Windows XP doesn't see my stripped RAID 0 array

BadBoyBubby

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May 25, 2008
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My problem is this:

I have an ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe MOBO. My OS is Windows XP Pro and is on a seperate disk. I bought 2 Samsung 250 gig HDD's to install and setup as RAID 0 to run games off. In the BIOS I enabled the disks to be configuered as RAID disks. I exited the BIOS, then pressed F10 and used the nVidia RAID Utility to create the RAID volume. No problems so far, the Utility sees my RAID array and reports it as healthy, striped and showing a capacity of some 465.76GB or thereabouts.

I then allow the system to boot into Windows. When I go to the Disk Management Tool in Windows to format the disks, it sees a new disk and reports it as Basic and Online but only shows a capacity of 232.88 gig.

The OS is not seeing my RAID setup. When I reboot and press F10 again to enter the nVidia RAID Utility, it shows the array and reports it as healthy and having a capacity of 465.76GB.

Why isn't Windows seeing the same thing??

I've probably overlooked something very basic, but I'd appreciate any help you can give on this.

Thanks.
 

bobbknight

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In your motherboards manual go to page 5-38, section 5.4.3 and follow the directions to install a raid configuration on the silicon image raid controller.
Me I wouldn't use the nVidia controller.

There is also more information on the install cd that came with the board.

Install all drivers, included with the motherboard.
 

BadBoyBubby

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Thanks for the timely replys.

Yes, I have installed the RAID drivers. I instaled all the drivers on the MOBO CD.

I tried the approach suggested in the manual at page 5-38. I setup the BIOS as instructed - the Silicon Image Controller is set to RAID mode, "RAID Enabled" is set to RAID mode globally, each drive is RAID enabled. I save the changes and exit, then I press F4 but I get a message saying "device not detected. utility disabled", then the same screen reports my RAID array as healthy and to press F10 if I want to enter the configuration Utility.

I let Windows fire up and go to Disk Management and still see it reporting a disk with only 232 gig instead of the 465GB it should see.

I've opened the case and checked all connections just to be sure.

I'm still stumpted and don't know where to go from here.
 

nobrien1

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Did you ever get a resolution to your issue of Windows not seeing the full size of your RAID array? I have a similar issue with Vista and the Intel array from my Asus P5Q Pro motherboard.
 

BadBoyBubby

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No. I never did get it figured out. In the end I just gave up on the whole RAID idea. The performance I was looking for from the RAID 0 probably wouldn't have justified the time and effort I was putting into it. I did try to start from the very beginning again, but kept running up against the same problem. I looked pretty hard on the net, but never found any advice that basically differed from what was here.

I've given up, but good luck. If you do manage to get it sorted, drop a line here please.
 

aldoenviro

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I know this is late, but it may be beneficial for some...

My system has been up and running for quite some time. I have an M2N32SLI-deluxe. I was using two identical Samsung Spinpoint drives in standalone. I finally decided to stripe them into one big array. I have run into problems.

In order to manage a disk within Windows, it must be fully installed. What I have noticed when adding my RAID 0 array is that the Samsung Spinpoint hard drives I am using are not fully installed. Not only are they not installed, but the fact that they are appearing as single drives and not a single RAID volume proves there is an error with the way Windows is seeing the hardware.

I have attempted to install the drives with generic drivers, this not only didn't work, but I realized that the device Windows should see is an NVIDIA Stripe, not individual drives.

I have uninstalled the malfunctioning devices as well as the various RAID hardware from the device manager. After a reboot, I found some interesting behavior. Various components didn't re-install correctly and attempting to use the driver install packages didn't resolve the issue.

I was left with 2 "RAID Devices" that would not install properly. I forced the driver install by using the "Have Disk" feature within the add new hardware process. I pointed it to the NVIDIA SATA RAID drivers.

After a reboot, all the devices were installed correctly. And... I now had an "NVIDIA Stripe" drive listed in the device manager.

I could now initialize, partition, and format the new stripe.

I hope this helps someone.