Combined RAID and non-RAID array?

[PghCardio]

I am getting a Gigabyte 8KNXP motherboard which has the Intel ICH5R
chip/controller as well as the SIL3112 chip/controller. I was wondering if one
was able to use 1 of the two chips to run 2 HD in a non-RAID situation and set
the other chip to run 2 RAID 0 drives. Looking at the manual for the board and
BIOS (I have ordered but not yet received the board and downloaded the manual)
it seems like the BIOS has only one SATA RAID enable or disable function. Does
that mean that one can not do what I propose above?? If not, does that mean
that with SATA RAID enabled and 4 HD you need to have either a RAID 0/1 array
or two RAID 0 arrays?? If one can not have two non-RAID and two RAID SATA
drives can you have 2 PATA non-RAID drives in combination with a SATA RAID 0
array? This is a bit confusing and I can't seem to ferret it out with the
downloaded motherboard manual that I have and am trying to figure out what HD
to purchase for the system I want to build.

Thanks.
Howard

 

[Timothy Drouillard]

On that board (which I have) there are two different SATA RAID controllers
SIL and Intel that each can support two SATA drives in RAID or normal
operation.

There is also an normal IDE RAID controller, Gigaraid, that supports 4 IDE
drives.

In addition there are the standard 2 IDE connectors that each support 2 IDE
drives.

In total, this board can support 12 drives all at the same time.

I currently run two WD Raptors in RAID 0 on the SI SATA controller, two
Seagate 160gig SATA drives on the Intel SATA RAID controller, Nothing on the
Gigaraid controller, and two optical drives on the standard IDE controller.

 

[HMSDOC]

Tim..thanks very much for your response. I would like to run 2 SATA non-RAID
discs and 2 in RAID 0 array. Looking at the BIOS I can not understand how one
would disable the RAID controller on one of the two SATA chips and not the
other.

The first related BIOS option appears to be "On-chip SATA" which will let you
manually configure SATA Port 0 and 1 and then comes "SATA RAID function" which
says it can 'enable SATA RAID function when SATA mode set to SATA Port 0 & SATA
Port 1 only (Default value)'. So I assume by setting the above in the BIOS you
can enable RAID on one of the SATA chips....though I am unsure which of the 2
chips.

The problem is then that I don't see a similar BIOS control for the second chip
clearly marked. The only things in the BIOS instruction manual that makes me
think they might be the RAID controller for the other chip are the following
items:

"Onboard H/W SATA" that can 'enable or disable onboard SATA function'


"Serial ATA Function" which can 'set onboard SATA chip function as RAID
(default value) or base.

The other RAID settings refer to GIGARAID which is the IDE RAID controller. In
addition for this GIGARAID there are BIOS settings for " GIGARAID Function" as
well as "Onboard H/W GIGARAID to enable or disable IDE RAID. So with two such
controls for GIGARAID it confuses me even more for what the H/W SATA means in
that it might refer to the earlier SATA RAID controller.

So, if you could help out with which SATA RAID controller goes to which chip
and how to separately turn the two RAID controllers on and off, I would be
very appreciative as I am holding offf on buying drives until I understand if I
can set them up the way I am anticipating.

Thanks

Howard

 

[Timothy Drouillard]

Looking in the BIOS, it appears to me that there are two sections on one of
the menus that show the SATA contollers.

Towards the top of the menu is the 'On-Chip SATA which is usually set to
'Auto'
The next line refers to the SATA RAID Function and allows you to select
'Enabled' or 'Disable.
I'm not sure which SATA controller this refers to, but it does allow you to
choose whether you want to use the RAID feature or not.
(I think this is the Intel controller since it mentions on-chip)

Further down the menu is the section for 'On-Board H/W SATA'.
Again I'm not sure which SATA controller this refers to, but it gives you a
chance to 'Enable' or 'Disable' the controller.
The next line allows you choose if you want to use it as a RAID controller
oer a 'base' controller.
(I think this is the SI controller since it mentions on-board)

Either way, the bios allows you to use each of the SATA controllers as
either a RAID controller or a standard controller.