HD configuration advice please...

[swayzak]

hi

Here is a link to the upgrade I am planning...

http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=PCMus&Number=390633&Searchpage=1&Main=390044&Words=+basic+channel&topic=&Search=true#Post390633

In addition I have now added an up to date Asus 520W ATX2.2 psu (rather than use my 3 year old psu with 20-24pin adaptor).

So I received the scan.co.uk dispatch email today so all systems go hopefully

Firstly, I'm still in a dilemma about ACHI / RAID etc.

I'm probably not going down the RAID route (at least not yet) as there will only be 2 SATA 300 drives (320GB each) and I don't intend to have squillions of audio files streaming off the HDs.

But I'm still undecided about ACHI..

Here is as I understand it:

- "normal" SATA 300 setup (probably sufficient for my current needs just uses the XP IDE driver(s). BIOS needs to be set to IDE.

- ACHI ("SATA") mode requires "F6" installation method

- RAID (which also has ACHI enabled) mode requires F6 method

Intel recommend to install SATA drives in RAID mode, as this gives you the most options (but presumably doesn't require you to use RAID if you don't want to)

http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/imst/sb/cs-015988.htm

So are there significant performance differences between SATA drives installed in "IDE", "SATA/ACHI" or "RAID" modes ?

If I may need RAID in the future, but using the drives in non-RAID setup doesn't suffer under the F6 RAID method than I guess I should follow Intel's recommendations ?

It seems inadvisable to install separate XP OS partitions with different HD configs (ide, sata/achi or raid) as problems can arise if you change the HD settings in BIOS

ie. to boot into the "ide" partition you would presumably have to change to "ide" in BIOS ?

Any tech heads offer further advice in this increasingly confusing area ?

thanks

swayzak

 

[SomeJoe7777]

OK, for one of your questions: No, it is not advisable to set up different XP bootable partitions for startup of the system in each different mode. Yes, it would require a BIOS change to boot each partition (as well as a change in the active partition of the hard drive). It's cumberson and unnecessary, so don't worry about setting that up.

OK, on the IDE/AHCI/RAID question. Yes, there are some performance differences. In IDE mode, the system does not support the hot-swap capability of SATA hard drives, nor does it support NCQ.

In AHCI or RAID modes, these options are supported.

Further, in RAID mode, a single-drive system can be migrated to a RAID 0/1/5 system quite easily without reinstalling the OS.

If you're installing from scratch, I would install the single SATA hard drive in RAID mode (without defining a RAID volume - just use the drive as a single drive), and install the drivers during Windows XP setup using F6. This enables all SATA features, and enables RAID migration at a later time should you want to do so.

See here for all questions on the Intel Matrix Storage Manager.

 

[pscowboy]

Make sure you have a floppy drive, and learn how to set up the floppy diskette properly. Format it just before you use it to make sure it has NO bad spots.

Lots of guys forget that.

 

[swayzak]

OK, for one of your questions: No, it is not advisable to set up different XP bootable partitions for startup of the system in each different mode. Yes, it would require a BIOS change to boot each partition (as well as a change in the active partition of the hard drive). It's cumberson and unnecessary, so don't worry about setting that up.

OK, on the IDE/AHCI/RAID question. Yes, there are some performance differences. In IDE mode, the system does not support the hot-swap capability of SATA hard drives, nor does it support NCQ.

In AHCI or RAID modes, these options are supported.

Further, in RAID mode, a single-drive system can be migrated to a RAID 0/1/5 system quite easily without reinstalling the OS.

If you're installing from scratch, I would install the single SATA hard drive in RAID mode (without defining a RAID volume - just use the drive as a single drive), and install the drivers during Windows XP setup using F6. This enables all SATA features, and enables RAID migration at a later time should you want to do so.

See here for all questions on the Intel Matrix Storage Manager.

Thankyou very much for that.

You mention as single harddrive - but I will be using 2. One for OS plus harddisk-streamed samples (separate partitions), the other for music projects (including associated audio files).

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may05/articles/pcmusician.htm

This is a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) I'm building here.

Will this affect your advice ?

Also, AFAICT, the 320GB version of the WD Caviar SE 16mb cache doesn't have NCQ.

swayzak

 

[swayzak]

Make sure you have a floppy drive, and learn how to set up the floppy diskette properly. Format it just before you use it to make sure it has NO bad spots.

Lots of guys forget that.

Thanks.

Yep - definitely.... I'm a devoted user of BootItNG so always use the floppy.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

You mention as single harddrive - but I will be using 2. One for OS plus harddisk-streamed samples (separate partitions), the other for music projects (including associated audio files).

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may05/articles/pcmusician.htm

This is a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) I'm building here.

Will this affect your advice ?

Also, AFAICT, the 320GB version of the WD Caviar SE 16mb cache doesn't have NCQ.

No, both drives should still be installable as single drives in RAID mode (as far as I can tell ... the Intel Matrix Storage Manager page I linked to earlier doesn't say too much about this).

Don't worry about the drive not supporting NCQ ... it's been shown that on single-user workstations, NCQ doesn't translate into much, if any, benefit.

 

[swayzak]

OK - thanks again.

Now to roll those sleeves up.....