Trying to get my SATA RAID 1 to work...

[wpenhall]

I'm adding a second SATA hard drive to my Win2k machine and want to build a RAID 1 array (non-bootable). All the steps to do this that I've seen include the F6 driver install during Windows setup. Well, I don't want to reinstall Windows right now.

My question - if I use F6, does this also reinstall Windows? If so, is there an alternative? Can I just install the driver using the control panel?




EDIT - The above is OBE. New questions:

I have the BIOS RAID created, and the driver installed. Windows still sees the two drives as separate discs. What now?

1) Do I have to convert these drives to dynamic discs and mirror them using Computer Management? Or should this not be necessary with the nVidia driver. If I don't have to do this, how do I initialize the array?

Thanks!

 

[amdskip]

It should work like you want it:

In order to designate our hard drives as a RAID before installing Windows, we entered the VIA SATA RAID utility. To do this, we pressed TAB during bootup. We selected Create Array and then Array Mode RAID 1 (Mirroring) and RAID 1 For Data Protection. Next we chose Select Disk Drives (pressing ENTER to highlight both Maxtor 160GB drives) and then Start Create Process. The utility asked us if we wanted to copy one drive's contents to the other. We typed N for no, as there wasn't anything on either drive yet. After VIA warned us that any data on our drives would be "destoried," whatever that is, we went ahead with the array creation. Back in the main menu, we chose Select Boot Array to designate our new RAID 1 as the boot device.

From: http://www.smartcomputing.com/Editorial...ticles/2004/w1510/12w02/12w02.asp&guid

I would backup first before doing so though.

 

[wpenhall]

Thanks - but this describes how to create an array with a fresh Windows install. I want to do it without having to reinstall windows. Can I just point to the driver floppy when windows finds the new hardware?

 

[wpenhall]

One other thing - one of the drives has data on it (backed up elsewhere), and one is a clean drive. How do I designate the master drive? The BIOS tool gives me an option to rebuild the array, but I'm not sure how to tell it which is the master.

The only differentiation shown between the drives is the controller - one is on Cont 0, the other is Cont 1. The SATA designations on the mobo are SATA 1 and SATA 2. Would it be safe to assume that SATA 1 is Cont 0, and SATA 2 is Cont 2? If not, how do I tell which is which?

My mobo is the SOLTEK SL-K8AN2E-GR, nF3 250Gb.

Thanks!

 

[markkleb]

You can do what u want to as long as its raid 1. The best thing is to download the manual and it should explain how. I did it once and all it does is copy the old hard drive to the new one.
My new comp is raid 0 and I had to do fresh install. The good thing is I use win64 and it only takes 10 min to install. Oh yea its so much better and faster with a clean install.

 

[wpenhall]

Thanks - the manual only explains the F6 technique with a fresh install. If I read you right, you're saying that I can just point windows at the floppy when the found new hardware message appears after bootup.

Thanks!

Now, how do I tell which drive is on which controller?

 

[wpenhall]

I put my current question in the first post, but here it is again:

I have the BIOS RAID created, and the driver installed. Windows still sees the two drives as separate discs. What now? Do I have to convert these drives to dynamic discs and mirror them using Computer Management? Or should this not be necessary with the nVidia driver. If I don't have to do this, how do I initialize the array?

Thanks!

 

[markkleb]