Re: How to set RAID up ?
- From: Paul <nospam@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:49:17 -0400
JM wrote:
Hi
I just bought Foxconn P35A-S motherboard. It suppose to have RAID
capabilities but manual is so poorly written that it only mentions it
once briefly and I don't really know how to set it up. I'm planning to
install Windows XP Pro in RAID 0 on two drives (bootable of course).
The drives are empty and they don't have any software installed. The
system if "fresh". Here are problems that I have:
1) The mobo has 6 SATA connctors. I plugged my two drives into #1 and
#2 SATA connector. Is this OK for RAID 0 or should I use some specific
combination ?
2) How do I switch it on in BIOS ? I discovered in BIOS that it only
refers to RAID in one place under IDE configuration where it allows
SATA to be set as: IDE, RAID or AHCI. I can select RAID from the list
but that is pretty much it. It doesn't really tell me what RAID
version is it or what the strip size it is going to be. I don't even
know if it is RAID 0. Is there a "hidden" menu or some secondary BIOS
that can be called up with different key combination during boot ?
3) What drivers do I need on the floppy during installation ? The
manual mentions two RAID drivers: Intel Matrix and JMicron. Do I need
both or should I choose just one of those ? The reason I'm asking is
that if you look to the Foxconn website they offer two RAID drivers
separately and in addition to this Jmicron is 3.7 MB in size and Intel
is about 6.2 MB in size. I did not downloaded them yet, so I don't
exactly know how are they going to fit on the floppy I'm not yet sure.
Any help will be appreciated.
JAM
Check for a BIOS update. The RAID ROM was updated for RAID5 support.
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/support/downloads.aspx?ProductModel=P35A-S&TypeID=en-us0000001
You could get a copy of the manual for some other motherboard with ICH9R.
http://dlsvr02.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/P5K_Premium/e3303_p5k_premium.zip
1) Enable RAID and the RAID BIOS boot rom. Save and Exit.
2) When the computer POSTS, try pressing <ctrl-I>. That might be the
magic key combo to get into the RAID setup screen in the BIOS.
This is the text string inside the Foxconn BIOS - Intel RAID module
I extracted with MMTool.
"Press <CTRL-I> to enter Configuration Utility"
3) When in the RAID BIOS setup screen, you should see your disks, be able
to set RAID type, stripe size etc.
4) When the computer POSTs the next time, boot the Windows Install
CD. Use your driver floppy, press F6 etc, install the RAID driver.
The driver package downloaded, should include a utility to make a
driver floppy. The reason the driver is big, is it will have
the Windows RAID config/monitoring utility. The actual driver
files should be small enough to fit on the floppy. When you eventually
finish the Windows install, you can install the full driver package, which
will also include the utility. What is on the floppy, won't have the
utility, but will have the code necessary to get the computer booted.
The Windows utility will give much of the same info that the RAID
BIOS screen gives. It will also support things like RAID type
migration.
Note that the six SATA ports on the Southbridge are not equal. There
is a group of four and a group of two. The group of four, on other
motherboards, use a different color connector. Their "port" numbers
might be 1,2,5,6. Port 3,4 are a separate group, and you might not be
able to boot from them. So 1,2 connectors might be a good place to
start. Foxconn might have been too lazy to color their connectors.
This is a table in the Asus manual:
"Serial ATA hard disk drive connection
Connector Color Setting Use
SATA1/2/5/6 RED Master Boot Disk
SATA3/4 BLACK Slave Data Disk"
HTH,
Paul
.
- References:
- How to set RAID up ?
- From: JM
- How to set RAID up ?
- Prev by Date: Re: splistreaming XP installation with AHCI driver
- Next by Date: Video problem - should I worry?
- Previous by thread: How to set RAID up ?
- Next by thread: Re: How to set RAID up ?
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
