need some advice with a MSI k9a2 platinum.. and possibly promise RAID

[Matt]

Ok... I snagged a nasty virus on my system and decided to reinstall XP Pro.
My basic setup is 1 HD and 1 DVD r/w on my promise in JBOD mode and then a
RAID1 on the AMD all on a MSI K9A2 Platinum. When I went to reinstall the OS
and got to the format section it said that there wasn't a windows
recognizable partition on the system drive... I've had this problem before
and the solution last time was to go into the promise raid controller,
delete the drive and reassign it... well this time I deleted it and then
just as I was about to reassign it I lost power. When the power came back up
and I rebooted the system would go to the promise screen where it detects
drives and then just hangs. I pulled the drive from the system, stuck it in
another computer and formatted the drive in windows and was able to use it
in the computer. Then I put it back into my system, but it still hangs at
the promise drive detection screen. I then tried another HD and everthing
worked just fine and I was able to start the windows install.

I know the original drive works because of the switch and format in the
other computer, but my promise RAID refuses to see it now...is there any way
I can force it to detect the drive again?

 

[Paul]

Ok... I snagged a nasty virus on my system and decided to reinstall XP Pro.
My basic setup is 1 HD and 1 DVD r/w on my promise in JBOD mode and then a
RAID1 on the AMD all on a MSI K9A2 Platinum. When I went to reinstall the OS
and got to the format section it said that there wasn't a windows
recognizable partition on the system drive... I've had this problem before
and the solution last time was to go into the promise raid controller,
delete the drive and reassign it... well this time I deleted it and then
just as I was about to reassign it I lost power. When the power came back up
and I rebooted the system would go to the promise screen where it detects
drives and then just hangs. I pulled the drive from the system, stuck it in
another computer and formatted the drive in windows and was able to use it
in the computer. Then I put it back into my system, but it still hangs at
the promise drive detection screen. I then tried another HD and everthing
worked just fine and I was able to start the windows install.

I know the original drive works because of the switch and format in the
other computer, but my promise RAID refuses to see it now...is there any way
I can force it to detect the drive again?

http://download2.msi.com/files/downloads/mnu_exe/E7376v1.0.zip

IDE
- 1 IDE port by SB600
- Supports Ultra DMA 66/100/133 mode
- Supports PIO, Bus Master operation mode

SATA
- 4 SATAII ports by SB600 (SATA1~4)
- 2 SATAII ports by Promise T3 (SATA5~6), support SAS ready device
- 2 eSATA ports by Promise T3
- Supports storage and data transfers at up to 300MB/s
- 2 SATA (SATA5 & SATA6) ports and 2 eSATA ports by Promise T3
support to install storage devices only

*******

RAID devices use metadata stored in a hidden sector. (Hidden in plain
sight. It could be up near the end of the user area of the disk.) It
is possible your format operation on the other computer, didn't erase
the whole thing.

Have *only* the device to be erased connected. You can use DBAN.
DBAN can erase 99 drives simultaneously. Use the "quick" option,
as some of the others take forever.

http://www.dban.org

Another alternative, is to use an erasing option which is
part of the drive command set. There is a bit of reading
to do, before using this. In adding a feature like this
to hard drives, they have to be sure it is the user
requesting the erasure, and not malware. So most of
the complexity, is preventing accidents, rather than
making the command work.

http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml

The really funny thing about these kinds of tools,
is *none* of them promise to absolutely erase the
whole drive. It seems you cannot get a promise
from anyone, to return a drive to factory state.
Things like HPA (host protected area) may or may
not be handled properly. I find it strange, that
especially in the case of the CMRR project, that
the command to erase, is not absolute and all powerful.

Paul

 

[Matt]

Matt wrote:

http://download2.msi.com/files/downloads/mnu_exe/E7376v1.0.zip

IDE
- 1 IDE port by SB600
- Supports Ultra DMA 66/100/133 mode
- Supports PIO, Bus Master operation mode

SATA
- 4 SATAII ports by SB600 (SATA1~4)
- 2 SATAII ports by Promise T3 (SATA5~6), support SAS ready device
- 2 eSATA ports by Promise T3
- Supports storage and data transfers at up to 300MB/s
- 2 SATA (SATA5 & SATA6) ports and 2 eSATA ports by Promise T3
support to install storage devices only

*******

RAID devices use metadata stored in a hidden sector. (Hidden in plain
sight. It could be up near the end of the user area of the disk.) It
is possible your format operation on the other computer, didn't erase
the whole thing.

Have *only* the device to be erased connected. You can use DBAN.
DBAN can erase 99 drives simultaneously. Use the "quick" option,
as some of the others take forever.

http://www.dban.org

Another alternative, is to use an erasing option which is
part of the drive command set. There is a bit of reading
to do, before using this. In adding a feature like this
to hard drives, they have to be sure it is the user
requesting the erasure, and not malware. So most of
the complexity, is preventing accidents, rather than
making the command work.

http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml

The really funny thing about these kinds of tools,
is *none* of them promise to absolutely erase the
whole drive. It seems you cannot get a promise
from anyone, to return a drive to factory state.
Things like HPA (host protected area) may or may
not be handled properly. I find it strange, that
especially in the case of the CMRR project, that
the command to erase, is not absolute and all powerful.

Paul

Thank you for the information!