I'm trying to find a nice raid card that supports 64bit LBA, 3 or more SATA Ports, plugs into a PCIe 1x slot and has good performance. I'm finding a few here and there, but most have booting issue, dropping the raid and very poor performance. All i got open is a 1x pice slot. Anyone know of something that will work?
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Need Advice on a RAID Card
- Thread starter FireBean
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I'm not sure if I can use a soft raid because these are running my OS... 3, 1TB drives in Raid-0 is what I'm after. I do back up weekly and if a drive fail, it's no big deal to me.
That Marvell controlled card might be what I'm looking for.
I'm going to have to research what "bumb HBA".
I'm needing this because when ever installing vista or win7, with the 3 drives in Raid0, it creates a 2TB drive and a 700MB drive. That's not that big of a deal to me, but it just can't install. I always get the same error over and over. I've spent over 100 hours trying to make it work with 3 drives raided. I've tried 2 different mobos with the same controllers (SB750) and will just not do it with 3 drive in raid 0. I've been told that it's because I need a controller that supports 64bit LBA.
That Marvell controlled card might be what I'm looking for.
I'm going to have to research what "bumb HBA".
I'm needing this because when ever installing vista or win7, with the 3 drives in Raid0, it creates a 2TB drive and a 700MB drive. That's not that big of a deal to me, but it just can't install. I always get the same error over and over. I've spent over 100 hours trying to make it work with 3 drives raided. I've tried 2 different mobos with the same controllers (SB750) and will just not do it with 3 drive in raid 0. I've been told that it's because I need a controller that supports 64bit LBA.
You mean 2TB partition? That's normal, as MBR-style partitions can't exceed 2TB. You need GPT for >2TB support. The only "tweak" here would be using larget sectors, for example with 4KiB sectors you could have partitions up to 8TB with the old MBR partitions.
So i would look into this first, before buying another controller.
Also, i would argue having both system disk and other data on the same volume might lead to lower performance than a separate system disk and a RAID0 of the two remaining disks. That would also allow you to use software RAID0 instead. I'm assuming you have equal sized drives for a backup?
So i would look into this first, before buying another controller.
Also, i would argue having both system disk and other data on the same volume might lead to lower performance than a separate system disk and a RAID0 of the two remaining disks. That would also allow you to use software RAID0 instead. I'm assuming you have equal sized drives for a backup?
treadstone
Gawd
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@FireBean: Just a dumb question, but does your Mobo support RAID (as in ICH9R or ICH10R)?
And if so, did you try to set that up via the Intel Matrix Technology RAID BIOS first?
And if so, did you try to set that up via the Intel Matrix Technology RAID BIOS first?
@Blue Fox: Ah yes 4K/512 is x8 of course. 
@threadstone: OP is on ATi/AMD platform; thus AMD SB750 southbridge RAID drivers; not very advanced. Also AMD southbridge has poor RAID5 support; its as poor as the low-end nvidia/promise/silicon image/jmicron stuff. RAID0 and RAID1 and combinations of those are fine, and the onboard controller may be faster than an add-on controller.
@threadstone: OP is on ATi/AMD platform; thus AMD SB750 southbridge RAID drivers; not very advanced. Also AMD southbridge has poor RAID5 support; its as poor as the low-end nvidia/promise/silicon image/jmicron stuff. RAID0 and RAID1 and combinations of those are fine, and the onboard controller may be faster than an add-on controller.
@Sub.mesa: Yes, when installing windows7 74bit, I have to create the partition. It partitions out a 2TB and a ~700GB. If I try to install like this, then is just gives me the finger. It always says that it cannot boot the installation into the next phase. I can't seem to find anything that will work. Now, if I set it up as a 2 drive Raid0, then it installs just fine. I use my 3rd drive right now for the page file and back-up. They only things I back up are family photos & movies, and important documents. Stuff of that nature fits just fine on my external.
@Blue Fox: I did not know this... cool!
@Treadstone: Sub is right, the raid5 support is pretty bad. It was REALLY slow.
So, what should I do? Go for GPT(what ever the hell that is, and how to set it up), or go for bigger sector blocks?
@Blue Fox: I did not know this... cool!
@Treadstone: Sub is right, the raid5 support is pretty bad. It was REALLY slow.
So, what should I do? Go for GPT(what ever the hell that is, and how to set it up), or go for bigger sector blocks?
Last edited:
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what RAID level do you want to run?
What drives are you using?
You cannot boot from GPT partitions, so you would have to create a different volume set for the additional space.
You could always try like a HPT RocketRAID 640. Its x1 and still fakeraid like your AMD chipset, but might perform better.
The AMD chipset is spotty at best.
What drives are you using?
You cannot boot from GPT partitions, so you would have to create a different volume set for the additional space.
You could always try like a HPT RocketRAID 640. Its x1 and still fakeraid like your AMD chipset, but might perform better.
The AMD chipset is spotty at best.
Not even Win7 x64 supports booting from GPT; how weird. The only thing supported is booting from EFI; but not GPT. Right.
There is another way perhaps; do not use onboard RAID at all; just have bare disks. Install Windows to one of them. Now boot into windows and use Software RAID on partitions instead. So on each disk you would have a small 20GB partition, and the remaining capacity can be used to create a RAID5 or mirror or RAID0. At least that would boot.
There is another way perhaps; do not use onboard RAID at all; just have bare disks. Install Windows to one of them. Now boot into windows and use Software RAID on partitions instead. So on each disk you would have a small 20GB partition, and the remaining capacity can be used to create a RAID5 or mirror or RAID0. At least that would boot.
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Unfortunately that would still not work because the disks would have to be converted to dynamic disk and you can't boot from dynamic diskNot even Win7 x64 supports booting from GPT; how weird. The only thing supported is booting from EFI; but not GPT. Right.
There is another way perhaps; do not use onboard RAID at all; just have bare disks. Install Windows to one of them. Now boot into windows and use Software RAID on partitions instead. So on each disk you would have a small 20GB partition, and the remaining capacity can be used to create a RAID5 or mirror or RAID0. At least that would boot.
Ok Here is what I'm wanting to do.
3HD Raid0 with my 1TB Seagate 7200.11
I know these are the ones that are prone to the click of death, but they have been fine for over a year. But I just want EVERYTHING under a C Drive (because I'm lazy)
I can't even fit more hard drives into my case because my currently water loop is going to take all available space unless I get fancy with some custom made brackets.
So, do you guys think that 4k sector blocks will fix my problem?
3HD Raid0 with my 1TB Seagate 7200.11
I know these are the ones that are prone to the click of death, but they have been fine for over a year. But I just want EVERYTHING under a C Drive (because I'm lazy)
I can't even fit more hard drives into my case because my currently water loop is going to take all available space unless I get fancy with some custom made brackets.
So, do you guys think that 4k sector blocks will fix my problem?