Connecting two WD Raptors in RAID, need help

[Tearathal]

Installing one harddrive was super easy, one SATA cable plugged from the Hdd into the SATA1 spot on the mobo. My question is how do you connect the two drives and connect it to the spot on the mobo that my book labels as RAID?

I can provide pictures if needed :)

[DRDNA]

You have to enable the bios for raid then you have to go into the raid menue (different than the bios) and then configure your raid , iI assume raid 1 as you have two raptors. Then lay down the OS on the array.:toast:

[Tearathal]

Let me clarify, I mean the physical installation of the wires and the drives :)

another thing, I just tried putting my new 8800GTX in, is it supposed to sit so its fan and the picture of the blue guy his hands on his head is facing the bottom of the case??? I thought the point was to see him! XD

[DRDNA]

lol, your kidding right?

[DRDNA]

what is your hardware list?Please list every thing;)

[Frogger]

what is your hardware list?Please list every thing;)

list for sure... will look at mb manual ...and try to walk you through

[DRDNA]

Frogger= AN overclocking hero;)

[Frogger]

Frogger= AN overclocking hero;)

NOT:twitch:

[DRDNA]

you not that Frogger guy that overclocked pretty much everything in what could be called a modest and very respectable ceiling?Hmmm must be two of ya's.

Plz do forgive the derailment

[Frogger]

no just me :)

[t_ski]

Can you give some system specs, or enable them to be viewed from your forum control panel?

The basic method goes like this:

1. If you have any important data on the current drive, back it up to a CD, DVD or whatever method you have available.

2. Install both SATA drives, one drive on port 1 and one on port 2 (this may change depending on your mobo make/model)

3. Go into the system BIOS and make sure the SATA controller is enabled (should be if you already have one drive up & running)

4. Make sure both channels (ports) are enabled on the SATA controller.

5. Save and exit the BIOS

6. Reboot the computer and re-enter the BIOS. Make sure both drives are seen in the Basic setup screen

7. Enable Raid for the SATA controller (on some boards you need to enable all SATA ports and enable raid for all ports even if you don't want to raid all drives). Save, exit and reboot

8. Go past the BIOS post screen, then enter the bios for the Raid controller. At this point you will probably need to build the array


Select the type of raid you want (raid 0 = striping, raid 1 = mirroring)
Select the stripe size you want. For most systems, best performance will come at a 16k stripe size
Select both drives and add them to the array (you may have to do one drive at a time)
Go to Proceed (or whatever command completes the build process)
Most times you will need to make sure that the disk data has been cleared if the controller BIOS allows it. This will avoid issues with the original data from the first drive causing problems with the array.


If using the array as a boot drive, at this point you can go on to install windows (in XP you have to hit F6 to load the drivers for the raid controller - sometimes two drivers - from a floppy disk). If using the new array with a previous installation on another drive, you can just go into windows, install the drivers, and setup (initialize) the array.

It sounds a lot harder than it really is. I've done it at least half a dozen times in the past couple of years.

[Tearathal]

calm down guys, now I know how to plug them in, thats obvious, but I wanted to know how to link the two harddrives together, right now they are just plugged in to the mobo individually.

[Tearathal]

Or if you have to connect them at all, because my motherboard has 4 individual SATA harddrive ports, and then it has another port labeled RAID

[t_ski]

In order to help you better we need to know your motherboard make and model. While you're at it, list the rest of your specs, too.

[Frogger]

"because my motherboard has 4 individual SATA harddrive ports, and then it has another port labeled RAID" and we would know that if we knew what motherboard you had

[Tearathal]

Mobo
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131568

Video Card (this was exciting to get in the mail lol)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814143075

PSU
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817153038

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103544

Harddrives
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136012

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227084

[Tearathal]

Sorry it took me a second to find all the links heh

[t_ski]

OK, you've got two Raid controllers, the one built in to the NF4 chipset and the Silicon Image controller. the info I listed above should work with the NF4 controller fine.

[Tearathal]

So you are saying once I finish installing all my hardware and connecting all my wires, when I goto do the BIOS just follow your little guide and they should be good to go, where they are plugged in now individually.

[Frogger]

4 individual SATA harddrive ports canbe configured as raid .. as T ski stated above
" 4 x Serial ATA 3 Gb/s
- NV RAID: RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD on Serial ATA drives"
the single
"Silicon Image 3132 SATA controller supports
- 1 x Internal Serial ATA 3 Gb/s hard disk
- 1 x External Serial ATA hard disk (SATA On-the-Go)
- Support RAID 0, 1
asus site is slow tonight prob because not night in TW will have to wait on manual pdf
OK I'M SLOW

[t_ski]

Read page 2-25 in the manual for connecting the drives, page 4-17 for BIOS setup, page 4-37 for boot device priority ( to make sure the array boots first if you need it, or not if you don't), then 5-25 to 5-33 for the controller utility to set up the array.

Read all that twice and come back with questions if you have them.

[Tearathal]

Sweet baby jesus you guys are Efficient with a capital E. I am just about ready to move on to BIOS, just slid the videocard into the PCI Express slot and put the thumbscrew on, I'm going to double check all the connections first and then read the manual.

[t_ski]

Let us know how it goes

[Frogger]

I do believe he's GOT IT!

[Tearathal]

Array block size for striping, how big should I have it set to? Also what about the "Silicon Image" thing.

[Frogger]

I run mine at 128 but ski is running raps now so he would have more input

[Frogger]

SATALink PCI Express to 2-Port Serial ATA II Host Controller
SiI3132 is a single-chip, one-lane PCI Express to 2-port Serial ATA (SATA) II host controller that brings server-class features to the desktop. SiI3132 also supports all Serial ATA II features, including 3.0 Gbps SATA II transfer speeds, Native Command Queuing, port multipliers with FIS-based switching, programmable output signal swing strengths for longer external cables or extended backplanes, hot plugging, enclosure management and ATAPI device support.

[t_ski]

The Silicon Image appears to be just for the external SATA and the one port by the I/O panel. Use the NF4 chipset ports at the bottom right on the board.

If you have time to play around with it, try 16k stripe and bench it. Then try 32k stripe and bench that. For me, I always got faster reads with 16k stripe, using 2xHitachi's or 2xraptors. When I went to 4xraptors I just kept the 16k stripe. BTW, default is usually 64k or 32k, I don't remember off hand. Don't use default, just set your own.

If you don't have time to mess with it, I say just go 16k and be done with it. Depending on your model of Raptors (00FNA0 or 00FLC0), your reads should run between 98MB/s and 130MB/s. IIRC the 00FLC0 are the faster. Once you get it up and running we can do some tweaking to get your best speed.

I'm going to be now. Post up all you got and I'll follow up on it in the morning, er, should I say later today now...

[Tearathal]

I've been researching Stripe sizes all morning, from what I gather a lower size would be faster for low file sizes, but when it comes to a large file then it would take a significantly longer time.
Where as a large stripe size would make large files faster and low file sizes take significantly longer, so there is a need to find a balance between the two. Is this generally correct?

[Frogger]

I've been researching Stripe sizes all morning, from what I gather a lower size would be faster for low file sizes, but when it comes to a large file then it would take a significantly longer time.
Where as a large stripe size would make large files faster and low file sizes take significantly longer, so there is a need to find a balance between the two. Is this generally correct?

Is this generally correct? =yes
if you do alot of video work then go with larger stripe
if a balance is you aim then go with the 32
64 is for 'typical' disk use BTW
but as ski stated try some different ones if you have time ...to re&re your op sys on each try

[Tearathal]

I see, well I am going to be using my copmuter for gaming, downloading mp3s, videos, photoshop and such. So a higher stripe value may be more efficient for my needs?

[t_ski]

What would work here great is if you have a single IDE drive with the OS already on it and then build the raid array as a secondary drive so you can do lots of testing with it. That way you can kill the array, rebuild it with a different stripe size and go again and again until you find what works great. It is even possible to use a program like Norton Ghost to copy an existing OS istallation (with the raid drivers already installed) to the raid array. That's actually how I set my first array up (wanted a seamless upgrade so the wifey didn't know I blew $125 on puter parts). If that's all over your head, don't worry about it.

If you build an array with a 32k stripe or higher and run a benchmark like HDTach on it, you will notice lots of spikes and dips in the transfer. If you use a smaller stripe like 16k it will be a lot smoother. I use my rig for web, games, Office, Photoshop, mp3's, video, etc (just about everything) and I am fairly satisfied with the performance I've seen so far. Again, that's subjective, which is why it would be best to try several sizes and go from there.

[Tearathal]

I see, you have pretty much the same needs as me, but what about chunk or block size??

[Frogger]

sounds like the best way to find what works best for your machine

[Tearathal]

someone told me other than stripe size you have to set something called chunk or block size?

[t_ski]

The controller options for me only listed stripe size.

[Tearathal]

I believe my controller has chunk size, only one way to find out, hook the computer up next to this one, so ill be back in a second

[Tearathal]

:)

[t_ski]

I take it everything's going good?

[Tearathal]

Well BIOS is done, I saw so many OC options, this mobo is so customizable X_X. Now it wants me to install my OS so I'm going to find my XP cd and pop that in, once that is over I believe I put in my mobo support CD and from there I set up RAID.

[Tearathal]

I set up the RAID array and set it to striping and 16k to start. Now I stick in my OS disk to install Windos XP and it goes to the blue loading screen, and loads a bunch of crap, and then it asks me if I would like to continue and I hit Enter, and it goes.

NOW " Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer. Make sure any HDDs are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacturer supplied diagnostic or setup program. Setup cannot continue, press F3 to exit.

Well my BIOS detected both drives, and has them both listed as MASTER drives, and setting up the raid array worked also, so Now im just confused lol.

[t_ski]

That's where the "Press F6 to load drivers" comes in. As soon as the blue screen pops up, start jammings down on the F6 key. It will prompt you for a floppy disk - needs to be a floppy - make sure you have the raid drivers on that floppy. Should be one that came with the mobo, or there will be a utility on the mobo driver CD that lets you make the driver disk. Make sure you load both drivers, one for the controller, one for the raid device IIRC.

[Frogger]

ski your too fast ....but

thats because win$ setup can't see the array "NOW " Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer. Make sure any HDDs are powered on and properly connected to your computer,"
" I stick in my OS disk to install Windos XP " just as win$ setup starts you need to push 'F6"
to install the raid drivers ... you will be asked at some point during the install.. to show setup where to look for the drivers

[t_ski]

Naw, it can't find the drives because the raid controller is not supported (many basic SATA controllers aren't), and because the drives are configured for a raid array.

[Tearathal]

I don't have a floppy drive lol, I went downstairs to my old 1998 dell and I'm trying to salvage that drive but its near impossible XD so I'm stuck.

[Frogger]

"not supported " can't see same end result:)

[Frogger]

I don't have a floppy drive lol, I went downstairs to my old 1998 dell and I'm trying to salvage that drive but its near impossible XD so I'm stuck.

only till you get that drive out of the HELL/dell;)

[Tearathal]

I guess I have to buy a floppy drive? lol

[Frogger]

is there not one in the rig your on now ????? you only need it for for 15 min

[Lazzer408]

Isnt the silicone image controller a hardware bassed raid? aka. no need to press f6. It is on my P5W DH. I set the jumper to raid-0 and it just works on it's own.

[Tearathal]

I'm using the N4 controller, I have 4 Dells, three of them are recent and don't have floppys, the other one is a 98 and has a floppy, but it is impossible to take it out and probably wouldn't work anyway because it is CAKED with dust. lol

[Frogger]

dude this is TPU nothing is impossible to the members here & it will work after a blow job

[Tearathal]

I suppose I would need to post pictures of the old bastard to see lol.

[Frogger]

that works

[Tearathal]

I'll do it tomorrow, I'm exhausted for some reason tonight hehe

[Frogger]

go get some sheep lol

[Tearathal]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/chrisbierilo/CIMG1188.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/chrisbierilo/CIMG1190.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/chrisbierilo/CIMG1191.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/chrisbierilo/CIMG1192.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/chrisbierilo/CIMG1193.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/chrisbierilo/CIMG1195.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/chrisbierilo/CIMG1196.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/chrisbierilo/CIMG1197.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/chrisbierilo/cimg1198.jpg

Thats all of them, can't seem to pop it out through the front or back, maybe that little screw in front, gotta try to get that open.

[t_ski]

If you look at the inside edge of the front there, you should see a couple of arrows pointing down (last pic on the right side). Most of the Dell stuff I've seen is pretty modular, which makes it easy to swap out parts or pop one together in a hurry. I think you need to remove that screw in the front, then something should slide done, possibly that whole plastic assembly on the inside.

As for the whole F6 process, maybe this link will help:

http://www.angrygames.com/nf4raid-1.htm

It's written for a DFI NF4 board, but a lot of the stuff should be similar.

[Tearathal]

cool, while I was waiting for responses I tried slipstreaming and I just finished, so I'm going to try that first, Floppy would still be useful for future just in case, or if this doesn't work :)

[Tearathal]

lol im having a rediculous time with moving the files from the upstairs computer to the downstairs one, because the burner upstairs is broken -_-

[Frogger]

"I tried slipstreaming " Did it work??? :(
"rediculous time with moving the files " no network?? :Sarcastic: :)

[DRDNA]

Go and open run type in C:\ip address of other pc\c$ (this is called C sharing) then you can just drag and drop into the C:\ipaddress\c$ ..window...actually you can do it from either pc to the other on any pc on your router.Pretty fast to!:toast:

[Grings]

dude this is TPU nothing is impossible to the members here & it will work after a blow job

lol:laugh:

go get some sheep lol

roflol:roll:

[Tearathal]

hehehe, lol

[t_ski]

Any luck?

[Tearathal]

Burnt the ISO as data and not as an ISO lol, have to download some freeware iso burning software

[Tearathal]

Very nice ;D it worked what a relief, windows is up, just have to go grab the wireless router card and hook it up and get the drivers for it lol

[Tearathal]

As I type right now I am typing from my brandy new all drivers installed computer ;)

My temp probe says my card is running at like 44C,the card is a 8800GTX and I'm not sure what a good temp for it is lol

Also says the interior of my case is at 32C and my CPU is running at 40C and my mobo at 43C.

[xman2007]

dude this is TPU nothing is impossible to the members here & it will work after a blow job

whos gettin a blowjob lol :roll:

[DRDNA]

:toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast:

[Tearathal]

haha DRDHA, first build is quite satisfying, but are my temperatures good???

[Frogger]

:toast: :toast: :D :D :rockout: :respect: :rockout: :toast: UP&RUNNING

[Tearathal]

thanks frogger, what do you think about my temps?

[Frogger]

As I type right now I am typing from my brandy new all drivers installed computer ;)

My temp probe says my card is running at like 44C,the card is a 8800GTX and I'm not sure what a good temp for it is lol

Also says the interior of my case is at 32C and my CPU is running at 40C and my mobo at 43C.

temps look good [assuming your room temp 30c
vid card 44c at idle hmmm run atitool scan for artifacts abd see how high see goes but try not to let it run at above 100c for too long :toast:

[Tearathal]

ati toolscan?

[Frogger]

get it here http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/436

[Tearathal]

Oh and by the way, I want to thank all the guys who helped me get this baby going, especially t_ski and Frogger :)

[Tearathal]

So how can I use the ATi tool for my needs :) be back later, thanks again!!!!

[Frogger]

from nvidia : "most everyone is getting 80-85C under heavy load, and on my ASUS 8800GTX I've seen it peak at 87C (but it usually hovers around 80-85.)
FYI

[t_ski]

NP on the help, that's what we're here for.

Temps do look a little on the high side, unless like Frogger said your room is rather warm. Do you have any case rans? And for the CPU, I'm assuming your using the stock fan, right? CPU temp is not bad if it's the stock fan. Something else like a Big Typhoon will get you much lower temps.

EDIT: the temps for the vid card are probably in line with typical stock coolers. My stock ATI cooler could let the core go up to about 81C.

[Tearathal]

lol my cpu has the newest Zalmann heatsink/fan on it... but I only have one case fan as of now

[Frogger]

" my cpu has the newest Zalmann heatsink/fan on it" did you use their paste??? and we know it just got put on ..so run sume stress tess on the cpu to help it set

[Tearathal]

I used their paste yes hehe, I dont think I have any stress tests, i am downloading 3dmark06 right now, is that the newest version?

[Frogger]

o6 newest http://users.bigpond.net.au/cpuburn/
o6 good overall bench

[Tearathal]

will it heat up my cpu to get the zalmann goo going? :)

[Frogger]

you bet

[Tearathal]

that burn in doesnt look safe lol, how do I work it without frying my CPU

[Tearathal]

same goes for ATI tool lol I never used them before

[Frogger]

never used that one but most will allow you to set max temp to shut down and in your bios the interprob on the cpu will shut down cpu if gets tooo hot shuld be under advanced cpu setting ...internal thermal control

[Frogger]

time to hit the hay will check back in am F

[Tearathal]

lol confused.

[Frogger]

that burn in doesnt look safe lol, how do I work it without frying my CPU

just read the manual:slap: :shadedshu

[Frogger]

same goes for ATI tool lol I never used them before

:slap: RTFM:roll:

[Tearathal]

lol it seemed easy until my screen went black and I had to restart my computer :P My friend said maybe I should overclock my CPU and something about RAM before I overclock my video card lol. where is t_ski, I hear he is an OC master

[Frogger]

if you run the clocks up tooo far on your vid card 'self protect' will shut down card=black screen& force reboot ...you can oc your vid card without oc'ing the cpu & ram

[Tearathal]

he said I might be able to get the card to clock easier.... lol idk

[Tearathal]

I don't think I want to get too much into OCing until I get more fans, I only have one rear case fan and the Zalmann CPU fan, the CPU fan is great, even under full load the CPu temp barely fluctuates lol. I think I need more case fans near my card or something first

[Frogger]

you would prob need an after market cooler on that vid card to get some good clock on it
but with the zalman on that proc you could play with oc on it you can always leave the side off case until you get fans suggest you start new thread on overclocking your cpu/ram...my focus is on intel chips so can't be much help Luck enjoy F

[Tearathal]

will stop posting head and move to OC thread

[t_ski]

OC'ing CPU's and vid cards are two totally different things. Take some time and do a lot of research before you start OC'ing your stuff. Know what you can do, what you can't do, and what you can expect from your hardware before you get into the actual process of doing it. That will save you some time and money, especially if you mess it up.