALS.  If I do a RAID 5 array, I will have 1 system drive, 1 games drive, and a 3 drive RAID array, for 5 drives plus the optical.

Here's what I'm thinking:
Clean install of Win7 x64, install Intel RST.
eXtreme Hard Drive [Disabled]
PCH SATA Control Mode [Raid] (or should I set it to AHCI now and switch to RAID later?)

I had a P35-DS3L/E8400 Core 2 Duo/DDR2 combo running Win7 x64 before.  I pulled the old MoBo/CPU/RAM out, swapped in the new setup, and fired it up to play around before dong a fresh install.  With PCH SATA Control Mode set to AHCI, Windows loads fine.  If I set it to RAID, I get a Boot Failure.  I figured this was an issue with having Windows installed and configured for the old setup, but under Hard Disk Boot Priority in BIOS the SSD is not listed.  During the AHCI controller loading POST screen (whatever it's called) before Windows boots, however, It is listed in Port-00.   It then fails to boot.  If I change SATA control mode to AHCI again, it boots fine.

Again, I will have no RAID for now, but I want to set things up so it will be easy to add a NON BOOTABLE RAID 1 or 5 array for backup/storage in a few months.  Thanks for reading that

[F5BJR]

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A question :

Without your RAID connected can you boot the SSD ?

Pierre

[TravisD]

I'm not to that point.  I have no raid setup.  I can Ctrl-I to set up a raid on my two Mech drives.  When PCH SATA Control Mode [Raid], the SSD isn't visible in BIOS or the RAID setup screen.  When PCH SATA Control Mode [AHCI], it is listed in BIOS and boots fine.

I apologize if I wasn't clear, I want to know If this is how I should set it up to make it easy to instsall a RAID LATER:
Clean install of Win7 x64
Install Intel RST.
eXtreme Hard Drive [Disabled]
PCH SATA Control Mode [Raid] (or should I set it to AHCI now and switch to RAID later?)

Sorry if my post was complicated and confusing.
 

[Dark Mantis]

I would advise making the controllers AHCI mode for now as the performance is better and it will be compatible with RAID vwhen you want to install it later.

[F5BJR]

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Your SSD disk is not detected when ICH configured in RAID with BIOS ( CTRL I ) ?

You have 6 * INTEL ports,  have you tested all ports ( and same problem )  ?

Pierre

[TravisD]

I would advise making the controllers AHCI mode for now as the performance is better and it will be compatible with RAID vwhen you want to install it later.

OK, thanks, I will do that.  I should have explicitly said I want to make sure I won't have to reinstall or hack Windows after getting it all set up, like if switching from IDE to AHCI.  You response seems to answer that question.

Also, should I install the RST driver now, or wait until I try to set up the RAID, while using the standard INF in the meantime?

Your SSD disk is not detected when ICH configured in RAID with BIOS ( CTRL I ) ?

You have 6 * INTEL ports,  have you tested all ports ( and same problem )  ?

1) Correct
2)Not yet.  I doubt the SATA port O (the current location of the SSD) is broken, as it works in AHCI.  I will do a test format/install of Windows to see what happens.  I will try adding drives one at a time after that.  I would also like to see what happens if I switch PCH (the new version of ICH) to RAID.  I think it is possible probable that my system is "confused" by the MoBo/CPU/RAM switch.  I expected problems.

[F5BJR]

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AHCI and RAID drivers are the same driver

For your detection problem , possible that you have to unvalid in BIOS others harddisks , i have found this info for P67 chipset

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1037299967

or look if you can find a new BIOS ( last final is F4 ) also beta to station drivers ( F5c )

http://www.station-drivers.com/page/gigabyte/ga-p67a-ud4.htm

Pierre