Installing Raid 0 on a Sony Vaio

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Jon_564

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Hello I am perplexed, honestly I'm not 100% RAID savy but here what I want to accomplish. I have a Sony Vaio Laptop, Model # VGN-AR830E. This latop came prequiped with two SATA hard drives, which I want to RAID together. In my attempts to install RAID I have formatted both drives wiping clean the partions and all. Then went into my Phoenix BIOS to find the most stripped down version of a BIOS I have ever since, my only configurable options in this BIOS are change time, set a password, or change the boot order. Is it safe for me to assume that this motherboard mobile intel PM956 chipset does not include a RAID Controller or I am missing something here?


Sony Vaio Laptop
Windows Vista Home Premium
Model # VGN-AR830E
Phoenix BIOS
Version # R2090JB

Hard Drives x2
Fujitsu
Model# MHY2200BH
Driver installed = Intel(R) ICH8M SATA AHCI Controller

DxDiag.txt
http://www.savefile.com/files/2078258

Intel Storage Manager Report
http://www.savefile.com/files/2078259


Thanks for any suggestions,
-Jon
 
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jitpublisher

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May 16, 2006
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There are very, very few laptops that have a hardware RAID controller onboard.
There is, however an option in Windows to build a RAID array via software. You do not get any performance advantage at all doing this, but it will allow you to combine the open space on 2 smaller drives as 1 large drive.
If this is all you need to accomplish, head for Control Panel, Administrative tools, computer management, disk management, then under "Help" search for "creating a striped volume"
 
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Jon_564

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Apr 15, 2009
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Thanks for the reply, I knew something was wrong when I couldn't find anything about RAID in the BIOS and I did try the ctrl + I with no luck.

Thanks for the conformation that my computer doesn't have a RAID controller.

Thanks for the info on using software to combine drives I'll definately try to remember that. But I was hoping for the speed increase with, I believe RAID 0 offers.

I do have another question, a possible alternative, can anyone tell me if there is another way to add a RAID controller externally to my laptop, like a PCIMIA card or something for a laptop. Then configure it to work with the internal hard drives?



Thanks again,

-Jon
 
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specialk90

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Wait wait wait. Your laptop could support Raid. ICH8M is the mobile version and ICH8R is the desktop version. Just google "ICH8M Raid" which I just did and you will see that ICH8M, in fact, does have Raid.

In the BIOS, does it have a section that has anything to do with "HDD", "Drive", Storage, IDE, Sata, or AHCI?
 
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specialk90

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Because I've always wanted to get a Sony 17", now 16 or 18" laptop, I am eager to find the answer to this. Everything I have googled using your model # has shown the laptop to have Raid 0 with 2x200GB 5400rpm drives.
 
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jitpublisher

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May 16, 2006
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You know, if the laptop came with 2 drives, it very well could support hardware raid.
The settings would under the SATA devices, the settings will be AHCI, IDE mode, or RAID. If you have the RAID option here, setting this to RAID will enable the RAID controller, then when you boot you will see a new line somewhere during the POST screens that will say something like "Press CTRL +I to enter RAID BIOS"
This line will not appear though until you "turn on" the RAID controller by setting the SATA controller to "RAID" mode.
So definetly double check your BIOS again for those options.
 
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Jon_564

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Hi guys, thanks for all the replies.

I am sure my laptop does not support RAID, and I was under the impression that the ICH8M does not support RAID. I found a PDF fact sheet on ICH8 (I/O Controller Hub 8) on Intel.com and the only mention of RAID is with all desktop versions of ICH8 and ICH8M-E. Not ICH8M. So I am pretty sure that this version on my laptop does not have RAID.

As I mentioned before, on the laptop there is no indication of RAID within the BIOS. I can't even configure the HDs. The BIOS is extremely stripped down. My only BIOS configurable options are change the time, set a password, or change the boot order. And when I say that, I don't mean thats all I can select, I mean thats all that is available period.

I have tried ctrl + I and ctrl + h, during boot up. Did not work. I am pretty sure this laptop is not equipped. But if anyone can prove me wrong I'm all ears.

Thanks again for taking to the time to help out,

-Jon
 
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Jon_564

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I looked up that PDF fact sheet I was refering to, you can review it from here http://www.intel.com/assets/pdf/datasheet/313056.pdf

I found information on ICH8M RAID Support on page 55.

Maybe I have a later version of this Controller Hub, I dunno. I have found some conflicting information within the help page of the intel matrix storage manager that says ICH8M does support RAID 0/1.

Although my BIOS has no option available for RAID. Maybe I can flash the BIOS to a newer version or can I install this RAID utility through a flashing program? Any help or suggestions?

Thanks again,

-Jon
 
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jitpublisher

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May 16, 2006
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I read somewhere a person was having trouble with this same thing, and somewhere under the boot choice, something to do with enabling network boot options, then he got the "press ctrl-i to enter RAID bios" option during boot.
Wish I could be more specific, but it seems you are not the only person who has had this problem before trying to locate the RAID controller settings on Sony laptops. Suffice to say, it apparently is not in the normal places one would look for it.
 
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Jon_564

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Well I gave that a try, I do have an option for enabling network boot and enabling external boot. After I enabled them, "ctrl + i" did not work, for either option enabled. If you could maybe give me the link to what you read? Maybe there is another step I need to take to get the RAID Menu to pop up. But it maybe another model that has a different BIOS and RAID Controller then I have.
 
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mhurst99

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I know this is over a year old but I have a related problem...

I have a VGN-AR790, which like the VGN-AR830e, came with TWO 200 gbytes disks that performed as a single 400 gbyte disk. While the 830 data sheet did not use the word "RAID", the 790 sheet explicitly states "RAID technology" in the disk description. BELARC claims it is an ICH8M.

Up until Mar 2011 my dual disk system worked as a single drive. My motherboard failed and was sent to Sony for repair. The board was replaced. When I got the laptop back, it would only perform as a two drive system (not a single 400 gbyte drive). I have been unable to determine how to get the RAID 0 back.

I wondered if the 830 gentleman had had his computer repaired by Sony. In any case, has anyone found a solution to this problem in the last year?
 
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geothanos

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Hi friends, im from Brasil, after search for ctrl+(X) conbination i discover the awnser: Remove sata HD, after menu raid CTRL+I appears... Another tip: dissasemble raid aceleration on ssd for install, or im my case run recovery (f10). I hope I have helped!
 
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