GA-Z68XP-UD3 WIN7 INSTALL TO X2 SSD RAID0 & X2 WD BLACK RAIDO AHCI???

[Lsdmeasap]

Ahh OK, now that I think about it, EFI explains why there was three, the EFI partition is logical and surrounds the others.

I am not positive, but I believe you can install windows per my recommendations above, with only that disk connected.  Then once complete update the Intel RAID drivers and reboot to windows again, then shut down.  Then reboot to the BIOS, enable EFI, then save/apply/reboot and enter the Intel RAID ROM and build the array and once in windows initialize the disk with disk management using GPT.  And actually, that EFI BIOS setting may not even be needed now, since you are not booting via EFI partition, so try without it first as it's really meant to be enabled if you are booting via an EFI partition which you wont be anymore.

No, I believe you only need the EFI partition to boot via EFI, and the only reason it was placed on the C drive previously was because you had it enabled in the BIOS the first time you installed.

EFI partition and BIOS setting is for booting from a 2TB or larger GPT disk, which you wont be doing.   So you can manually setup a GPT RAID array / partition post windows install, and shouldn't have any problems doing that.

[philo171]

  I also have to tip my hat to lsdmeasap, you helped me get my system working to where it should be!

Some notes for others:

1.  Pay attention to SSD alignment!
2.  Check your drive firmwares (most of these need to be upgraded before you put them in a raid.)
3.  Intel Raid blows Marvell out of the water.  When I switched the same raid from marvell to intel, my hard drive speed doubled and my IOPs quadroupled.  I couldn't believe the difference considering the marvell ports are on the 6g sata plugs.
4.  6g Sata vs 3g sata in a raid does make a difference.  I was able to double my read speed when only on the 6G channel.
5.  Update your RAID drivers

[philo171]

One related question:

I want to keep my Raid 0 of 2 disks,  I am not using the msata ssd port right now, but am curious if it will speed up the raid or if it even can work that way.  After reading the smart response technology guide again, I think it will.  Has anyone tested this?  I kind of don't want to drop $150 on an msata card to find out it goes slower.

[Lsdmeasap]

Great to hear all of this is working well for you now!

As for your last question, you mean have the disk disk RAID 0 array, and then accelerate that with another SSD?  If so, I'm not sure you can do that, probably not since the array is already an array, so I doubt it could be broken to be contained within another array (The cache array).   You can try it though, all it will do is let you or say no.   If it does work, I doubt it would add any real noticeable speed though.   Cache/accelerate technology is mainly for use with HDD's and slower SSD's, when you can't afford a SSD or you only have a slower one, then you can use another SSD to cache from to speed it up.

I would not spend money on a mSATA disk until you know for sure.   Do you have another SSD?   You can use it to try the cache from if you want, it doesn't have to be a mSATA

[philo171]

Ironically, I do have another ssd sitting around, that is the same speed.  Never thought to try it that way.  I will try 2 tests and report:

1.  SSD + Raid, to see if it will even let me do it
2. SSD + SSD and see if there is a gain in performance

[Lsdmeasap]

Great, and thanks!   I look forward to your testing results and findings!

It will be nice to know how both of those scenarios work out, that way I'll be able to better answers others in the future as you aren't the first to ask about this.

[philo171]

update:  My tests never happened  wife said to stop fiddling with that thing.

[Lsdmeasap]

EFI is only important if you are booting to a 2TB or larger hard drive, if you are not using a large drive like that for your OS/boot drive, then you don't need it and can do a manual install as I mentioned above.