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Hard drive partition question.

2K views 29 replies 7 participants last post by  JohnWill 
#1 ·
I have 2 200gb hard drives. what i would like to do is make windows see them both as one partition. I always only have one partition on all hard drives and i would like to do that with the two physical hard drives. Is this done with the raid program. I have this but don't know how to use it. When i click on the raid icon it says no stand alone disk and no usable disk array attached please check if any disk array is broken. Hope someone can give me some pointers. Thanks a lot. Max.
 
#2 ·
You will have to use a raid array that uses the stripping feature to make the two drives act as one. With raid there is stripping (best performance) mirroring (lowest performance max security) and mirroring/stripping (midde but 3HD's needed) you will need to look up which raid config you want from 0,1,2,3,4,5 and will need a raid controller card.
 
#5 ·
From the board specifications:

VIA 6410 IDE RAID Controller
• Integrate one Ultra DMA 66/100/133 IDE controllers
• Support RAID (0 or 1)
• Connect upto 2 Ultra ATA 133 devices

Sounds like you have an on-board RAID controller.
 
#7 ·
Bump... Can anybody help with this. I just reinstalled software loading raid drivers at the f6 prompt but when i set up raid "tool" and open it up it just says again no stand alone disk and no usable disk array attatched please check if any disk array is broken. Any help please. Max.
 
#8 ·
You normally need to enable the RAID BIOS in your BIOS configuration. Connect the disks, and then enter the RAID setup during the POST and build the RAID array. After you do that, you can install XP onto the RAID array. The MB manual should tell you about all of this.
 
#9 ·
ok i think i've found the problem now. I done a bit of googling to try and find out how to set up a raid and somewhere it said to press the tab key after first screen on boot. I did this and it shows up a window where you can create your raid only it says i don't have enough disks to make a raid. I have two. So anyway i can see that it says channel 0 master and slave none and channel 1 master and slave none. Then i see in the bios that my drives are channels 3 and four both as masters. now i know i should have one as master and one as slave but there arne't any jumper diagrams on these drives so i really don't know which pins to jumper for this. so i just banged them in as they are and i can access them just not as one single drive like i want. Anyway if i did manage this they still wouldn't be on the required channels for a raid. both drives are sata. i've tried every setting in the bios to try and switch channels but just don't seem to be able to do it. Again any advice would be very gratefully received. thanks. Max.
 
#11 ·
Are your drives sata or ide? I think you only have one ide channel on that board. Read your manual; each raid controller is a little different in HOW you create the array. You may have to select>add disks to create the array. Again read your manual.
 
#13 ·
The drives are both sata. If there is only one channel. Is it possible then to have two seperate sata disks as a raid setup. Wouldn't this be two channels. Also i can't seem to find anything in the manual to help me. It's just not recognising the two sata drives as able to use in aq raid. is it possible to make those two move to the channel i need for a raid setup and move my burner to another channel as this is in the channel i need the hard drives in.
 
#15 ·
Ah ok. I actually thought that might be the case but i couldn't find anything to say so in bios. You'd think they'd tell you wouldn't you or more likely i've just missed it. Anyway thanks at least i'm a little further now. How will this hard ware work then. Will it go in a standard pci slot? Will it be hard to find one compatable? Are they expensive and easy to find and where would i find one? I really appreciate the help. Regards Max.
 
#16 ·
A PCI Raid card varies in price, anywhere from $20 to hundreds, depending on the features and depending whether the RAID function is software or hardware controlled. The cheaper cards that have RAID, usually offer only software based RAID. From what I have read, software control RAID is junk, that is just what I've read, I have no practical experience with them.

I've seen external multi-bay SATA enclosures that have RAID capabilities, I think prices start around $150, but you'll still need a SATA card.

That's a a stange MoBo set-up, to have a RAID function, but only one IDE port.
 
#17 ·
FWIW I looked at your mb specs. I would not waste the time with trying to use the onboard single ide as a raid controller. If you want raid, buy a real raid card by promise, highpoint, adaptec, etc.

I use the promise 4300tx sata raid controller and it works very well [if you want to go that route] In any case, do not buy a cheap raid card. You will have constant problems with the cheap ones.
 
#18 ·
Some good advice there guys thanks. However i have been planning to upgrade a little closer the end of the year to a conroe x6800 setup so i don't really want to spend to much money on a raid controller. i am guessing that the board i will be getting will have this integrated although i'm not sure. It's an asus p5w dh deluxe. Anyway i actually jumped the gun and bought a cheapo raid controller from ebay before seeing the last two posts. I can imagine the kind of problems i might experience now that i've been advised. I should have known better really but i might aswell give it a go and who knows it might even do me till i upgrade. Anymore pointers welcome. Max. By the way my board has two ide ports.
 
#19 ·
I wish now that i had got your advice about not buying cheap raid controllers before i bought one cos i got it this morning but can't seem to set it up. It keeps saying that one of my disks is an invalid raid drive. Could there be any other reason for this other than a dodgy raid card? The drive is fine otherwise. It's a seagate barracuda sata 200gb drive. I performed the seagate diagnostic toll on it and quick and full tests turned out fine. So unless there could be any other reason which i don't know about i take it it's just the card. The only difference between my two drives (apart from make) is that the other drive is sata 2 and the seagate plain sata. Any thoughts welcomed. Max.
 
#20 ·
Does the controller support sata2? You may need to install the speed jumper on the drive.

Really you are asking for problems when you use two different drives in raid. I know you CAN do this, however IMO it is just asking for problems. I use drives of the same size, speed, mfg, and, cache when setting up raid.
 
#21 ·
Well everything is the same exept like i say the make. Both are 200gb with same caches. I already have the jumper on to limit the transfer rate aswell as my board doesn't support sata 2 transfer rate anyway. so the only other difference is ones samsung and ones seagate. Could this still cause a problem? Thanks Max.
 
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