How to setup RAID??

[abaez]

Ok, I bought an Epox 4BDA2+ with the highpoint raid controller. I am not planning to run raid with my computer, but I read that you can use the raid slots as extra channels. So lets say if you have two cd roms and two hard drives, then can all be on their individual channel with the jumper on them set to master.

I was wondering then how you would set this up. Do you put the two cdroms and hard drives as master and go into the bios and set it up before you install anything? Or do you have to install xp then install raid drivers and use it from there. I know windows asks for scsi drivers before it goes into setup, would you install the drivers then? I am wondering before I put it together.... thanks

 

[abaez]

So no one has a mobo with raid that just uses the extra channels?

 

[tsnyder]

It's either set with a jumper on the motherboard or set in the bios... between RAID and ATA. If you use the controllers as ATA you can plug each drive into an IDE channel and run them as master. You only need to set a drive to slave if you're using 2 devices on 1 cable, they function just like your primary and secondary IDE channels on the board. You basically have an extra controller on your motherboard. Unfortunately the OS many times does not natively have the proper driver for this extra controller and you have to provide it off the disk... this can be very annoying when trying to install your OS onto a RAID array off of this controller. For some reason WinXP forces you to provide the RAID driver only from a floppy as opposed to just using the provided CD-ROM. Pretty annoying to have to copy the driver from cd to floppy... especially if you have no running system to do that task. Using the ATA setting is nice if you want to run your CD-burner independant of your other disk drive.... not to mention the ability to use numerous hard drives in your system without having to add any card.

 

[abaez]

Aaaaaaah thanks that sounds good. I'll just plug in my secondary stuff onto the raid controllers and the main hd and cd rom on the ide ones.

Thanks again

 

[Technonut]

I prefer to have my drives all set as Master on their own channel if not using RAID. Set your 2 hard drives as Master on the Highpoint controllers, and your cdroms as Master on the others.

Most RAID mobos come with the RAID drivers on a floppy, so have it in when you boot to the XP CD. It will ask to press F6 to install the Highpoint drivers. There is no need to go into the HP RAID BIOS if you are not setting up a RAID array. The hard drives will automatically be detected. In your mobo BIOS just make sure the the onboard RAID controller is enabled. (there also may be a jumper for this on your mobo) It seems that you have another system up and running, so if you were not supplied a floppy, just download the HP drivers from EPoX now and place them on a floppy.

 

[docgonzo]

LOL, misread your intentions please disreguard these instructions.



I have a Soyo Dragon Ultra board that has the same set up as you. I have the cd rom and dvd on the 2 main EIDE channels and 2 maxtor 80gigs on the Highpoint Raid. To set it up Tsnyder is right, I had to copy the raid controler driver from the CDRom that came with the board onto a floppy disk before I started to load my OS. The drivers were diferent for each OS, so be sure to get the right one copied. Having to put it on a floppy is stupid, I know. But that is what MS Win 2000 Pro asks for when you are installing it. Luckly I have another computer in the house, and did it there.

I got the hardware hooked up, and bios set. Then, on startup I went into Highpoint bios to set up raid, CTRL H when prompted during start up. It asks you your preferences, striped array 0, mirror array 1, etc. I chose 16bit sectors for mine, cause I read that was the fastest and most efficient use of disk space.

After you set up Raid Bios, you save it and continue on with the OS installation. While the OS is starting to load it asks if you are going to set up a raid. It is only on the bottom of the screen for a second, so you have to watch (this was on win2000 pro mind you). Choose that and it will continue on with the instal normally for a bit, but then it will ask you for the Raid Controller Driver, that is where you need the floppy. After you have gone through that, continue loading OS as usual.

Some say that raid 0 is not THAT much faster, but when I load all my mp3 files into a ID3 tag progam I use, it is at least 10 times faster then off my old drive. Further, the game I play has zones you have to load in and out of. I am always the first through the zone walls, which I never was before. So I can verify the diference in speed from my nonraid computer before. For me, raid is nice!


Good Luck, doc

 

[abaez]

Originally posted by: Technonut
I prefer to have my drives all set as Master on their own channel if not using RAID. Set your 2 hard drives as Master on the Highpoint controllers, and your cdroms as Master on the others.

Most RAID mobos come with the RAID drivers on a floppy, so have it in when you boot to the XP CD. It will ask to press F6 to install the Highpoint drivers. There is no need to go into the HP RAID BIOS if you are not setting up a RAID array. The hard drives will automatically be detected. In your mobo BIOS just make sure the the onboard RAID controller is enabled. (there also may be a jumper for this on your mobo) It seems that you have another system up and running, so if you were not supplied a floppy, just download the HP drivers from EPoX now and place them on a floppy.

Ok so before you install these drivers the hard drives will not be detected on the highpoint controllers?

 

[Technonut]

Ok so before you install these drivers the hard drives will not be detected on the highpoint controllers?

The drives will be detected upon bootup before you F6/install the drivers for XP. ( FDISK & Format of course ) You will have your mobo BIOS set to boot from CD to run XP setup, then after installation is complete, the 1st boot order would be the ATA RAID controller followed by whatever... (Floppy, CD, etc..)

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