Using RAID card as IDE card...possible ?

[Wind]

I hv a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CDRW & HDD. Total of IDE 4 devices.

Can I use a RAID card as a normal IDE card ? I don't intend to connect the HDD & any of those devices cause I will loose my ATA133 transfer rate. I don't intend to run RAID as well.

Any idea ?

 

[ChefJoe]

Some cards work with cd-roms and such, some dont. Same for onboard chipsets. What one do you have? I wouldn't worry about having the HD on the raid card though, usually the speed difference isn't noticeable.

 

[Wind]

Originally posted by: ChefJoe
Some cards work with cd-roms and such, some dont. Same for onboard chipsets. What one do you have? I wouldn't worry about having the HD on the raid card though, usually the speed difference isn't noticeable.

Setup
XP2200+
A7V333 (non-RAID)
Highpoint Rocket 133 RAID card.
All other devices I've mentioned above.

I inted to do: -

1. Connect CD-ROM + DVD-ROM to IDE 1 on the mobo
2. Connect the CDRW to IDE 2 on the mobo
3. Connect the HDD to the RAID card on PCI slot 3.

Do keep in mind tht I will not run RAID. I just want to use the RAID card as normal IDE card. So the question is...can I do this. If I can...how can I install WinXP (fresh install) since the HDD is connected to the RAID card?

 

[ChefJoe]

If you intend to run that way, I can tell you that I have an abit BE6-II 2.0 that I made a winXP machine. I hear you can load drivers at startup, etc, but I found it easier to make sure the raid controller's bios allowed it to be bootable, then disconnected one of the motherboard IDE cables, attached my HD to the motherboard, installed, after it was booting ok, I moved the HD to the raid controller's headers. Things worked fine for me... booted right through. That motherboard uses a hpt 370 chipset.

 

[Wind]

U mean: -

1. Connect the blank HDD to the IDE 1 first...to install WinXP.
2. After complete installation...move back the HDD to the RAID controller connector.
3. Set the RAID controller "bootable".
4. I'm set to go.

Do I get those tips right ?

Anyone else w/ other tips ?

 

[ChefJoe]

That's how I did it, though I had the controller as bootable right away. It scanned all the drives and a blank HD didn't have anything bootable.

 

[Technonut]

Anyone else w/ other tips ?

Yes... There should be no need to enter the BIOS on the RAID card.

1. Connect the blank (FDISK and Formatted) HDD to the RAID card first...to install WinXP.
2. Have the floppy disk with the HP drivers in the floppy drive.
3. Set the mobo BIOS to boot from SCSI.
4. When installing WinXP, press F6 to load the HP drivers from the floppy when prompted.

 

[Mday]

there is a need to enter into the configuration of the raid card. you have to configure the card to do single drive arrays. and most RAID cards will not let you use non-HDD drives.

 

[Technonut]

there is a need to enter into the configuration of the raid card. you have to configure the card to do single drive arrays. and most RAID cards will not let you use non-HDD drives.

If he wants to use the RAID card as a standard IDE controller, he does not have to enter into the BIOS on the RAID card. The card will auto detect the drive as a single drive when the mobo BIOS is set to boot from SCSI. I have done this with HP IDE RAID cards before. It is no different than using the HP RAID ports (as standard IDE ports) on a mobo that includes them.

EDIT: The HP Rocket RAID 133 card will only support hard drives.

EDIT:

1. Install the RAID card with the HDD connected.

2. Go into the mobo BIOS and set ALL boot devices to CDROM.

3. Boot from the WInXP CD.

4. When prompted to install any SCSI or RAID driver (it will be at the very start), press F6 to load the drivers from the floppy. When you press F6, it will not actually load the drivers at that moment. You will shortly be prompted to confirm driver installation. Pick the option to use the drivers from the floppy.

5. Install WinXP.

6. When the WinXP installation reboots for the 1st time, go back into the mobo BIOS and set the first boot device as SCSI. (if not, you will end up booting from the CDROM again)

7. Go on to complete the WinXP installation.

 

[Wind]

TQ Technonut. Solved one big q's for me. Now the 2nd Q's. I intend to setup a dual boot HDD...namely Win98se + WinXP. I know I need to setup the Win98se 1st.

So do I followed the same procedures...?

Btw, I saw over the Highpoint w/site...got a new bios + drivers (ver. 2.33). So I just format a floppy & copy those bios + drivers into the floopy right ? Is there a need to make the floppy bootable ?

 

[Wind]

Bump for more tips/advice.

 

[thorin]

Just make sure the RAID card supports JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) as well as whatever RAID level you may be interested in for future use.

Thorin

 

[Pariah]

Originally posted by: thorin
Just make sure the RAID card supports JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) as well as whatever RAID level you may be interested in for future use.

Thorin

JBOD is not what he wants. JBOD is the techno-term for spanning which means all the drives on the card will appear as one large drive without any RAID features or performance increases. He's looking for each drive to act independently as if on a standard ATA controller.

 

[thorin]

Originally posted by: Pariah

Originally posted by: thorin
Just make sure the RAID card supports JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) as well as whatever RAID level you may be interested in for future use.

Thorin

JBOD is not what he wants. JBOD is the techno-term for spanning which means all the drives on the card will appear as one large drive without any RAID features or performance increases. He's looking for each drive to act independently as if on a standard ATA controller.

My bad 🙁

Thorin