Array visible in HD Tune but not in WinXP's Disk Management snap-in

[nbanks]

Hey everyone, just trying to setup a new RAID5 array on a Highpoint 4320 controller with (x4) 1.0TB RE3 drives. No problems initializing array in RAID BIOS or installing drivers in Windows, but I can't seem to get the OS to recognize and assign it a drive letter. The drives are all good as listed by the Highpoint software, and HD Tune is able to scan and benchmark the new array, but I don't see it listed in the Disk Management snap-in. That's where I usually go to get a drive letter assigned to a new drive...is setting up this RAID array a somewhat different process??

Certainly appreciate the advice.

[WinXP SP3, Highpoint RocketRaid 4320 RAID5 w/ 1.0 TB (x4) WD RE3's in backplane, External 1.0 TB eSATA as boot drive (until I get my second replacement VelociRaptor from WD...took them 8 days to process an advance RMA - I wonder why I'm still buying from them.]

 

[specialk90]

First off, you have had a 2nd Velociraptor die on you? This is not looking good for WD as a current topic over at Storagereview.com is about people having many problems with the Vel-R's.

Step 1: go into Device Manager and find "SCSI and Raid Controllers" and expand it. Make sure the Highpoint Raid is listed there. And also expand "Disk Drives" to make sure the array is there.

What motherboard are you using and is it in a PCI-E x8/16 slot? If its a Gigabyte, then I know whats wrong.

I just checked the 4320 at newegg and WOW is that a deal. It comes with the Intel 348 which is sick fast and also dual-core I believe. I have a 3ware 9650 for raid 5 and love it but I would drop it for yours at that price in a heartbeat.

 

[nbanks]

Thanks for the reply...

"SCSI and Raid controllers" (in device manager) lists the actual raid device ("RocketRaid 4320" with no problems), and under "Disks Drives" is lists a "HPT DISK0_0 SCSI Device", so it's listed correctly there as well.

It's not the velociRaptor that died...apparently WD is replacing dead Raptor 150's with new (un-refurbished) Velociraptors...I was fairly happy about that.

I am using the ASUS Maximum II Formula, and have the RAID adapter in a PCI-E x16 slot (but is a PCI-E x8 card.)

This card was even a bigger steal a week ago. I bought it for $329 off newegg, and a few days later it was back up to $619.00. I read they have something going with HighPoint that lets them bring the price down that low. I got the BBU (on-card, batery backup unit) too...ripoff for over $100. I'd be more thrilled with it if I could get a drive letter assigned in windows though!

 

[specialk90]

DUH! I'm an idiot. I just figured it out. Windows 32bit can only support volumes up to 2TB.

 

[specialk90]

Dead 150s with Velociraptors? Really? Thats awesome because I just had 1 of my 8 Raptors die a few weeks ago and I haven't got around to RMA it. Could you help me out and tell me which program you used to determine it was dead. Was it one of the WD programs? And this is your 2nd 150 Raptor to die and they replaced both of them with V-Raptors?

Heck, I will start killing my 150s so I can get the Velociraptors.

Were yours the Raptor X by any chance as I have 3 of those and the one that died is an X.

 

[specialk90]

Look at setting up GPT volumes for yours to work.

Or see if the Highpoint software lets you "Carve" the volume. My 3ware card has this feature and yours should too.

 

[nbanks]

Ohh WTF...

I had 2 raptor 150's die (in raid0) within a month apart. One drive would just click during spin-up, and the other was gaining exponentially more bad sectors (over a few days) - data was proved by SMART reader in HD Tune.

Well, as you know, my first bad raptor was replaced by a velociraptor. I just got the model info for the second drive failed and its going to be a classic raptor. Pretty weak considering I was using these drives in RAID0 for OS partition. Obviously I don't want a raptor and a velociraptor working together in RAID0. Maybe I'll call WD, or buy another Velociraptor....I donno. Any ideas?

I'll check out your solutions to my RAID5 problem tomorrow. I've got to get to bed so i can wake up to slave over some more very slow and very expensive computers at work (the U.S. Govt').

 

[nbanks]

I had standard raptor 150's (not raptor X). Maybe they ran out of raptor stock and supplied me with a velociraptor in the meantime.

Still not good for me...My OS is still stuck on the only working drive, an external. It's a shame that I have my controller and a pile of new drives uselessly spinning away, completely untouched . But I will look into that 32bit drive limitation tomorrow. That sounds like a legit (but unfortunate) answer.