Jaquith whats up! You got me all paranoid!
So I bought another 2 hdd but not for raid 10.....
but I still need your help
Ok this is what I am going to do.. I ordered a couple usb flash drives as well ..
I am gonna put windows 7 install on 1 (even though its sounds a little beyond me... first of all I will copy all the files from the install dvd to the flash drive (first question- do I have to format the usb flash drive to something... or just what it comes form the store... never used one)
then in a dos prompt enable it as bootable and some other stuff that this youtube instruction video says to do..
then on another usb drive.. I will install raid drivers??
ok now that will be done.. but I have much more to ask..
my internal sytem will be 5 drives.. please help me figure some things out ...
1 corsair force gt sata 3 180 GB- bought and paid for
2 seagate 2TB ncq 7200, 64m, 6 gbps sata 3 (all disks sata 3, 7200) supports 4k sectors?yes-bought and paid for
2 seagates same as above but the 1 tb models- in the mail
Bluray rewriter ODD... are these sata 2 or 3?? lite-on 12x model...
ok now..
os/apps on bootable ssd force gt 180GB- there will be no other files except maybe an adobe page file ??? I wanted to make all the prgrams that use my docs, my music, and all the other personal stuff on a storage drive , I have to figure out how to do that as well since I am migrating from Mac OS... I do have experience with windows... but it is from 3.1, 95, little dos, xp just browing and ms apps stuff, but nothing from vista and 7..
I will have 2 drives in a raid zero (either 2x 1 tb seagate's or 2x 2tb seagates.. have decided on 2 or 4 tb raid zero)
Then the lite ON.. and in a few months an external back up...
I need to know:
should I hook up any thing other than the ssd drive and the ODD (if making a bootable usb flash install winds up being to funky for my chops) for the installation on win7
or should I hook up all 6 (4 hdd,1 ssd, 1 odd) then do all the bios setups, then install
should I disable ncq on raid 0 drives.. at one point do I or is it something done after in windows
if I go with the 2X2TB raid will I have to uncheck mbr and use them with gpt (however I do that)
and these drives all supports 4k sectors??? so should I change from default 128 to 4K..??
CAn I just install all other disks later... like
hook up ssd and odd... still select raid for intel chipset... for a later raid (raid future)
and the links you gave me... said don't update firmware unless something is wrong... and gave no way to even do it without installing windows first??? how do I update firmware on a drive with no OS... through bios??? force gt website said dont do it without first having a problem...
the motherboard bios is the current one thats on the website (0906).. has a sticker on the Mother board.. the intel f6 drivers says it is the Motherboards from intel with the intel chip supports... and states (for the intel DSx79...something motherboard--you know which one as we all passed that one up when deciding on a motherboard)... also
which drives on which sata ports and which controllers??.. guy from OCW on youtube said know problems with SSD OS drive on same controller as raid... so put SSD OS drive on MArvell and make intel for the raid... now you mentioned if odd is on marvell I can't boot from it... is this the case with the ssd as well... also if I put Blueray burner on sata 2 intel/or marvell will it be slower to burn a disc than if I put it on a sata3???
If I put the ssd on intel sata3 then one storage on intel sata3 then odd on intel sata2 ,then put the raid O on Marvell 6 gpbs port (2 drives raid 0) (or do they have to be raid on intel ..specs from website say the intel supports the raids)
the last storage drive buy an esata case?? and hook it to the ASMedia® ASM1061 controller : which is esata 6gbps.. a hassle but the 6 gbps drive will be 6 gpbs??? or put both storage on marvell 6gbps... the 2 raid O drives on 3gbps intel... will this slow the raid??? if I have 6gbps drives I know they will work but will performance go down on a 3 gbps port... need to figure out all this plus the mbr/gpt questions, plus onw website you linked me to...
"Purpose:
Installs the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Enterprise (RAID) driver version 3.0.0.3020 for Intel® Desktop Boards."
and "This download is valid for the product(s) listed below. Intel® Desktop Board DX79SI
Intel® Desktop Board DX79TO " and "The driver should be installed AFTER the operating system has been installed. F6 and RAID BIOS configurations need to be performed prior to installation of this driver for proper operation." and "Once the operating system is installed and RAID (0, 5 or 10) has been enabled in the BIOS, double-click downloaded file to launch the driver installation."
then the seagate site says "The firmware update utility runs within Windows" ie not before windows is installed??.. and "The firmware tool will determine which version (CC4C, CC4D, or CC9D) is correct for your drive. " and of course the game changer" If the upgrade instructions are not followed properly, the upgrade could be data-destructive and/or render your hard drive inoperable." ..so the instructions say the firmware tool will determine..which version... and also runs from within windows" and then you say.... "ALL firmware before installing windows"?? so who do I listen to ... paranoid
and then corsair force gt website:
"If you are stable and do not have issues, we suggest that you do not flash your firmware."
and also "This update tool is intended to be run with the drive controller in AHCI mode. If your drive controller is not AHCI enabled and your update fails, you will need to change it to AHCI mode and also enable AHCI in your OS registry. Here is page with a guide for ENABLING AHCI.
If you have issues updating using the Microsoft AHCI driver, you may need to update using the latest driver from your drive controller manufacturer. The reverse is also true. If you have issues updating using the latest drivers from your controller manufacturer, we suggest you try the latest MS AHCI driver.
Our latest testing is only with Intel and AMD drive controllers. The update may not work with 3rd party drive controllers. The update will not work on a controller that is in RAID mode. This applies to SATA2 and SATA3 controllers."
yikes says only tested with intel (not marvell) then says change to AHCI, every site I read says dont select ahci for raid select raid... so that must be where to ocw on youtube says problems with single ssd os on same controller as raid ... as the intel listed by asus is the one with raid support then the raid drives must be on intel.... and then corsair says put their ssd on intel but use AHCI... can I have the ssd ahci and should I, and also have the raid 0 on "RAID" all on the intel.... then the storage on marvell... what about NCQ through all this... Is there just a website with a list of combinations.... should we begin an app where you put in your drive and motherboard model... and it tells you optimal config for all setting?? I cannot afford anything else at the moment... since I have 5 new drives and a blueray burner... I need to get this figured out.... no raid 10, no raid 5, no raid 1.....
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