AMD RAID Configuration SSD+HDD

FuzijaCZ

Honorable
Nov 18, 2013
2
0
10,510
Hello.

Today, I bought a new components for my HTPC and as usual, I went with Gigabyte Motherboard.
This time, I bought an AMD board: GA-F2A88XN-WIFI. Besides the board, I bought a Kingston Fury 120 GB SSD and 2x Seagate Barracuda 3TB disks.
The idea was to use SSD for OS and applications and 2x 3TB HDDs in RAID0 for storage.
I finally managed to put everything together, and I wanted to install OS to it. However, this is where my problems started.
I never actually done SSD+HDD RAID0 on a same PC. I run my main PC on 2x256GB SSD in RAID0 without problem, so I thought, this would be a piece of cake as well. Well, I thought wrong :-(

I need your help please.

I plugged the HW the following way:

Port0 SSD
Port1 LG BlueRay, DVD, CD ROM
Port2 and Port3 Seagate's HDDs

When I choose RAID as controller in BIOS, I can enter the Raid configuration and create an array from disk 2 and 3 (HDDs) but it only gives me 2.1TB total. Also, when I reboot, I no longer see SSD in the list of boot options, therefore, I cannot install OS. I am really struggling here, I have no idea how to make this work. I would really appreciate the help.

On a different topic, I bought Kingston HyperX Savage 2.8GB 2400mhz memory. When I select XMP profile 1 for 2400 settings, the pc won't boot and I have to load bios defaults to make it boot at least to BIOS. XMP profile 2 2133mhz works fine. Why is this happening?

I really hope what I am trying to do here is manageable, because I would really be disappointed if it doesn't work :-(

Thank you for your suggestions and answers.

Thank you in advance.
 
Solution
1) For the RAID 2x 3TB HDD, I think the problem is the 2TB limit. You need format the drive to the GPT format. Here is more info and how to format. http://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2581408 or you can use the Seagate "DiscWizard" to do it too. http://www.seagate.com/internal-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/desktop-hdd/
2) For the RAM speed, I don't know what cpu you had, but I think your cpu may not support the RAM to run 2400mhz, you can try 2133 or 1866mhz, like the AMD Athlon X4 760K http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Bulldozer/AMD-Athlon%20X4%20760K%20-%20AD760KWOA44HL%20-%20AD760KWOHLBOX.html it can support the 1866mhz ram, the RAM may run at 2133mhz, but it may not run at 2400mhz, because the PC does not run stable.

So you need...
1) For the RAID 2x 3TB HDD, I think the problem is the 2TB limit. You need format the drive to the GPT format. Here is more info and how to format. http://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2581408 or you can use the Seagate "DiscWizard" to do it too. http://www.seagate.com/internal-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/desktop-hdd/
2) For the RAM speed, I don't know what cpu you had, but I think your cpu may not support the RAM to run 2400mhz, you can try 2133 or 1866mhz, like the AMD Athlon X4 760K http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Bulldozer/AMD-Athlon%20X4%20760K%20-%20AD760KWOA44HL%20-%20AD760KWOHLBOX.html it can support the 1866mhz ram, the RAM may run at 2133mhz, but it may not run at 2400mhz, because the PC does not run stable.

So you need follow the step by step.
1) Only connect the SSD into the sata port#0, you can set the raid mode in the BIOS, if you set it to ahci mode then you need to change it before you set the raid. Here is how to change to RAID mode from AHCI mode. http://www.overclock.net/t/1227636/how-to-change-sata-modes-after-windows-installation
2) Install the OS, then shut down the pc, connect those 3TB HDDs, format to the GPT. And reboot the PC to set the raid for the 2 HDDs, make sure the 1st Boot Device will be either SSD or DVD. If the 1st one is DVD, then the 2nd one is the SSD.
 
Solution