Intel Matrix RAID woes

[Whizzard9992]

I had 2 1TB drives in RAID-1. I got two more and wanted to migrate to RAID-5 to triple my redundant capacity. I used the volume migration utility and had problems right off the bat.

First, when I rebooted my computer, the POST showed the drives as INCOMPATIBLE in red. Then my volume started showing errors and auto-repairing. Then my computer started crashing and I lost access to the drive. The computer would freeze on write attempts to that array. Then the volume was showing in Drive Manager as 2.0 TB, but in Intel Matrix Storage Console it was showing as 2.7TB.

I've destroyed and re-created the RAID array from scratch (Luckily I backed up my data to a spare 1TB drive). I've run CHKDSK on each of the disks individually outside of the array. I updated the drivers and flashed the BIOS.

I really have NO desire to drop another $300 on an areca (or similar) card. I just want RAID-5; I don't care how I get it. Performance is not a concern.



Has anyone had similar problems with the Intel Matrix RAID in RAID 5? Can anyone recommend alternatives?








Motherboard: GA-965P-DQ6 (ICH8R)

 

[taltamir]

I've destroyed and re-created the RAID array from scratch (Luckily I backed up my data to a spare 1TB drive). I've run CHKDSK on each of the disks individually outside of the array. I updated the drivers and flashed the BIOS.

So, you are saying that after destroying the array and creating a new one you are getting errors in raid5?

Everyone told me "never use raid5 on a mobo, it sucks", I did not listen and did... and wow they were right. raid5 on mobo is absolutely horrible... speeds of under 10mb/s are not uncommon (and top speed of 25mb/s), array is lost when you reset cmos, upgrade bios, or make certain changes to configuration, and reliability is crap. (but recoverable IF and ONLY IF you delete the array, then create a new one with identical configuration, down to the order of drives and stripe size, and chose NOT to clear/initialize it)

I recommend using OS based raid5, using ZFS on opensolaris. genunix.org
or at the very least something linux based, like freenas. even windows home server works.
Or you can buy a good controller for 300$.

I suggest just making multiple raid1 arrays... even on my ZFS raid6 array i regret not having gone the raid1 route, because upgrading the total storage amount is a total PITA (if i had gone with 2 raid 1 arrays I could have just added a third one, or replaced one of them with a larger drive one. now I have to make a whole new system to replace ALL 5 drives at once... PITA)

 

[pjkenned]

I tried Intel Raid 5. Now all raid runs off of dedicated controllers. I won't be doing Intel Matrix Raid 5 again in the near future. OS raid is a good option too. I lost a raid 5 array in linux a few years ago and it was a PITA to get back. I'm sure that it is way easier and idiot proof now.

 

[lopri]

I'd only use RAID 0 on Intel Matrix. Of course fully knowing the risk, with backups.

 

[Madwand1]

I've used Intel RAID 5 for a couple of years without problems. It sounds like you might be having problems with RAID migration, array size, or maybe booting off a large array. If the latter, you might have to get another drive for the OS.

Intel RAID migration is very limited. I suggest building the array from scratch, turning on write-back caching, and copying the data from the external backup overnight (it might take 8 hours or so). Note that you'll need to have an OS newer than XP-32 and set up the array in Disk Management as GPT if it's greater than 2 TiB.