RAID0 problems - port1 failed

[stuste]

Hi guys,

I have a fairly new machine with two Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ HDDs on a GA-X58A-UD3R motherboard. I put the two HDDs in RAID, using the Intel RAID controller. At first I wasn't able to install anything, because the RAID would fail, and the installation/operation that was currently on would end. If i tried anything, Port1 always failed. About 1-2 weeks ago, I fixed this by reinstalling the RAID. Until now, everything worked fine, until about 2 days ago. I tried extracting some rar archives, and some extracted without a problem, while others failed to extract, telling me the rar is corrupt and failing port1 of the RAID. I wanted to ask if there is any specific cause for this - whether if it is a faulty HDD or simply RAID is unreliable or something. Also, if it is possible, maybe you could tell me whether a RAID would make a serious difference (except for the ~double HDD speed etc) especially for gaming, since that is what this machine is primarily used for, due to the fact that I am seriously getting tired from this because I just finished installing all my games and software .

I checked the cables, they are fine. I checked for dust, and the HDDs are clean. Also, I left the PC twice overnight, so that the RAID verifies itself. It found ~11k blocks with media errors each time.

Here is a screen shot of the Intel Rapid Storage thingy - http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/8525/capturels.jpg

System Specs:
CPU Intel Core i7 930 (S1366, 2.80GHz)
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R (S1366, DDR3, X58)
Memory Corsair 6GB DDR3-1600 Ram (PC3 12800, 8-8-8-24
Graphics Card 2 x GTX 480 (PCI-Express, GDDR5, 1536 MB)
Hard Drive 2 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ
Sound Card Xonar DX
Power Supply CoolerMaster Silent Pro M1000 1000W
Case CoolerMaster HAF 932
CPU cooling Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
OS Windows 7 Ultimate 64
Monitor Acer GD245HQ

Anyone knows the cause, and/or (even better) the fix for this problem? If you need more information, tell me.

[Peteruk]

Since you where having problems from the start its likely a faulty HDD as this is RAID 0 anything important you have put on that should be backed up.

Testing if its a HDD problem you can swap the HDD's over on the ports so that the HDD that fails fails on the other port as RAID will find the array on the Intel ports regardless.

If it fails on the same port for the other drive install Matrix Storage Manager 8.8 (and I mean 8.8 ).
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=17412&lang=eng

[stuste]

Sorry about the delayed answer.

I finally had some time to swap the HDDs, and now (EDIT:Wrote port1 instead of port0) port0 fails. So I guess the problem is the HDD.

Anyway, I guess I will have to return my HDD to the store?

[Peteruk]

Anyway, I guess I will have to return my HDD to the store?

Yep you just proved its faulty.