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GIGABYTE Guide

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I read the "GIGABYTE Guide" and it is good but I cannot make a SATA/RAID/AHCI driver on my flash drive and I don't know how to get into MS-DOS.

I have a Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P motherboard and it is a "mother"board to me. This is my first computer build (I've searched through everything on the motherboard forums and can find nothing). I installed 2 identical SATA hard drives and made a RAID configuration. Windows 7 won't load the operating system, so I'm supposed to make a SATA/RAID/AHCI driver by copying the SATA controller driver from the motherboard driver disk to a flash drive. They give me 2 modes to do this from, MS-DOS or windows. I can get neither to work.

Thanks,

symbiotic

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Motherboard Authority

First issue - your flash stick must be formatted to FAT-32. If you need to know how, post back... If it still doesn't want to work for you, answer two questions, and I'll post the files you need - you can just extract 'em to the drive:
32 bit or 64 bit 'flavor' of seven?
...and, I'm assuming you have 'em on the P55's SATA ports, that is, SATA2_0 through SATA2_5?
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Got it! Finally. You won't hear this from anyone else, I'm sure.
This whole computer build thing is too scary for an old guy like me. Even though I finally got it together and working. My stomach was tied up in knots (actual stomach aches for days on end).
Thank you.
symbiotic
Motherboard Authority

Always [:graywolf:9] !

I are a 'old fart' [:bilbat:6], too! Learned to program FORTRAN IV as a junior in highschool (from a nun! [:lorbat:5] ) in '69 using punch cards, one per statement [:jaydeejohn:3]

Okay bilbat, you are not the Doctor. You are the WIZARD! I learned Fortran IV in 1980 as a Freshman in college. Punch cards; end of job. How do you keep pace today?
Don't answer.

The Sea

I've got to get used to traversing these boards. I answered your post "I are a 'old fart' [:bilbat:6], too!", and I don't know where it went.

Sorry, but I have to ask you something else. I put in the RAID 1, and it is slow, slow, slow as you said it would be.

My motherboard is the Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P with 2 x SATA 6Gb/s and 6 x 3Gb/s. I put in 2 x Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS SATA 3.0Gb/s.
My first question is can I go to a RAID 1+0 at this stage?
And can I mix 2 x Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX SATA 6.0Gb/s to utilize the motherboard's SATA 6.0Gb/s ports?
Will it help, hinder, be detrimental, what? I do not have a RAID card.

Thanks,

symbiotic

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Motherboard Authority

First: You can only RAID drives that are on an individual drive controller - even if the controllers are identical, in the many cases where GB has put four jMicron (GSATA2) ports on-board - they use two jMicron chips to do the control - the only controller that can do anything 'higger' thar RAID0 or RAID1 is the southbridge, or in the cases where a P55 is providing the 'main' SATA, there! Those will always be (well, until Marvell gets their drivers together some year...) the fastest, as well...

Second: WD Blacks are not suitable for RAIDing; what you need are the 'RE' series 'enterprise' drives. Blacks, like most large drives these days, have a feature called 'deep recovery cycling' which causes the drive to 'take itself off-line', and attempt to do multi-pass error recovery and format repair; the RAID controller 'sees' this as a 'dropped' drive, and marks it failed. There used to be a 'patch' from WD to disable this function - it must have induced problems of its own, as it was withdrwn, and pretty well 'scubbed off' the web! I believe this may not be as big a problem using the latest 'Rapid Storage Technology' management software (rev 9.6.0.1014), as it has a 'return to normal' offering for failed drives, that will restore function, and initiate a rebuild to ensure consistency...

You may be seeing 'stalls' for this DRC in your drives, as a RAID1 sould be pretty comparable to a standard drive in speed (these are RE3's same physical drive as a Black):

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