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Problem after Changing my SSD Configuration

M

manderson

Member
Have a Samsung 850 Pro that was setup on one SATA3 port with ports set in BIOS as RAID. One port was empty and the other two had a mirrored 2TB HDD volume. The Marvell controller also has 2TB mirrored volume.

Everything was running fine like this, but I wanted to change to ACHI mode to get the best performance from my SSD. So I changed it the BIOS and used Windows 7 OS to create the mirrored volume.

Everything is running fine. But the HDD led is lit constantly solid. This is the only problem and I just don't understand it. I thought at first it might be trim or GC running, but that wouldn't take very long, and the led remains solid.

This is more of an annoyance, but I thought someone here might have an idea. I'll just use it as is if I have to. SSD is definitely showing improved performance. I used the Samsung Magician software to tweak everything. Random Read and Writes are a bit under the bar in the benchmark at 57644 and 49465.

I just wish I knew why this HDD LED is staying lit solid. Motherboard is an ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe.
 
Are the HDDs active? I wouldn't be surprised if it's resilvering, and just taking forever.

I don't understand why you had RAID but went to AHCI, though. You will not get any performance increase from changing the SSD from 6Gbps w/ NCQ to 6Gbps w/ NCQ, while you very well can, and possibly did, degrade your RAID array.
 
Cerb said:
Are the HDDs active? I wouldn't be surprised if it's resilvering, and just taking forever.

I don't understand why you had RAID but went to AHCI, though. You will not get any performance increase from changing the SSD from 6Gbps w/ NCQ to 6Gbps w/ NCQ, while you very well can, and possibly did, degrade your RAID array.
Click to expand...
The HDD's are active and working fine. Everything works perfectly except the blasted HD led is solid. It's been two days. Are saying there is no real improvement running an SSD in AHCI mode as opposed to RAID? Are you saying the RAID is degraded by using Windows OS software as opposed to a hardware RAID config on the 2TB HDD's?

The only reason I changed is because Samsung said the SSD should be in AHCI mode for optimal performance. I never had any problem with my Crucial M4 when the BIOS was set to RAID, but I never tried AHCI mode to see if it would perform better.
 
manderson said:
The HDD's are active and working fine. Everything works perfectly except the blasted HD led is solid. It's been two days. Are saying there is no real improvement running an SSD in AHCI mode as opposed to RAID?
Click to expand...
Indeed. Intel's RAID mode is a superset of AHCI. A drive not in an array will behave the same as if it were in AHCI mode.

Are you saying the RAID is degraded by using Windows OS software as opposed to a hardware RAID config on the 2TB HDD's?
Click to expand...
Neither. By Intel's software, if it is. You should see it somewhere in the RST software, if that's the case. Intel's RAID is 'hardware' only to the point of getting the OS booting. Then, it's software. If the Marvell controller is using a different RAID firmware and driver, I'm sure it's the same type of setup.

2 days does seem like an awfully long time for a mirror, though. It usually shouldn't take more than 3-5x as long as if you were to read the drive from beginning to end.
 
Thanks for the help. Let me clarify that the SSD is not mirrored. SSD is single drive running only OS and apps. The four 2TB HDD's are RAID1 for two 2TB volumes and all user folders and data are kept on the RAID HDD's.

The slight noticeable performance improvement is probably just the new Samsung drive.

I'll let it go a couple of days. Might just leave it alone since it's working fine. Maybe set it back to RAID. It's not really a big deal, just don't like things I can't figure out.
 
I also set my Intel SATA Controller in RAID Mode. I run a single 256MB 840 Pro as a boot drive - NOT part of an array; which is ACHI Mode and have 2 500GB WD Blacks in RAID 0 as a Playground Drive as Array Members and a 1 TB WD Black - Not a member of an Array as a Storage and Backup drive. One Optic Drive and a spare SATA interface to attach an auxiliary Sata drive if need be.

I've no issues with this set up but be aware Samsung Magician is useless when their SSD's are mounted on the Intel SATA Controller enabled in RAID Mode.

You should install Intel's Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) RAID Driver for best performance under this setup.

TRIM works when their SSD is not a member of an array but can't say TRIM works if their SSD's are a member of an array.

I wish a member here with Samsung SSD's mounted on the Intel SATA Controller enabled in RAID Mode and being a member of an array would run "trimcheck-0.4.exe" and report back if TRIM is working as I'm contemplating 2 x's Samsung 280 Pro's in RAID 0 for a boot Drive and Games.
 
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This is somewhat what I was doing with my previous configuration. However, I am understanding you to say that if the BIOS is set to RAID, and my SSD is NOT part of an array, then trim will still function. This may be where I have been mistaken. I thought trim was disabled as soon as I selected RAID in the BIOS, although I was not concerned because the drives built in function should handle this cleanup operation effectively.

I have not installed the IRST software. I've always considered it unnecessary overhead. I installed Windows 7 on the SSD and then merely went to disk management, selected the two HDD's and created a mirrored volume. The second mirrored volume was already configured through the Marvell Controller. Everything seems to be working fine. It's just the blasted HD led stays solid.

Z15CAM said:
I also set my Intel SATA Controller in RAID Mode. I run a single 256MB 840 Pro as a boot drive - NOT part of an array; which is ACHI Mode and have 2 500GB WD Blacks in RAID 0 as a Playground Drive as Array Members and a 1 TB WD Black - Not a member of an Array as a Storage and Backup drive. One Optic Drive and a spare SATA interface to attach a spare Sata drive if need be.

I've no issues with this set up but be aware Samsung Magician is useless when their SSD's are mounted on the Intel SATA Controller enabled in RAID Mode.

You should install Intel's Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) RAID Driver for best performance under this setup.

TRIM works when their SSD is not a member of an array but can't say TRIM works if their SSD's are a member of an array.

I wish a member here with Samsung SSD's mounted on the Intel SATA Controller enabled in RAID Mode and being a member of an array would run "trimcheck-0.4.exe" and report back if TRIM is working as I'm contemplating 2 x's Samsung 280 Pro's in RAID 0 for a boot Drive and Games.
Click to expand...
 
Using plain Windows RAID 1, unusual in these modern times!
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Whatever - Depends on how you want to design your System.

I can't express the importance of installing the latest Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) RAID Driver v13.2.4.1000 - ToDate.

Perhaps after installing this latest Intel RST Dvr works with the latest version of Samsung Magician when you mount your Samsung SSD on your MB Intel SATA Controller enabled in RAID Mode.

I for one am not afraid to setup a RAID-0 SSD Boot and in-cooperate a RAMDisk platform.
 
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Z15CAM said:
I can express the importance of installing the latest Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) RAID Driver v13.2.4.1000 - ToDate.
Click to expand...

Why do you feel it is so important? I did use it early on with my first SSD, a Crucial C300. I installed an update and it blew up my system - "no operating system detected". Haven't touched it since, and I've never had a problem. Easy enough to see if there was a problem with one of the RAID drives in post boot.
 
Why do you feel it is so important? I did use it early on with my first SSD, a Crucial C300. I installed an update and it blew up my system - "no operating system detected". Haven't touched it since, and I've never had a problem. Easy enough to see if there was a problem with one of the RAID drives in post boot
Click to expand...
Been there done that - You have to be a System BackUp Expert to trouble shoot a lot of this CRAP. Besides and no doubt Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) RAID Driver v13.2.4.1000 is FAST - Remember we are discussing a Samsung SSD mounted on an Intel SATA Controller in RAID Mode - Whether it is or is not a Member of an Array.

I don't propose to know it all but I want you to Hic-Up into realizing that you can waste your life in a virtual world - LOL.

I apologize for my editing but I battle CRAFT Disease, Dialexia and can't spell.
 
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Cerb said:
Are the HDDs active? I wouldn't be surprised if it's resilvering, and just taking forever.
Click to expand...

Good call. Looks like you were correct. This morning it's acting like a completely normal HD LED.

Nonetheless, appreciate the input and good conversation.
 
I think we were discussing the issue of TRIM under RAID-mode early this year. I'm pretty sure all the shortcomings have been fixed. I just wouldn't know it firsthand . . . because . . .

I chose to convert to AHCI-mode just so I could experiment with Samsung RAPID. And at the time, I also wanted to make sure I had the TRIM coverage.

If RAID0 floats your boat for two or more SSDs, I say -- go for it. Whether or not RAPID caching offers more than simply improved benchmark results is an issue that may never be entirely resolved. I haven't had any problems with it, and I don't have any problems with other RAM-caching programs that work in either SATA mode.

On the matter of the continuous HDD activity LED, this problem arose for me when I wanted to use a PCI-E SATA-III RAID0/1/10 card. I contacted the manufacturer tech-support. Other advice suggested it was a result of the interaction of my drive-pooling and scanning software with the hardware. The controller manufacturer gave their own excuses. The consensus was to simply unplug the LED wiring and disable it.

Of course, we'd all feel more comfortable to see an LED light which truly reflects drive activity, but it's not a hard and fast necessity.
 
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Hello all,
I recently bought 4 samsung 850 pro 256gb ssd drives. I had the intention of putting them in raid 0 to get some super out of this world off the charts I/O speeds. I have a pretty beastly AMD rig. Asus Crosshair V Z mobo, AMD FX9590 Black Edition, 16gb 2400Mhz Gskill ram, 3x Radeon R9 290 all of it watercooled. Anyways, I installed the 4 ssd's the other day and I used the on-board raid drivers, (Option Rom) and set it all to default settings (read ahead/write back) all the good stuff. I didn't change anything in the create LD menu in Option Rom while setting it up. Well, I ran some benchmarks as soon as I booted, and was very disapoined to be getting 1150/1250 read/write. Keep in mind that Samsung 850 pro is pretty much the best ssd out right now without going the PCI express route. I should be getting close to, if not over 2000/2000. Well then, I found out that I couldn't enable "Rapid Mode" through the included Samsung software while running Raid. So i decided to re-do the array with only 3 drives and try one of them in rapid mode.
The results i got from rapid mode were out of this world. something like 3500/3700 read/write on ATTO disk benchmark. So naturally i reinstalled windows on the Rapid Mode SSD. So now I'm left with a 3-way raid 0 that's not living up to its potential. Because I'm still getting like 1150/1250 read write speeds with ATTO. I should be getting like 1400-1500. I even tried taking down the array on Option Rom and try running it on windows diskmanager with a "striped drive". Which still yielded the same results. Will someone with some experience PLEASE HELP!!!! I feel like I wasted my money on these drives. I cant find anywhere on the internet how to fix this problem. Thank you
 
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