Is there software that will monitor Hardware RAID

[Informant X]

Greetings,

I have a ASUS mobo with onboard raid. It does this in hardware. I have that all setup, was able to set it up. Have it set in RAID1 with 2 1.5TB HD's. Now my question is that this is all done in hardware. But is there any kind of software I can use that will monitor both the HD's and tell me if ones failing? Or what their health is? I mean I obviously dont' want to have to switch to software raid since I'm doing it in hardware. But is there something that will monitor hardware raid. I mean I know I set it up properly and stuff but I just would like to be able to keep tabs on each HD individually.

 

[Informant X]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131595

Also that is the motherboard I'm using. Also looking at the CD that came with the mobo I didn't really see much that could help me in this regard.

 

[Paperdoc]

Go to the ASUS website for your mobo at:

http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=ef0qgvMIwOUagAVl

and download the fifth item under "Utilities" It is a set of RAID utilities for your system. It should have the tools you need.

By the way, technically what you have is actually a software RAID system. You are physically connected to mobo ports operated by hardware. However, the hardware involved on the mobo has limited ability of its own, and actually uses the CPU, the AMD 785G Northbridge chip and other mobo resources to execute RAID management code built into the BIOS on the mobo. The term "hardware RAID" usually is used for a system (most commonly on a add-on card) that uses dedicated processor chip(s) to manage the RAID array, freeing the CPU entirely from involvement. Only a minor point. You are correct, of course, in saying that you are NOT using some "software RAID" as software from some third party, or even from Windows.

I'm not thoroughly familiar with your system. But the RAID system I have on another ASUS board (another chipset) already does monitoring of my RAID1 array in the background. In the event of problems it will pop up a notification window (which you might miss if not looking, I know!). But as you boot the machine watch the screen. One message group that flies by in text is a note about the RAID array condition. If is fails to say it is OK, use the required key press to enter the RAID management and configuration screens, and you'll find more detailed information there, plus tools to use to diagnose and fix the problem. However, it REALLY helps if you can get a manual on all this before trouble happens. So I hope the RaidXpert software from the ASUS site gives you tools AND good instructions.