Question regarding RAID on a P55 system

[Narmer]

I want to setup a Windows Server 2008R2 system. I want to set up a system that has RAID 1 for only two drives while the rest of the hard drives are dedicated to another operating system in the hypervisor.

I have an ASUS P7P55D-E Pro motherboard. In the manual, I get a warning that states: "Due to chipset limitation, when set any of SATA ports to RAID mode, all SATA ports run at RAID mode together"

However, a couple of pages down in in the same manual, it says I can select which hard drives I want in the RAID set. Does this mean that not all the disks will be in RAID mode, which contradicts the earlier warning?

My goal seems simple enough but, before I set anything up, I need to know whether I can do it or if I need to buy another controller card.

 

[Blazer7]

You don't need another controller. In the RAID BIOS just select the disks you need for the RAID. The rest will function as normal drives.

A word of advise, do not use intel's Matrix Storage drivers. Use the latest Rapid Storage Technology drivers instead.

You can find all of them here -> http://www.station-drivers.com/#37;2020raid.htm

*** edit ***

On the link above, click on drivers, intel under the chipset column and finally on Matrix Storage Manager.

 

[Narmer]

You don't need another controller. In the RAID BIOS just select the disks you need for the RAID. The rest will function as normal drives.

A word of advise, do not use intel's Matrix Storage drivers. Use the latest Rapid Storage Technology drivers instead.

You can find all of them here -> http://www.station-drivers.com/#37;2020raid.htm

*** edit ***

On the link above, click on drivers, intel under the chipset column and finally on Matrix Storage Manager.

So what about the warning? Why would they give that warning?

 

[Blazer7]

It's more of a note than a warning. What it means is that selecting RAID in the BIOS will make all HDs available for RAID. That does not mean that you have to select all HDs when creating your RAID. Those disks that won't be selected will appear as non-RAID members and will function as individual disks.

The same warning is included in the manual of my board but I didn't experience any problems running both a raid and individual HDs.

 

[Narmer]

It's more of a note than a warning. What it means is that selecting RAID in the BIOS will make all HDs available for RAID. That does not mean that you have to select all HDs when creating your RAID. Those disks that won't be selected will appear as non-RAID members and will function as individual disks.

The same warning is included in the manual of my board but I didn't experience any problems running both a raid and individual HDs.

Thank you.