thesaucier
Gary super
moderator
Registered: Jan
2003
Location: sunny California
Posts:
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CONTIBUTION BY
Lvcoyote
Your "How To"
guide for setting up SATA and RAID Arrays!
Setting up SATA
Drives and Raid Arrays
I have seen many posts on this
forum regarding problems setting up SATA drives and Raid
Arrays on the NF7-S motherboard. Most of the time the problem
is jumper settings, errors in setting up the Raid array, or
failure to install the drivers during the setup process. Below
I will attempt to explain the correct way to install you
SATA/Raid hard drives. This article is based on using either
Windows XP or Windows 2000.
First we will cover new
Raid and Non Raid installations, and then proceed to
converting an IDE hard drive that has an operating system
already loaded to work on SATA controller. At this point we
need to clarify a few things that can and can not be
accomplished using the SATA controllers.
1. You CAN use
just one SATA controller at a time.
2. You CAN put one HDD
on each SATA controller, and use them as two separate drives.
3. You CAN NOT boot from the SATA 2 controller.
4. You
CAN create a Raid0 or Raid 1 array with a HDD on each
controller (Using two identical drives is the best way)
5.
You CAN NOT expect an increase in HDD speed when using IDE to
SATA converters as these IDE drives are going to be either
33/66/100/133 mps data speed rates. Just putting an adapter on
them will not make them to work at the 150 mps speed that SATA
can do.
Setting Up Your Raid Array
Lets get
started installing you new SATA configuration. In most cases
remove all the jumpers from you hard drives, weather it’s a
SATA drive or an IDE drive. Some IDE hard drives have the
option of a jumper for “master with no slave present”, this
works too in most cases. If you using SATA hard drives then
hook up the power to them and install the SATA cables. If you
are using the IDE to SATA converters then install the
converters to the back of you IDE drive, install the power and
the SATA cables.
You need to decide at this point if
you want a Raid0 (Striped) array, Raid1 (Mirrored), or not to
use the Raid function and just use the SATA ports to install
one or two drives. Raid0 will give you much more performance
and speed by combining both hard drives into one, thus
enabling your system to draw information from two drives
simultaneously. The down side to this is that if one of your
hard drives should fail, you lose all your data and must
reinstall everything once the defective drive is replaced. The
best advice I can give is to do regular backups when using
Raid0. The Raid1 option is where all data is written to both
drives simultaneously. The good part about this is if one of
your hard drives should fail, you can replace it and your data
will stay intact. All you have to do is rebuild your array in
the SATA bios and you are off and running again. The downside
of course is performance, as all data is written twice.
Remember that two identical drives are required for best
performance weather using Raid0 or Raid1. If you plan on
setting up a Raid array, then follow the steps
below.
1. Boot your system and hit the F4 key to enter
the Raid Configuration BIOS.
2. Once there you should see
both of your hard drives listed near the center of the
screen.
3. Choose create RAID set, choose either Striped
(Raid0) or Mirrored (Raid1).
4. You should know that the
default setting for a stripped array is 16k, many people
suggest this setting for best performance, but you can set it
any way you like from here. If 16k is what you want then no
adjustment is necessary.
5. After choosing either Striped
or Mirrored, the utility will ask you if you are sure, press
“Y” to confirm your selection.
6. Exit the
Utility.
If you are going to be using just one drive
attached to the SATA 1 controller or a drive on both SATA
controllers (no raid) then there is no need to enter the SATA
bios, it should recognize your hard drives when you boot up.
You may hit F4 when you see the option upon boot just to take
a look that both your drives are seen by the silicon SATA
bios, but it’s not necessary. If you do plan on setting up a
Raid array, then of course use the F4 option and follow the
steps outlined above.
NOTE Some users have reported non
boot issues while using a Raid Array with BIOS version D21 or
later on Rev. 2 boards. The Silicon Image Bios was updated in
the D21 Bios release and has caused problems for many Raid
users. It is suggested to continue using BIOS D20 until a fix
for this problem is implemented.
Setting Cluster
Size
Well, its time to make another decision as to the
cluster size for your new Raid array. If you decided not to
use the Raid function then you can choose to skip this section
or you can set a cluster size on your non-raid setup. Setting
a different cluster size for a single hard drive on a SATA
port is not really necessary, but you can if you want to. At
this point in the game if you start loading Windows, and
format your new array, Windows will use the default cluster
size of 4K, and there is no option to change it.. Remember
that we have previously set the Stripe array at 16K while in
the Raid configuration utility. If you let Windows Setup
format your drives, you are going to end up with a 16K stripe
and a 4K cluster. There have been many articles about what to
set your Stripe and Cluster size at, but what ever you choose,
my suggestion would be to make the Stripe equal to the
Cluster. Since we have previously set the Stripe at 16K we are
going to want to set up the cluster the same way. How you
ask?? Well, you could go and buy a software package that will
do it for you or we can do it another way, from within
Windows. Follow the steps below for setting your cluster size
in Windows.
1. Beg, borrow, or beg some more to get
you hands on an extra IDE hard drive drive that is big enough
to hold your copy of windows.
2. Install your IDE hard
drive to IDE 1 slot and set it to Master.
3. Leave your
newly created Raid array alone; leave both drives attached to
your SATA ports.
4. Enter BIOS.
5. Set first boot device
to CD Rom and set the onboard SATA to enabled.
6. Boot
from CD rom and do NOT hit F6 to load 3rd party drivers.
7.
After booting from CD Rom, load windows on your IDE drive. I
would go into more detail but I’m sure you know how to install
Windows on an IDE hard drive or you probably would not be
reading this.
8. Once Windows is installed, get to the
desktop.
9. Go into device manager and you will probably
see one of those yellow question marks next to the Mass
Storage Controllers. Go ahead and install the SATA drivers at
this point and reboot. Don’t worry about any other drivers,
because were only using this drive temporarily. We only loaded
the SATA drivers so we can access your Raid array from
Windows.
10. Once you are back in windows, go to control
panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management. In the left
window click once on disk management (near the bottom). In the
bottom right window you should see a list of all the drives
you have attached to your computer. Find your Raid array
there, right click on it, choose format. A window will pop up
asking you to label it, what file system you want, and the
allocation unit size. You can label it anything you want, such
as “MY DRIVE” or whatever you want, leave the file system at
NTFS, and set your allocation unit size to 16K (This is your
cluster size). Proceed to format the drive. NOTE: you can also
create any partitions you want prior to formatting from here
as well. Just make sure you format all partitions using the
16K allocation unit size (cluster size).
11. After the
format procedure is finished, shut down the computer; remove
the IDE drive that we just used to format your Raid array.
Install all of your CD roms, setting them to the appropriate
master/slave configuration, and any other NON hard drives you
have on your IDE ports. It is important not to have any other
IDE hard drives attached to your computer as we move on to the
next step of loading Windows on you’re newly created and
formatted Raid array or single SATA drive. You can install
your IDE hard drives after Windows is loaded on to the Raid
Array or single SATA drive
Installing
Windows
Loading windows on a Raid array or any SATA
drive can be a frustrating experience if the correct procedure
is not followed. Follow the steps as I outline them below and
you should be off and running in no time. Remember to remove
any IDE hard drives!!
1. Start your computer and hit
the delete key to enter BIOS.
2. Place your Windows CD in
to your CD Rom device.
3. While still in BIOS, set your
first boot device as CD Rom. Make double sure you’re onboard
SATA is enabled also. Exit saving changes.
4. Your system
will boot from the CD Rom, keep an eye on the bottom of the
screen! When you see an option of pressing F6 to load third
party drivers, DO IT!! You need to be paying attention because
the F6 option is the first thing that comes up on the bottom
of the screen, and it doesn’t stay there very long.
5.
Windows will continue to load a bunch of generic drivers and
come to a point where it tells you that you have chosen to
install third party drivers. At this point grab the floppy
disk that came with your motherboard and put it in your floppy
drive. Follow the on screen instruction from there. You will
notice after Windows reads the driver information from your
floppy you will have several driver options to choose from,
choose the Silicon 3112 driver for the appropriate version of
windows you are loading. Continue on and windows should see
your hard drive. When you see your hard drive or Raid array
listed, choose it as the drive that windows should install on.
DO NOT FORMAT IF IT’S YOUR RAID ARRAY OR SINGLE DRIVE THAT WE
PREVIOUSLY FORMATTED WITHIN WINDOWS!! YOU WILL LOSE YOUR 16K
CLUSTER SIZE IF YOU DO!! Windows should see your hard drive as
formatted and ready to install on.
6. From this point on
is like any other Windows install.
NOTE: If your using two
hard drives without a raid setup, windows may see them both.
When you get to the part where it asks you to select where you
want to install windows, make sure you choose the one that is
on the SATA 1 controller. It should be the one listed at the
top. If it only shows one of your hard drives, don’t worry, it
will show once you get windows loaded and you can initialize
it later.
Converting an IDE drive to work on
SATA
While converting an IDE drive to work on a SATA
controller may not give you a performance boost, it will free
up some room for other devices to be installed in your IDE
controllers. If this is a new install then follow the
procedures above. If you have a working copy of Windows
installed on an IDE drive, and would like to convert it to
work on a SATA controller, follow the steps below.
1.
Restart your computer and enter BIOS.
2. Make sure the SATA
controller in enabled in BIOS. If it was not, boot back into
windows after enabling it and load the drivers for it. The
drivers are on the floppy disk that came with your
motherboard, use the Silicon Image 3112’s for the appropriate
version of windows your running. If it was enabled in BIOS,
check in device manager that the drivers are indeed loaded for
it.
3. Once you are sure the drivers are installed in
windows, turn off your computer.
4. In most cases, remove
all jumpers from the IDE hard drive or set to master with no
slave present.
5. Make sure to re-jumper your remaining IDE
drives as you have just removed a device from the IDE
chain.
6. Install the converter and power to the back of
your IDE hard drive and install the cable, make sure you plug
it into the SATA 1 controller
7. Start the computer and hit
delete to enter BIOS.
8. Change your first boot device to
the SATA controller, exit saving changes and the system should
boot from your converted IDE drive.
Hopefully this
guide will make the process of setting up Raid Arrays and SATA
drives a bit less painful, Good Luck to
All!!
Lvcoyote
Thanks for the Great
work Lvcoyote !
__________________
Gary
NF7-s 2.0 with 2700+ @ 11.5x225
Phase change cooling
Enermax 430 watt power
corsiar3500
XMS dual@ 11,3,2,2 on dual with small fan cooling
memory
ATI 9800 XT 256 mb 460/420 water cooled with 3 80mm
radiator fans
two WD raptor serial drives raid 0
water
cooled northbridge soon, Zalmon heatsink cooling on
southbridge, ramsinks on the mosfets
Two 80mm case
fans.
Bass Ale coolent
for me!
Computer chair seat
belts made by Bradly racing.
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Last edited by
thesaucier on 02-03-2004 at 03:25
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