Adding SATA RAID controller to ASUS SK8N

[Thurmus]

Just when I thought everything was figured out, a potential problem surfaced - more specifically, I read about a problem others have had.

To summarize - the motherboard I'm using (ASUS SK8N) has an onboard Promise RAID chip, which is no problem, until another RAID controller is added.

From what I read on this (http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-245-2.htm) page ASUS motherboards with onboard SATA RAID controllers have difficulty addressing resources attached to both RAID controllers at once (so either the motherboard RAID will be seen, or the Controller card RAID will be see - just not both).

Here is what I'm planning on doing to my system to get up and running the way it should've been built:

DVD/rw off PATA channel 0
Internal Zip 250 off PATA channel 1


New Hard Drive (~80GB chained off of Motherboard SATA):
Operating system and Application installation


Backup Drive/Sled (160 GB chained off of Motherboard SATA):
One internal removable drive sled (Promise SuperSwap 1100)


Existing SATA (80 Gig Mirror chained off of PCI SATA controller):
Data drive RAID 1
Thinking of using the HighPoint RocketRAID 1640


When you boil all this down, is it possible to have two RAID systems exist peacefully in the same workstation configured the way I have it above? If not, is it possible to create two RAID arrays off of one PCI card?

Thanks!

 

[Crashman]

The biggest problem will be getting the boot order right, otherwise you shouldn't have too many problems figuring it out.

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[rebturtle]

I thought I was going to be set with my raptor and 4 SATA WD80gb in RAID 5 on my Promise SuperSwap SX4 card in my A7n8x. As it turns out, the add-on RAID card "eats" too many PCI resources, and the system wouldn't get past POST (I had to contact Promise tech support to figure it out). I had to disable my onboard SATA controller in order to run the Promise card. I ended ud putting the raptor in my dad's system and making the RAID 5 array my C drive.

The good news is yes, you should be able to run multiple arrays on a PCI card.

<A HREF="http://www.rebturtle.com" target="_new">rebturtle</A>
<A HREF="http://www.rebturtle.com/turtletech.htm" target="_new">My System</A>

 

[Thurmus]

Instead of introducing a second RAID system, I'm planning on working with what I have (for now). Here's what I'm planning on doing:
IDE0: OS/App drive and removable backup
IDE1: DVD and Zip
SATA RAID: both data drives

When upgrading for space does become a problem again, I'll be considering disabling the onboard RAID and going with a second RAID card - mostly because of the problems getting two RAID systems to work on one system.

Thanks for the help and suggestions.
- T