need how to help with an intel raid on a P4C800-E dlx

tooltime

Golden Member
Oct 26, 2003
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I would like to set up an intel raid 0 on my P4C800E dlx but not sure where to start. I?m looking at page 5-33 in the user guide.

My system is a couple months old and is currently:
P4C 3.4
Asus P4C800-E deluxe
120G Seagate IDE as my primary drive (I would like use it as a data drive in this system.)
160G Seagate SATA drive in sata1 (used for data). I bought another one to use for the raid 0.
2G of KVR (qualified)
XP Pro
Sound card, ati video card, wifi card
Antec true420
Cdrw and a dvdrw


What I think I need to do is:
1. set the IDE configuration in the bios to ?Onboard IDE Operate Mode = Enhanced? ?Enhanced Mode Support On = S-ATA? ?Configure S-ATA as RAID = Yes? and then ?Serial ATA BOOTROM = Enabled? save my settings and power down.
2. plug both sata (Seagate) drives into sata1 and sata2 (take out the IDE drive for now
3. restart and wait for the message to ?<Ctrl-I> (is this similar to the message to hit F-6 to load SCSI drivers? But this mobo has that utility/drivers on a rom chip?)
4. follow the intel raid configuration utility to creat a new raid 0.
5. the user guide stops here?so I am guessing I ?
6. restart and boot from the cd drive with the xp pro cd inside, see the one big drive?
7. format (ntsf), partition if I want to and then install the os.
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
30,699
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Sounds like the right idea to me. Unplug any IDE hard drives for the duration of Setup to keep Windows from becoming :confused: about drive letters. Once the array exists, Windows will think it's one drive.

Bigger picture: are you sure RAID0 is better than having two independent drives for your purposes? Sometimes the ability to read from one while writing to the other... yeah.
 

tooltime

Golden Member
Oct 26, 2003
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i'm a little unsure which way to go.

i currently have my os on a ide drive plugged into the Primary ide channel. i wonder...can i leave that as is and setup a raid as a data drive without messing with an os install?

do you know what configurations are most common (os on a ide and data and apps on a raid)? i mostly surf the net, backup dvd movies, game a bit and have a some office apps
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
30,699
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0
You can build the RAID array and then it will appear in Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management as if it's one drive, which you can partition and format as desired and use as a data drive.

Not to state the obvious, but RAID0 splits each file across both drive, so if either drive has a failure, all your data goes *poof*. Is that an acceptable risk? That's your call. Personally, I'm more inclined towards SCSI for its snappiness and reliability, and I only use 7GB of my 18GB drive. But if I were you, I'd be reluctant to implement RAID0 for the purposes you're describing. Benefit v. risk, it just doesn't look worth it to me. Look at Anand's article here for some insight on what kind of results RAID0 was accomplishing in his tests using Intel's ICH5R RAID.