What is Raid?

[ale]

Hello,

I have an Asus P4R800-V deluxe motherboard with WINXP pro and 5 devices I'd
like to connect simultaneously: 2 Ultra-Ata 133 hard disks and 3 CD-RW /
DVD-ROM / DVD-RW
drives.
At the moment I use the typical 2 x UltraDMA connectors for use with the 2
hdisks and
2 drives, leaving the DVD-ROM out.
The problem is: I noticed the MB has a Sis 180 RAID controller which
supports 1xUltraDMA and 2xSerial ATA hard drives.
Since I have no idea what a RAID setup is (please explain! Raid 0,1, 0+1?) I
ask: can I use this extra IDE connector to connect my secondary hard disk?
If so, what kind of cable is required? Is it maybe preferable to connect to
the RAID controller the main (faster-bigger) hard disk or better
use the current Primary Master Ide connector setup for this? Is the RAID
better in performance, or should I put there the secondary hard disk?
(older-kind of crap).

Thanks a lot

 

[Alvin Brown]

Hello

See the link below and READ, also your computer
manual does tell you how to setup a raid also

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RAID.html


Alvin

 

[ale]

Hello

See the link below and READ, also your computer
manual does tell you how to setup a raid also

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RAID.html

Thanks for the immediate reply. This link, while informative about RAID
itself doesn't answer any of my questions,
actually it confuses me more with the remark "...but aren't generally
necessary [RAID] for personal computers... "
Also it seems that RAID only works/makes sense for pairs of hard disks, and
I only need to connect one there..?
The Asus manual is brief to the extreme, only mentioning what you can do,
but nothing on why and how.
Sure, I could research more on the net or just connect the hd and find out,
but I preferred to have a go
to the real experts over here.

 

[Stan Kay]

I am no great expert but I run a system using RAID so here are my simplistic
explanations:-

1. RAID cannot operate with only one disk - it requires two or more
identical discs
2. There are a number of versions of RAID each designed for a specific
purpose.
3. RAID 0, also known as a "Stripe" spreads files over two discs and so
allows the PC to read and write simultaneously to both disks. RAID 0 is
therefore designed to increase speed.
4. RAID 1, also known as "Mirroring", automatically keeps a copy of the
first disk on the second disk. RAID 1 is therefore designed for to improve
security because if one disk fails the other keeps working the PC working.

There are numerous other forms of RAID designed to achieve combinations of
the two basic forms but they will require more than two discs.

There is a lot more to RAID but will pause here to see if this helps.

Regards,

Stan

Hello

See the link below and READ, also your computer
manual does tell you how to setup a raid also

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RAID.html

Thanks for the immediate reply. This link, while informative about RAID
itself doesn't answer any of my questions,
actually it confuses me more with the remark "...but aren't generally
necessary [RAID] for personal computers... "
Also it seems that RAID only works/makes sense for pairs of hard disks,
and I only need to connect one there..?
The Asus manual is brief to the extreme, only mentioning what you can do,
but nothing on why and how.
Sure, I could research more on the net or just connect the hd and find
out, but I preferred to have a go
to the real experts over here.

 

[ale]

I am no great expert but I run a system using RAID so here are my
simplistic explanations:-

1. RAID cannot operate with only one disk - it requires two or more
identical discs

Thanks, bottom line is that I can't use it, since it requires 2 identical
hard disks which is hardly my case.
And I can't just buy a SATA hard disk and ditch the older IDE one since it
would take 2 identical SATA hard disks.
I guess it comes down to plugging-unplugging the CD-RW and the DVD-ROM as I
am doing now, unless there's some sort of IDE
adapter-multiplier, like a scart-cable multiplier or sth. but I doubt this
sort of thing can be done, even if it is just to avoid plug-unplug.
Thanks again.

 

[NobodyMan]

Hello

See the link below and READ, also your computer
manual does tell you how to setup a raid also

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RAID.html

Thanks for the immediate reply. This link, while informative about RAID
itself doesn't answer any of my questions,
actually it confuses me more with the remark "...but aren't generally
necessary [RAID] for personal computers... "
Also it seems that RAID only works/makes sense for pairs of hard disks, and
I only need to connect one there..?
The Asus manual is brief to the extreme, only mentioning what you can do,
but nothing on why and how.
Sure, I could research more on the net or just connect the hd and find out,
but I preferred to have a go
to the real experts over here.

Given that RAID is an acronym for "Redundant Array of Inexpsive
Drives" you have to have more than one. How many depends on what
version of RAID you want to implement and how much money you want to
spend.

Personally, I feel that 99% of home computer users have no need to
partake of RAID, but that is of course just an opinion.

 

[joust in jest]

RAID = Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks

As the word "array" implies, RAID requires two or more hard disks attached
to a RAID control card.

 

[Guest]

You don't always have to have more than one device attached to it.

If your configuration supports RAID SPAN (or RAID JBOD), which isn't widely
supported, it should work with just one device. RAID SPAN is considered a
JBOD (Just a Bundle Of Disks [I think that's what it stands for]) and devices
have no relationship to one another. JBOD really isn't RAID at all but some
of the newer RAID configurations support it. You'd have to consult your
motherboard manual about this but from what I remember, most Asus boards
don't support it.

With a JBOD configuration, however, all your attached disks will act as one
large "virtual drive". So if you put a 30gb and a 40gb HDD on a RAID SPAN,
you will have a 70gb drive.

With a little bit of work, RAID SPAN configurations can often be used with
non-HDD devices, such as optical drives.

Regards,
LargeNostril

 

[Rube]

Most modern motherboards that have ATA RAID will allow you to attach a
single drive as a RAID 0 volume. However, you cannot connect ATAPI devices
(CD-ROMs) to RAID controllers. You would have to do the following:

ATA RAID Controller: Single channel (1 cable, 2 devices)
Connect 2 HD's here

Regular IDE1 & IDE2: Dual channel (2 cables, 4 devices)
Connect all your CD/DVD devices here.

Read Chapter 5 of your manual to setup the RAID arrays.

 

[NobodyMan]

Thanks, bottom line is that I can't use it, since it requires 2 identical
hard disks which is hardly my case.
And I can't just buy a SATA hard disk and ditch the older IDE one since it
would take 2 identical SATA hard disks.
I guess it comes down to plugging-unplugging the CD-RW and the DVD-ROM as I
am doing now, unless there's some sort of IDE
adapter-multiplier, like a scart-cable multiplier or sth. but I doubt this
sort of thing can be done, even if it is just to avoid plug-unplug.
Thanks again.

You do know they make IDE expansion cards that add more IDE channells
to your computer, right?

 

[Chris Kusmierz]

Hello,

I have an Asus P4R800-V deluxe motherboard with WINXP pro and 5 devices I'd
like to connect simultaneously: 2 Ultra-Ata 133 hard disks and 3 CD-RW /
DVD-ROM / DVD-RW
drives.
At the moment I use the typical 2 x UltraDMA connectors for use with the 2
hdisks and
2 drives, leaving the DVD-ROM out.
The problem is: I noticed the MB has a Sis 180 RAID controller which
supports 1xUltraDMA and 2xSerial ATA hard drives.
Since I have no idea what a RAID setup is (please explain! Raid 0,1, 0+1?) I
ask: can I use this extra IDE connector to connect my secondary hard disk?
If so, what kind of cable is required? Is it maybe preferable to connect to
the RAID controller the main (faster-bigger) hard disk or better
use the current Primary Master Ide connector setup for this? Is the RAID
better in performance, or should I put there the secondary hard disk?
(older-kind of crap).

Thanks a lot

I don't know about your board but I have an ABIT KT7A w/RAID. This board has
4 IDE ports which can be configured for RAID or they can be used as
additional IDE channels supporting up to 8 IDE drives.

Check your documentation.


HTH
Chris

 

[ale]

Most modern motherboards that have ATA RAID will allow you to attach a
single drive as a RAID 0 volume. However, you cannot connect ATAPI devices
(CD-ROMs) to RAID controllers. You would have to do the following:

ATA RAID Controller: Single channel (1 cable, 2 devices)
Connect 2 HD's here

Regular IDE1 & IDE2: Dual channel (2 cables, 4 devices)
Connect all your CD/DVD devices here.

Read Chapter 5 of your manual to setup the RAID arrays.

Thanks everyone, I'll try Rube's suggestion and let you know. The manual
mentions Raid 0, 1, and 0+1 are supported
but there's a screenshot where the JBOD option is also available. I'm not
sure whether I'll have to format the HD's though.

 

[ale]

Rube's thing worked. I connected both Hd's to the raid ATA connector and
only one was recognized. Didn't bother much with this, I left just one there
and connected the other 4 devices to the Primare/Secondary IDE. I' don't
think it can boot from the raid HD but that's ok, WinXp recognizes the raid
HD just fine.

Thanks again.