I want 3 Hard Drives in comp. Can I use RAID?

[Bbc84]

Ok So I just got a free computer from my friend, which is much better than my old computer.
Anyways he has a ASUS motherboard with RAID support built into the motherboard.
now he has 2 Hard drives already a 60GB and 80GB. The 60GB drive i put XP Pro on it. The 80GB has movies and mp3s. All on Primary IDE cable
that computer also has a DVD drive and a CD RW on the Secondary IDE cable.

But the problem now is I want to add my 120GB HD from my old computer into his comp. My 120GB is filled with mp3s and movies and baiscally all my setup programs and hmwk from the past couple years.

Is it possible to put my 120GB in one of the RAID spots? On the motherboard it says RAID Promise IDE 1 and Promise IDE 2.

Or should I buy one of those PCI cards and just add on the hard drive by that way?

So basically the Primary and Seconday are filled, but I need to some how add a 3rd Hard Drive into the computer. Whats the best way to do it?

 

[EeyoreX]

You can do one of a couple things. Either add the new drive as a slave to one of the exisiting hard drive's channels (I am assuming that each drive is a master on it's own channel). Or, you could more than likely use the RAID controller as a standard IDE controller for your hard drive (Not optical or ATAPI drives). The surest way to find out is to connect the hard drive to the RAID controller, install the RAID drivers in Windows, and see if it works.

\Dan

 

[Zepper]

Shouldn't need to use any extra drivers in Windows if all you plan to do is use the RAID channel for an ordinary drive. But there may be a setting in the RAID part of the BIOS to set it to run as an ordinary controller. Make sure you have the latest ASPI drivers installed (DL from Adaptec - or maybe on the Promise driver disk) as the Promise controller will be recognized as by Win as SCSI.
. Double buffering may also be activated if Win thinks it has a SCSI controller on board. You'll have to check to see if that is really needed or not and then disable in c:\msdos.sys file as it slows things down a little. IOW, you don't want it in there if you don't need it.
..bh.
:moon:

 

[Bbc84]

Originally posted by: EeyoreX
You can do one of a couple things. Either add the new drive as a slave to one of the exisiting hard drive's channels (I am assuming that each drive is a master on it's own channel). Or, you could more than likely use the RAID controller as a standard IDE controller for your hard drive (Not optical or ATAPI drives). The surest way to find out is to connect the hard drive to the RAID controller, install the RAID drivers in Windows, and see if it works.

\Dan

Cant do that.

the 2 orginal hard drives are Master and Slave on the Primary IDE. the DVD player and CDRW are primary and slave on the Secondary. So theres no free slots left.


Also when I tried using RAID by connecting just the 120GB. It didnt show my Hard drive in windows and i couldnt find anything in the BIOS setup about RAID. Also when XP booted up the CD RW drive didnt show up nor did the extra HD.

 

[sswingle]

Most onboard RAID chips have their own bios. After your main bios finishes, watch for a second one to pop up. Your main bios should show the first 4 drives, and the raid bios will show the additional drives on those controllers.

If you have the windows drivers installed properly, all the drives should show up there.

 

[terminalmind]

Check the BIOS again, there should be a setting somewhere. It is under "On Board PCI Device Setup" on mine.

 

[Bbc84]

Ill try, Right now I got the HD hooked up and its powering up, but XP is not detecting it. And I cant seem to find how to install the drivers for the RAID setup.

I put in the motherboard CD it opens the Autorun stuff, but it has drivers for the AGP port, Sound card and bios flash, etc but nothing for RAID.

However when i do explore disk i find Promise Drivers but cant get them to install.


Ill search the bios now.

 

[Bbc84]

Hmmm I still cant get it to work. This is pissing me off. I mean the HD is hooked up has power, but there is no extra RAID bios I see during boot up, there is nothing in Bios under PCI settings. And XP doesnt recognize it.

BTW this is what I got from the Asus site about the motherboard i have (A7V333)

does this mean anything?


My A7V333 has a Jumper for Promise ATA RAID. Does it only support ATA133 RAID configuration unlike the A7V133 and A7V266-E that support ATA100 and RAID?




RAID 133 from Promise does not support ATA100 or 133 like the MB of the past. It can only support HDD with RAID capacity enabled / disabled. Please note that you can use one HDD but the RAID partition still need to be defined regardless of number of HDD connecting to it.

 

[Bbc84]

That is a direct copy of the FAQ for a question about RAID on my motherboard. Does that mean it wont recognize my 120GB unless i reformat it or something?

 

[fslove]

Addin cards are only $20 or so, so I would suggest you get one of those and it will be a simple plug into the slot hook up drive and off you go!

 

[AEB]

If your raid can act like regular IDE it should work. Otherwise RAID has to have two identical drives, if your mother board doesnt support that than no using raid wont work unless yo uget two of the same drives. I just read your motherboard info and it doesnt look like your RAID can act like IDE. Also you haev via chipset i dont know if tehy are still doing their 4 in 1 drivers but that would be seomthing to install. Otherwie teh option of additional adapter card may be best

 

[Bbc84]

Well I guess it wont work. Since I did install the VIA 4 in 1 drivers. Nothing happened. I didnt see any extra bios or XP recognizing it.

So Im thinking of just getting an adapter card, or not even bother it and just disconnect either the DVD or CDRW drive for a bit to get files from the 120GB HD.

Now if i get an adapter card, will that mean I will be able to support 2 extra drives or 4 extra drives? Because I assume theres going to be atleast one extra IDE channel which usually support a Master and Slave.

Also anyone know where i can get one for cheap?

 

[Bbc84]

BTW Thanks everyone for trying to help me

 

[EeyoreX]

Cant do that.

the 2 orginal hard drives are Master and Slave on the Primary IDE. the DVD player and CDRW are primary and slave on the Secondary. So theres no free slots left.

Ah, sorry. I was confused as to the channel assignments of your current drives...

Anyhow, have you installed the RAID drivers? It is my experience that they do, in fact, need to be installed for Windows to recognize the controller (just like any other RAID or non-RAID controller, Windows needs the drivers). The VIA 4 in 1 drivers are not the correct drivers. You should have recieved a CD or floppy with drivers for your RAID controller. Failing that, they should be available at the motherboard manufacturers website. Failing that find out what chipset the motherboard uses and get them from the manufacturer (most likely Promise of Highpoint). Before buying a seperate controller, I'd seriously ensure that the RAID drivers are installed or installed correctly. They are not required just for RAID, but for Windows to recognize the controller. I have a VIA-based motherboard and a nVidia nForce2-based motherboard. Both have on-board RAID that allows non-RAID hard drives to be used. Both required me to install the drivers before Windows would recognize the hard drives.

\Dan