Help! PC-DL Deluxe & SATA RAID Config

[GB]

The spec for the PC-DL and the manual clearly say the the onboard RAID
controller supports RAID0+1 (I'm assuming that's also know as RAID
10).

Now RAID0+1 is a mirrored striped set and so requires a minimum of 4
disks.

So I've added my 4 SATA disks and connected them all up - but I can't
get the SATARaid utility to start.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[Leythos]

The spec for the PC-DL and the manual clearly say the the onboard RAID
controller supports RAID0+1 (I'm assuming that's also know as RAID
10).

Now RAID0+1 is a mirrored striped set and so requires a minimum of 4
disks.

So I've added my 4 SATA disks and connected them all up - but I can't
get the SATARaid utility to start.

What am I doing wrong?

You need to set both IDE SATA controllers for RAID, and you need to be
running in ENHANCED mode. The system can only handle a total of 6 drives
across ALL connectors total.

 

[DaveW]

Did you load the moterhboard's RAID drivers from a floppy like you were
supposed to?

 

[GB]

Did you load the moterhboard's RAID drivers from a floppy like you were

supposed to?

Yes, but that's only needed by the O/S the BIOS should give you the
option of setting up the RAID before the disk is needed by the O/S.

 

[GB]

OK I've worked it out.

Basically the spec is a bit misleading when it claims to support up to
4 SATA and up to 4 PATA devices in RAID 0, 1 or 0+1.

Rereading the manual;

- you can only have 2 SATA devices if you have any PATA devices
installed
- only 2 SATA devices are supported in a RAID array
- only 2 PATA devices are supported in a RAID array
- if you want RAID 0+1 (RAID10) you need to build it with 2 SATA
devices and 2 PATA devices.

Now seeing as SATA is UDMA150 but PATA is UDMA133 the two PATA devices
are going to slow down the RAID array. As you'd only choose RAID10
over RAID0 for the extra speed this seems a bit pointless (assuming
the drives keep the buses maxed out, in reality this probably isn't
the case as the physical drives will be slower unless reading from the
cache).

So to get the RAID config to come up I just had to unplug my extra 2
SATA devices and now I have a config that's "valid" for the RAID
supported by the motherboard.

My solution, spend another £75 and buy a promise S-ATA 150TX4 Plus
4Port RAID card.

 

[Leythos]

OK I've worked it out.

Basically the spec is a bit misleading when it claims to support up to
4 SATA and up to 4 PATA devices in RAID 0, 1 or 0+1.

Rereading the manual;

- you can only have 2 SATA devices if you have any PATA devices
installed
- only 2 SATA devices are supported in a RAID array
- only 2 PATA devices are supported in a RAID array
- if you want RAID 0+1 (RAID10) you need to build it with 2 SATA
devices and 2 PATA devices.

Actually, it's a total of 6 drives in any combination, but you must use
the same adapter for then in pairs - meaning you can't put one drive on
the Promise, one on the motherboard SATA, and 4 on the IDE, you could
put 2 on the Promise, 2 on the on board SATA, and 2 on one channel of
the PATA.