2nd SATA HDD won't recognize

[Jerold]

I am adding a 2nd SATA HDD to my system. I can't see the 2nd HDD in Explorer. The Primary HDD is also SATA and the 2nd on that I'm installing already has data on it. It was a 2nd HDD on a system with an IDE primary HDD connected to a SATA PCI card.

The SATA is connected to a Promise Fastrack S150 TX2Plus SATA PCI card. I just connected another SATA cable to the card and into the 2nd SATA HDD and put a SATA power cable adapter onto a regular power plug to go into the 2nd HDD.

This is what comes up ont he SATA screen during bootup:
ID = 1
Mode = 1+0 Stripe
Size = 119000M
Track-Mapping = 14467/255/63
Status = Optimal

Then, it instructs me to pres F1 to Continue or F2 to go into Setup.
I've gone into Setup and changed the setting for a Primary Drive 0 to AUTO. Still with no change.

I am pretty sure that the jumper on the 2nd HDD is set to cable select.

What do I need to do to configure this to read as just a second HDD.

THanks,
JErold

 

[awoolf]

I am adding a 2nd SATA HDD to my system... The SATA is connected to a Promise Fastrack S150 TX2Plus SATA PCI card.

Being a RAID card, the your Promise SATA controller will not access a drive without it being part of a RAID array. (even if you just want it as a single drive)

You'll have to set up a single-drive RAID-0 array. (Yes, I know that sounds bass-ackwards) Im not sure if doing this will wipe the data or not. Check your manual, and make a backup of the data first.

Your best bet would be to replace the RAID card with a standard non-RAID SATA card, since you dont appear to be using the RAID features anyway.

A. Woolf

 

[Jerold]

I;ve gone into the Promise Ssetup Screens (CTRL-A) and assigned the 2nd HDD as another Stripe drive in the array and it now is readable. The only thing that I cannot figure out is during boot, when the promise screen identifies the installed HDD's, it keeps giving me the message of F1 to continue or F2 to enter Setup. I've gone into setup and there isn't anything more that I can configure The primary 0 drives are already set to Auto (There is only OFF and Auto as an option). Everything else regarding the drives are for CD-Roms. I am stumped on this.

Could it have anything to do with the power plugs? (ie. the molex plugs have writing on them that say, HDD1, HDD2, Bay1, Bay2...) I don't know what else to look for.

THanks,
Jerold

 

[awoolf]

Could it have anything to do with the power plugs?

Nope - all the power plugs are functionally the same. Some may be longer or shorter, but they all put out the same voltages.

I'm not sure why it is stopping at the RAID BIOS. Double check all the options in your RAID card, and check any error logs or messages.

Good luck,

A. Woolf

 

[Jerold]

awoolf:
Thanks for the help.
Turns out that I have another Promise SATA PCI Card that I had in the system with the SATA HDD that I am trying to install into this PC. It is a Promise SATAII 150 TX2plus/TX4. I've read thru the manual and it indicates that , "The SATAII150 Controller supports Serial ATA disk drives but it does not support RAID. Therefore you cannot build a RAID array with this product.". That sounds like the right type of card that you mentioned - Non-RAID.

Since my system boots off a SATA RAID Card, how would I transfer/swap the PCI SATA cards in the system while still being able to boot the system?

Should I install the Non-RAID SATA PCI Card in another slot and install the drivers, then shutdown and unplug/replug all the cables into the Non-RAID card, then boot up. Will this be ok for the boot drive configuration?

Obviously, I have little experience with SATA/RAID. Thanks for the help.

Jerold

 

[awoolf]

Should I install the Non-RAID SATA PCI Card in another slot and install the drivers, then shutdown and unplug/replug all the cables into the Non-RAID card, then boot up. Will this be ok for the boot drive configuration?

Yes, that is exactly what you should do.

1. Add the non-RAID card to the system, boot Windows, and load the drivers for the newly added card.
2. Shutdown, remove the RAID card and move the drives over to the non-RAID controller.
3. Boot up, and enjoy your boot-error-free existence!

(This should work, since you have two "one drive RAID arrays" and Promise cards [in my experience] use a standard data format for single drive "arrays", just adding some sort of identifier to a hidden part of the drive to remember which drive is what. Your non-RAID card will ignore the hidden identifier, and will see the drives like any other.)

A. Woolf

 

[crjdriver]

Being a RAID card, the your Promise SATA controller will not access a drive without it being part of a RAID array. (even if you just want it as a single drive)

You'll have to set up a single-drive RAID-0 array. (Yes, I know that sounds bass-ackwards) Im not sure if doing this will wipe the data or not. Check your manual, and make a backup of the data first.

Your best bet would be to replace the RAID card with a standard non-RAID SATA card, since you dont appear to be using the RAID features anyway.

A. Woolf

WHAT!!! A. Woolf you are absolutely incorrect in this.
I use promise raid cards all the time; they support raid and non-raid drives very well together. In fact I am typing this on a system so configured.

 

[crjdriver]

On to your problem. What does the promise bios [not the system bios] show on bootup? Does it show your drive?
It would help if you posted your exact specs and how you have your drives configured now ie both sata drives connected to promise controller or system drive connected to mb and extra drive connected to promise controller or whatever.

 

[Jerold]

This is what I am showing on boot on the Promise Bootup window:
These show up as a row running across the screen, but I'll list them vertically

ID = 1*
Mode = 1+0 Stripe
Size = 119000M
Track-Mapping = 14467/255/63
Status = Optimal

ID = 2
Mode = 1+0 Stripe
Size = 300000M
Track-Mapping = 16367/255/63
Status = Optimal

CTRL-A = To get into the Promise Setup Screens
CTRL-ALT-D = To get into the SMART Diagnostic Utility

Both drives are connected to the Promise SATA PCI Card, with the first HDD as the boot drive. All I did was plug the 2nd SATA HDD into the 2nd plug on the the Promise SATA card. I went into the Promise BIOS and set up the second HDD as a 1+0 STRIPE array. the Stripe Block = 64kb. The first HDD is set up the same way. After I did that, I was able to see the 2nd HDD.
I've gone back into it and the other options for setting up the arrays are:

Single>Mirror
Single>Stripe

I was going to try Single>Stripe, but it then asked me if I wanted to expand the image. I didn't know what that meant, so I aborted until I get more info.

Can you tell me what Single>Stripe and 'expand the image' means?
This is really the only options available left with this specific PCI SATA card.
I don't mind switching Promise Cards to the Non-RAID, but if I can configure this one, I'll use this.

Thanks.

 

[crjdriver]

What I am not understanding is; are you attempting to raid these two drives or not?

Promise cards have an option to add drives to an array and not destroy data. This allows you to convert a single drive system to raid1 without reloading anything. This is what it means by expanding image. It will add the drive and then write all data to it so you will now have a raid1 setup. From your post, I do not think this is what you want.

Note you can very easily destroy data on drives while working in a raid bios so be careful.

 

[Jerold]

I just want to add a 2nd HDD to my system. No RAID of any type if I can can configure this card correctly. Basically, the equivalent of adding a 2nd IDE HDD - just 2 seperate HDD in the same box.

Since the Promise Card is reading both HDD's at boot, I think I have it. The only thing at this point is getting rid of the message saying F1 to Continue or F2 to Enter Setup and I can't figure out if it is a System BIOS or a Promise BIOS issue. There aren't too many options in the system BIOS to configure.

Hope this makes sense.

 

[JohnWill]

That's a system BIOS message. If this is one of those damned "smart" BIOS versions that have a zillion hard disk boot options, everytime the disk configuration changes, they want you to go in and configure the boot priority again. There is no way to get around that if you want to get rid of the message. You need to go in and insure that the boot order is the way you want it, and save the BIOS settings. As long as you don't change the hard disk configuration, it'll stop adking you to enter setup again.

 

[Jerold]

The only boot priority sequence that they offer are either the C drive or the Promise TX2 Card. You can only move them up or down to select which on is on top. I've done both and I still get the annoying message. Is there anything specific that I should look for to set my sequence correctly?

I've also just tried to install the Non-RAID SATA PCI Card. I shut down and then I installed the PCI card. When I rebooted, It runs the 1st SATA BIOS, then goes to the 2nd BIOS. It doesn't find drives and it says that there is no BIOS installed. Then the F1/F2 Message comes up. If I press F1 to continue, it won't do anything. It just locks up and I have to CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot. It wouldn't boot into Windows until I removed the 2nd SATA PCI Card.

1. Is there any way to install the 2nd Non-RAID SATA Card after what I just described above?

2. If I just keep the current configuration where I have to press F1 everytime I boot, will this cause any problems with my system and HDD's?

 

[JohnWill]

The prompt won't cause any problem, other than being extremely annoying.

I don't have a lot of mileage on the Promise cards, I've only used the non-SATA IDE controllers, but I never had this kind of issue with them. I have a couple of those in systems here, one boots from the card, the other just uses them for expansion storage.

Did you try resetting the BIOS to factory defaults and then reconfiguring?

 

[Jerold]

I'll try to set the Bios to factory.

Any ideas on how to swap out the SATA Cards?