Please help with intel ich9r and ssd's raid

[lakerstowin]

I have 2 32gb patriot warp ssd's I use acronis true image all editions.I also have a silicon image 3132 2 port sata 2 add on raid card pci-e.I have spent like 3 hours trying to figure out why any version on acronis will not see the intel raid setup.I have set it up correctly in the bios and everything but acronis will only see the individual drives.Acronis see's it combined with the add on card.I even went as far as to enable all the drive controllers on the board,jmicron,intel and the silicon 3132.Acronis never sees the raid unless it is on the add on card even when the others are all setup correctly.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[ch33zw1z]

You explanation is confusing at best. Where does the RAID reside now? What type of RAID is it and what is it used for? If you move the RAID between controllers you have to recreate it. If you don't need the SI 3132, pull it from the system or disable it. Also, please post full system specs.

 

[lakerstowin]

I am sorry if I was not clear enough.I load windows with the raid already set on the sil add on card,I boot into windows.I install the raid drivers for the other 2 controllers,jmicron and intel.Keep in mind now I am running the raid on the sil add on card.I have 2 ssd's hooked into the intel ich9r,I then make a image from acronis and put it on a stand alone drive.I restart,go into the bios set it to intel raid just like it supposed to be.I turn the computer off.I take out the sata cable from the add on card and directly put them into the ports on the ich9r.I restart the computer,I go into the intel raid control and set up the raid configuration,everything checks out.I then reboot set my first device to cd-rom and boot of the acronis disk.Acronis see's my other stand alone drive which has the backup and 2 ssd's not a single combined drive like it does when they are on sili image controller,When I went to intel raid I disabled the silicon one in the add on cards control panel to be set as no raid.this is weird is all I know.I tried every configuration possible plus 4 different versions of acronis.My specs are:


p5k-e wifi
e8500 at 4.10
4 gb of patriot ddr2 8500
1 wd 640 gb black
2 patriot warp v2 ssd's
gtx 260 at 700\1200\1400

 

[ch33zw1z]

Originally posted by: lakerstowin
I am sorry if I was not clear enough.I load windows with the raid already set on the sil add on card,I boot into windows.I install the raid drivers for the other 2 controllers,jmicron and intel.Keep in mind now I am running the raid on the sil add on card.I have 2 ssd's hooked into the intel ich9r,I then make a image from acronis and put it on a stand alone drive.I restart,go into the bios set it to intel raid just like it supposed to be.I turn the computer off.I take out the sata cable from the add on card and directly put them into the ports on the ich9r.I restart the computer,I go into the intel raid control and set up the raid configuration,everything checks out.I then reboot set my first device to cd-rom and boot of the acronis disk.Acronis see's my other stand alone drive which has the backup and 2 ssd's not a single combined drive like it does when they are on sili image controller,When I went to intel raid I disabled the silicon one in the add on cards control panel to be set as no raid.this is weird is all I know.I tried every configuration possible plus 4 different versions of acronis.My specs are:


p5k-e wifi
e8500 at 4.10
4 gb of patriot ddr2 8500
1 wd 640 gb black
2 patriot warp v2 ssd's
gtx 260 at 700\1200\1400

I highlight what I believe may be your issue. Base on your description, it doesn't sound like you're actually creating the array on the Intel controller. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Move the array from the SI 3132 to the Intel controller? It may help to physically remove the SI 3132 from the system before booting to Acronis. Again, it doesn't sound like the array is being created on the Intel controller. Moving between controllers is always a chance, and can be tricky. Is there a reason you don't want to use the SI 3132 anymore?

 

[darkenedsoul]

You may have to contact Acronis and get an updated image with support for the ICH9R chipset. I had to do that as I set my desktop up with RAID 0 and it wouldn't see the device. Once I got the new bootable image it works fine. Check with Acronis as that sounds like what the issue may be. But upon further reading something may not be set up right on your end per ch33w1z.

Mike

 

[lakerstowin]

Thanks for the help so far guys.Dont worry it is clearly setup as a raid on the intel controller,NO DOUBT.It says it clearly when booting,both drives raid 0 array and volume 0{which I also tried to name ssd raid but that didnt work either.Whats weird it sees it fine when I am on the silicon controller.The reason I dont want to use the silicon one is believe it or not I get slower benchies and performance when using it compared to just one drive!Thats what I get trying to go cheap and using software raid.

 

[lakerstowin]

I figured it out by accident.I made the raid with the si controller and then just closed it down and put the raided drives on the intel one and started and it went fine into windows,wow.Didnt know you can do that but it worked,lol.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I didn't know you could either, my first :thumbsup: for software RAID. So can you now create the image you wanted from the OS, or was moving the RAID to Intel controller all you wanted to do?

 

[lakerstowin]

All I wanted to do was move the raid to the intel controller because the silicon one just sucks balls.I was getting less benchies and performance then 1 ssd!!!I now get 350 average read on the intel.I of course still need to find a program that will see the raid so I can make a backup.Whats weird is that acronis sees the array in windows only which really wont help me if I cant get into windows.

 

[ArizonaSteve]

So - question for lakerstowin or anyone else who's running SSD RAID 0 on an ICHR9 controller.

Is there a significant gain over a single SSD?

What is the bandwidth of the ICHR9 - is it limited to a single SATA channel (3Gb/sec) or is there more bandwidth to allow for multiple SATA lanes?

I'm thinking of getting a pair of Apex's/Titans or Vertex's (Vertices??) and running them in raid directly off my motherboard (Gigabyte EP35-DS3R).

 

[lakerstowin]

In My experience there is HUGE gain.If you run off the intel controller I get about 350 mb per sec in everest which by the way is the only benchmark program that reads ssd'd correctly.Hd tach does not either does hd tune or any of the pc mark ones. I have about 58 processes loading and about 12 apps loading in the right hand corner of windows xp and when I get into windows it just goes off like a hand grenade I mean they are pratically loaded all at once!everything is snappier and games load about half the time of one.