Here's the deal, I want the benefits of AHCI for my SSD that I plan to install the OS on, however I want the benefit of RAID in the future should I decide to create a separate RAID0 pair for data to accompany my SSD OS disk without having to reinstall Windows by resetting the BIOS to RAID mode for all disks.
The INTEL ICH10R Southbridge Controller makes you choose all 6 SATA ports at once - not individually - in the BIOS in terms of how they are setup (IDE, AHCI or RAID).
I know I can enable RAID mode for all of my HDDs even if they are not in a 0/5/10 set. For example when set to RAID mode my 3 HDDs (including the SSD) exist as non-Raid Disks, ready to be upgraded to RAID sets (from which I can pick and choose individual drives to include in a particular set).
My question is this: Are HDDs that are set to RAID mode in the BIOS but are Non-Raid Disks (ie not grouped together in a RAID0 set for example - just left as non-raid) do these non-raid disks within raid mode reap the benefits of standalone drives set to AHCI mode? or do non-raid disks within raid mode simply get treated as IDE?
If not I'll just install Windows 7 with everything set to AHCI for now and if I can ever afford a pair of enterprise level RAID drives (learned the hard way buying recent model WD Caviar Black drives that don't support RAID because they disabled the TLER firmware this past year) I'll bite the bullet and re-install Windows with everything set to RAID and leave my SSD as a non-raid disk within the set.
I have only read assumptions that AHCI is inherent to RAID mode, no convincing source though, hopefully some great minds on this forum can set my n00b head straight.
Thanks for anyone who can shed light on this.
My SPECS:
MOBO = ASUS p6X58D Premium
HDDs:
1 x Intel x25M SSD G2 HD02fw (80GB) for Win7Ultimate
2 x WD Black 640GB 32MB cache (new ones that don't support TLER - hesitant to try RAID0 pair)
CPU = Intel 980x Gulftown
MEM = 3 x Corsair GT 2GB cas7
GPU = ASUS Matrix ROG ATi5870 @900MHz
The INTEL ICH10R Southbridge Controller makes you choose all 6 SATA ports at once - not individually - in the BIOS in terms of how they are setup (IDE, AHCI or RAID).
I know I can enable RAID mode for all of my HDDs even if they are not in a 0/5/10 set. For example when set to RAID mode my 3 HDDs (including the SSD) exist as non-Raid Disks, ready to be upgraded to RAID sets (from which I can pick and choose individual drives to include in a particular set).
My question is this: Are HDDs that are set to RAID mode in the BIOS but are Non-Raid Disks (ie not grouped together in a RAID0 set for example - just left as non-raid) do these non-raid disks within raid mode reap the benefits of standalone drives set to AHCI mode? or do non-raid disks within raid mode simply get treated as IDE?
If not I'll just install Windows 7 with everything set to AHCI for now and if I can ever afford a pair of enterprise level RAID drives (learned the hard way buying recent model WD Caviar Black drives that don't support RAID because they disabled the TLER firmware this past year) I'll bite the bullet and re-install Windows with everything set to RAID and leave my SSD as a non-raid disk within the set.
I have only read assumptions that AHCI is inherent to RAID mode, no convincing source though, hopefully some great minds on this forum can set my n00b head straight.
Thanks for anyone who can shed light on this.
My SPECS:
MOBO = ASUS p6X58D Premium
HDDs:
1 x Intel x25M SSD G2 HD02fw (80GB) for Win7Ultimate
2 x WD Black 640GB 32MB cache (new ones that don't support TLER - hesitant to try RAID0 pair)
CPU = Intel 980x Gulftown
MEM = 3 x Corsair GT 2GB cas7
GPU = ASUS Matrix ROG ATi5870 @900MHz
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