My Gigabyte EX38-DS4 motherboard supports RAID and I'm interested in setting up a RAID 5 array. I tried when I originally setup this machine a few months ago but I didnt do it properly the first time and became impatient wanting to play with my new toy. I have a few questions before I use my windows setup disk and the <F6> 3rd party driver screen that comes with it. 1. Is a full Windows reinstall needed to set this up or can I just use the setup disk to access the <F6> install menu? Any way to set this up without a reinstall, like setting up my 3 HDDs in BIOS as I should and putting some files/folders in my WIN/sys32 folder? 2. Suppose the setup works and I transfer all my archieved footage to this machine. What happens if My BIOS settings somehow revert or I turn it off, and my 3 drive array now is supposed to look like 3 physical drives. Will all my data be safe on the 2 drives with the 3rd being empty since it was the backup? How does that work if the software turns off, what would data recovery entail? Sorry if these questions seem noobish, I'm just looking for advice and things to consider when storing 8 years and nearly 400GB of my bands audio/video/promo media. I also want to teach myself more computering on my way past A+ certification. Thanks all.
Realistically Deadrum, onboard RAID isn't usually a good thing, if something happens to your CMOS or Mobo you can get big hassle, and that happened to my friend's DFI board when he ran RAID off that. Get a proper RAID card, even if it means still using software RAID that uses your CPU to process the data, it's better to have a dedicated card than use your motherboard.
Basically what you are saying is that some cards have their own processors/memory and some share resources with the rest of the machine, kinda like video cards? Please explain how running RAID from a card in a slot in my motherboard is better and safer than just bypassing the card. I always figured the less clutter, the less "variables" you bring to a problem like this the better. Is it cause if something went wrong I could run the array in any machine I put the card into? why couldnt I just get a new mobo also supporting raid? I'm not doubting you or saying you are incorrect Sam, I just have many questions.
Onboard RAID can get messed up by CMOS clears on motherboards, needless to say proper RAID Cards will be unaffected by that. Your assumption is correct about the system performance, some RAID cards rely on your CPU and RAM for processing, others have their own, but are expensive.
Does that mean its not as simple as resetting the BIOS to find the array again? So I'm to compare mean time between failure of a card or a mobo. Ive researched a few websites on the pros and cons of onboard vs. add-on, also searched for pricing on the actual hardware. MOst of what I read agreed that the dedicated card is much more stable as a rule, but also that the Intel matrix storage manager lets you rebuild the array on other Intel boards with differing chipsets and controllers.
True, his experience was on an older mobo but I don't really see what difference it would make. A power cut in his house reset his CMOS and after that point he had to rebuild his RAID array using software as it wouldn't come back on its own, the end result of which he had a lot of corrupt files.
I'm thinking of testing this one way or another. So I think I may test the boards RAID capability, and attempt to set things up. I will also use a file backup program to backup all critical files to a different computer on my home network. I have Acronis True Image 11 but I believe it doesnt backup only the changes, it backs everything so every day It will try to transfer 400+GB ove rthe network and that takes soooo long, worse than a torrent with only 1 seed it seems. Is there a happy middle ground?
I am not sure how RAID on these motherboard works, but on Dell, Compaq servers the RAID configuration is stored on the RAID card (CMOS) and also the hard drives, so in the event of failure of RAID card you can insert new RAID card, connect drives up fire up, see the server moan about RAID mismatch (as the config on the drive does not match the one on the new RAID card) and just tell it to use the hard drive config (which is copied to the new RAID cards CMOS)
The more I read, the more I'm thinking about buying a card. I still want to experiment for the sake of experimenting with my mobo, its still a fresh enough build that all I have are benchmarking programs and basic apps loaded up, no serious data so a clean format and reinstall isnt an issue. I will learn about the process and benchmark the mobo, then I will snap a card in and learn about that before I feel confident in storing my critical files on it. Looking around it seems this is decent card for my needs, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115027 Newegg says it made for 4x PCI-E slot and will work in an 8x or 16x but the manual says 8x. I have 16x or 1x open. I read reviews and some said it works in the extra 16x others said it didnt. Also it does use roughly 2-3% of my CPU power, its not a true hardware controller, but with a new Q9450 I dont worry much about 2-3%
Further into the process, I attempted to set up RAID5 through my mobo, and everything worked according to plans but I cant load the files from floppy even though I double checked that they were correct, Windows wont load them. I blame this (cough, cough) version of XP Pro that just happened to be lying around.
all you need to do is press F6 as Windows is about to start setup the point it to the drivers for the RAID card (as Windows will see the logical drives as one and not the physical drive).
I did all that and setup seen the array (3x500GB in RAID 5 shown as about 976GB or something close) but at the end of the setup it couldnt write the files from floppy it was supposed to. It seen them all but didnt apply them. I went ahead and bought that card today, should be here on Friday. Still wish I could get this setup without it though for educational purposes (my own...)
Where were you yesterday Dragula96!!! LOL I looked at that brand, and it seems most items were twice the price or more, but they were closer to true hardware cards with processors that mine lack so its justifiable. I made my decision because of software that comes with it, will run in my spare 16x PCI-E slot, price, and its a "brand name" in controller cards with some good reviews.
The card you've chosen is fine. Yes, LSI cards may be better, but you've bought it now, no reason to take it back for something twice the price.
LOL, my bad man. Oh well, I'm sure that card will perform well. Looks pretty nice, I mean it supports hot swappable drives and has web based SW for monitoring your drives and the controller - that's always a plus. Chances of it failing on you are probably pretty slim, unless you might be running lots of I/O. What are you going to be using this card for?
