Looking for advice on a new SSD Raid0 set up in my system.

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Shadow126

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I would like some feedback in the form of potential bottlenecks that people can see and problems that I may not have thought about for the the changes I am making below.

So after spending the last four nights looking over forums, I have finally decided to buy a pair of Samsung 850 EVO 250 Gb drives to set up in raid0 for Windows 7 and programs to be moved to. I have two main reasons:
a. Put Windows and main programs on to a faster drive set up than my current thus freeing my current drive for use as storage.
b. Determine the performance gains/losses of a SSAS (SQL Server Analysis Services) Cube, SQL Server database and Analytics/Statistics software that use large data sets, running on SSD raid0 (apparently this should perform really well if i get the set up right).

Current points of concern/questions:
1. Do you think my motherboard hold back the performance of the raid0?
2. Will I have to set up the raid in the bios or do I have an option of a software raid (I am a bit confused about this)?
3. Is it possible to use the current OS drive as a bootable back up with an image on the drive?

Current system details:
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit)
Motherboard: CROSSHAIR V FORMULA
Processor: AMD FX 6200 3.81 GHz
Memory: 16 GB (non-ECC)
Current OS Drive: Western Digital Black 1 TB
Current Storage Drive: Western Digital Black 1 TB (Second drive not the same as the OS drive)

Background:
Its been a while since I did anything involved with my system like this so apologies I have misunderstood any of the technologies/ideas while researching this project. I must admit am quite unsure of how well this will work. Additionally, sorry if I have posted this in an inappropriate place.

I use the programs above at work and like to tinker and test things out at home to further my own knowledge and test ideas. The other programs I have installed are mainly games. Therefore, none of the data is critical and while it would be a pain if in a I lost the raid array completely and the data was all unrecoverable, it would just mean rebuilding and re-installing everything, which is possible. All other data locations are on the storage drive and backed up on an external USB hard drive.

I understand the risks of raid0 and have had to deal with recovering from failures in the past; although that was almost a decade ago.

Thanks in advance.
 
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popatim
1: yes a little. AMD is not as fast as the intel controllers.
2: for a bootable array you will be setting it up the array in the raid bios.
3: yes. If your sata ports are in ahci mode already then you wont have much of a problem keeping the bootable windows hdd. If its ide or compatibility mode then you will need to either

A:manually change the driver being used (by the hdd windows) to the ahci driver before changing the bios to raid mode. (Ahci is a sub-set of raid so its driver will work while the ports are in raid mode.)

OR B: Enter the bios and change the sata port mode back to ide/compatibility when you need to boot to the HDD.

In both cases the HDD should be disconnected while you install windows to the SSD array.
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popatim

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1: yes a little. AMD is not as fast as the intel controllers.
2: for a bootable array you will be setting it up the array in the raid bios.
3: yes. If your sata ports are in ahci mode already then you wont have much of a problem keeping the bootable windows hdd. If its ide or compatibility mode then you will need to either

A:manually change the driver being used (by the hdd windows) to the ahci driver before changing the bios to raid mode. (Ahci is a sub-set of raid so its driver will work while the ports are in raid mode.)

OR B: Enter the bios and change the sata port mode back to ide/compatibility when you need to boot to the HDD.

In both cases the HDD should be disconnected while you install windows to the SSD array.
 
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Shadow126

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Hi Popatim, thanks for the response and advice. Yes the sata ports are in AHCI mode

You suggested a clean install (with the current OS drive disconnected) and I have a couple of follow up questions based on that.
Q1. My plan was to use the Samsung data migration tool (or potentially another, I know there are quite a few) to copy the existing OS over to the raid array (hopefully keeping the original till I am happy with things working), is this feasible/sensible?

The clean instal idea is growing on me the more I think about it, I'm just not looking forward to reinstalling SQL Server and Visual Studio again but it will force me to make a cleaner OS.
Q2. I take it I could do the clean install and then begin reinstalling software, in the mean time I can boot into the current OS drive till i am happy with the install and setup by just selecting the boot device by pressing F8 on startup; or would it work like a dual boot and I am just presented with an option for each install?
 
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Shadow126

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So i ran into the problem of the Samsung 850 evo drivers not being able to be loaded during the windows install. Additionally the raid drive was not even picked up by windows 7.

After 7 hours of trying different settings for the raid array and all the drivers people recommended (and even updating the bios), I have just booted into windows, stripped down the current OS drive and I am cloning the OS to one of the new evo's in ACHI mode and I will use the second drive for my large programs and games

Quite frustrating really. I think I will try a separate controller card and see if I can make the raid0 work when i have more time and the drives have been out longer.

As a side point for some reason the performance of my current OS WD drive seems to have gone through the floor after all this changes. Hence I am doing the clone in hope of a quicker system as its pretty bad right now.

Reading around and checking the raid controller and drive in google it seems that this is a somewhat known thing that the chipset for this motherboard will not support these drives yet and most with my motherboard seem to be stuck, some other motherboards with the same chipset seem to be able to work around the issue.

Its been an experience I thought in general we had moved forward from these sorts of problems. I guess I've not paid enough attention to computer hardware to notice. As I type this final bit it looks like the clone has finished so lets see what happens now.
 
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popatim

popatim

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When going from a singel drive to a raid setup, cloning is not really possible without a dedicated raid card. A clean install is your only real choice.

Windows would not use any Samsung software with them in an array; dont even bother loading magician. And Yes Evo on the Crosshair isnt the best combo to work with as you've found out. Basically the procedure would be as follows:

Connect the two drives to ports sata6g_1 and sata6g_2
Enter the bios and change the sata port 1-4 mode to raid.
Set the system to boot from raid
save & exit the bios.
Press The key combo to enter the raid bios (Crtl+H I think) and Configure the drives as a raid 0 using the default settings
  • press 2 to enter the LD Define,
    Ctrl+C to create new array,
    change mode to raid 0 by hitting the space bar when on it,
    Toggle the drive assignment next to both SSD's to a Y
    Press Ctrl+Y twice to save settings,
    Enter a (up to) 8 character name for the array and press enter,
    Press Ctrl+Y to save & initialize the array.
    Set it to use all the space (which is the default)
    Save again by pressing Ctrl+y

Now during windows installation, when it asks where to install to, insert the AMD raid driver usb/disk and load the driver. Afterwards you should see your array as an available location.

I get the "pre-install" raid driver disk from Gigabytes site but you can also make one from the Asus resource cd for your motherbd if you still have it.
From gigabytes 990fxa-ud7 support site AMD SATA RAID Driver (Preinstall driver)

Dont forget you need to load all the remaining drivers from your motherbds site still:
http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/CROSSHAIR_V_FORMULA/HelpDesk_Download/
 
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Shadow126

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Thanks for the follow up, I did try quite a few versions of what you suggested including disconnecting any other drives I didn't need for the windows install, I just couldn't get it to recognise the raid volume. The windows install recognised the drivers but it didn't allow me to see the raid volume.
The samsung drives are connected to the ports you describe and I followed the process you described to create the array (Ctrl + F was the key combo to enter the raid utility for me). I couldn't seem to enter it if the full screen logo was on which was weird but not an issue once I realised. Creation of the array was fine it seemed and I tried all the combinations I could think of with the settings, leaving out ones which I didn't have enough drives for.

I will give the gigabyte drivers a go (they seem slightly different to the ones on the motherboard cd, asus site and amd site) and also I need to try with a shorter name as I didn't think to shorten it and it was longer than 8 characters. It will have to wait a while though I think it will be the week after next before I can try this again.

Could the problem really have been that my name was too long? I will be kicking myself if it was the problem!

Currently the system is working fine as it is, I have the imaged OS on one drive and the large programs and games on the other. The performance benchmarks amused me as they are giving 2.5 times the theoretical maximum drive read write speed which i don't believe at all!
 
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