Newbie @ RAID

[firehawk_1]

using my new ASUS P6X58D-E mobo and configured it for RAID0. my HDD's:

2x2TB HDD's (SATA)
1x3TB HDD (SATA)

I want to use the 2TB as RAID0. I did this through the IMMS on the mobo. Created the volume with default settings. however it says "Bootable no" - what does this mean?

I've tried to restore an OS/files on the disk using acronis but that in itself has issues (buggy software!) however I can see from disk management in that software that the image has been restored.

The main HDD partition is healthy and active
the system resorved is healthy
then I have unallocated but never mind about that for now.

am I missing something?

 

[geofelt]

What are you trying to accomplish with raid-0?

Where are you trying to restore the os image to? Where did it originally come from?

I think "bootable no" means that you can not boot from the raid array.

 

[firehawk_1]

what am I trying to accomplish with Raid 0? Faster performance!
where are you trying to restore the OS image to? To the HDD which has been configured as RAID. it came from another system which is NOT RAID. however this is irrelevant.

why can I not boot from the raid array? how can I make it boot? it was the same status before restoring the image to the new HDD which is configured as RAID0

 

[geofelt]

Sorry to say, you will not get better performance with raid-0.

Raid-0 will give you a 4gb single image.
Raid-0 will give you wonderful sequential benchmarks of large files.
Raid-0 will not help random access of small blocks, and that is mostly what the OS does.
The normal desktop user on balance will get no benefit from raid-0, and will get some headaches as you have experienced.

If you want better performance, get a SSD.

 

[firehawk_1]

im afraid you are wrong I deal with large files, as I am a developer and do some IT infrastructuary stuff. the solution you gave me is not possible im afraid. I have seen RAID0 give ALOT of perf benefit and intend on setting it up but not sure why I am getting the error I am getting.

 

[geofelt]

I have used acronis before to copy a single image to a raid array with success. It was some time ago, so I don't remember the details. You don't learn much if you dont have any problems. I think in the bios raid setup app, there should be an option to make the array bootable. Possibly there is an option in acronis. You indicated that the image came from another PC. Unless it was identical, I would expect some driver issues.

The processing of large sequential files often means reading an input file, processing it, and writing the results out.
I have found in the past that separating these two files on different devices is most effective. It keeps the access arms positioned where they need to be.
If that is your situation, you might try it.

But for the OS and apps, I think a single drive is better. Use the raid-0 array for the data files.

 

[firehawk_1]

Thanks.

Well in the BIOS there is no option to make it bootable. Same thing in the IMSM utility.
The driver issues are not a problem because universal restore takes care of this by me providing it the drivers and it will automatically recreate the HAL. But this again is not the problem. the problem seems to be that it just does not see it as as bootable drive when creating the RAID 0 volume.

am I missing something?

 

[geofelt]

Thanks.

Well in the BIOS there is no option to make it bootable. Same thing in the IMSM utility.
The driver issues are not a problem because universal restore takes care of this by me providing it the drivers and it will automatically recreate the HAL. But this again is not the problem. the problem seems to be that it just does not see it as as bootable drive when creating the RAID 0 volume.

am I missing something?

Are you attaching your drives to the ich10r ports? I think those are the only ones that can be bootable. The Intel raid utility should have the ability to make them bootable.
It is not clear to me if the 6gb marvell ports have raid, or would be bootable.

 

[firehawk_1]

I attached it to the marvell ports also and also to the normal ports on the mobo but still no go :-/

but im reading more and more and seeming to be disappointed but its not really confirmed anywhere that it will only support a combined RAID storage of 2TB to make it bootable. again - not sure if I believe this or not.

would be a shame if it were otherwise a complete waste of money on extra HDD's which I solely bought for this purpose.

 

[firehawk_1]

http://techreport.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=63829

pretty much confirms a limitation in the TOTAL storage size for RAID 0. nothing more than 2TB :-/

wow. THAT SUCKS! why such a limit? is there a way to expand that?

not sure how else I can configure the system for faster HDD performance.

I have 2x2TB HDD's and 1x3TB (for backups). And will be adding more HDD's to the system (1x640GB, 1x500GB and a 1x1TB)

hmmm.

 

[firehawk_1]

http://communities.intel.com/thread/10685 also pretty much confirms it.

I do have a SATA RAID Controller card but I do not wish to use that, even if it breaks such a barrier.

 

[mpavao81]

its not a limitation of raid its a limitation of "BIOS"
and with a drive that big you will not be able to use it as a boot device, you can however use it for storage. I hate to say it but you should have done your research before hand. At work we have a 12TB array, but its not a bootable array its just for storage.

 

[firehawk_1]

well I DID do my research. there was nothing about this issue but hidden away!