Riddle me This. Still having problems with my raid

[Shieldwolf]

I have two sata 150 gig WD Raptor drives one in Sata 1 and Sata2 on an8slideluxe Motherboard. I setup the raid. Configuration to Raid0 and when I go to install windows. Windows tells me there is no Harddrives availble. If I turn off the raid it finds both drives and I can install windows. Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong?

[Fugitive]

Are you sure you've got all the right drivers installed (or available on a floppy, since you're installing)? There's often a different set of drivers necessary when using IDE chipsets in a RAID mode.

Edit: Looks like it's an nForce-based board, and you probably need the NvRaid Installation Disk files from this page (http://www.uabit.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=48&page=4&model=275) put on a floppy and loaded during install.

(Obligatory MAKE-SURE-YOU-DO-BACKUPS-in-a-RAID-0-discussion.)

[unbongwah]

What Fugitive said: you need to have the RAID drivers handy on a floppy when you do a fresh install of Windows. [I'm presuming you're talking XP, not Vista.] Get them from Asus's website.

[Skipper]

There's an option during install to "Install RAID Drivers" at the point before searching for a partition to install to (or perhaps it was an option on that screen once it comes up.)

After loading your drivers it should see the RAID you have created. I'll second the advice to back up. You'll get blistering hard drive speeds but double the failure rate. If you can live with that, enjoy the new speed.

[Shieldwolf]

I tried the file. I still have the same problem it tells me there is no hard drive to install windows on. I was using the raid file from the asus site for my sli deluxe board. I never get the option to partition part of the drive as the "Setup did not fnd any Hard Disk Drives installed on you computer"

[Balasarius]

Raid 0 is just plain crazy. Even raid 1 will improve your read performance.

[Skipper]

By chance are you bypassing the RAID load via your BIOS? And verify you created the new RAID volume, it should see it.

Strange though, I had no issues with an older Nforce board I did it with.

[Machfive]

Yeah, it doesn't sound like you've created the RAID volume successfully. Either you did, and the driver is a dud, or you didn't, and fixing will be it.

And for the love of all that is holy, don't do RAID 0. I thought the myth that there's a performance boost in gaming with RAID 0 was busted years ago.

[Shieldwolf]

When I tried using the those drivers fugitive linked to. I had a couple choices during install. One was Nforce and the other Nvida. I tried Nforce first. Then when it came to trying to install windows Nothing. No Hard Disk Drives detected. I tried the Nvidia (1st choice in option list during install of drirvers) that let me detect 2 drives but they weren't raided together. Finally everything I have read of late says that raid 0 is a pretty big boost to performance.


P.S. Fugitive, isn't Abit different from Asus? Would I not want to use the drivers from Asus website?

[Machfive]

Finally everything I have read of late says that raid 0 is a pretty big boost to performance.

Everything you read fails at life.

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2101&p=11

[unbongwah]

You'll get blistering hard drive speeds but double the failure rate.
Actually, probabilities don't quite work like that (http://www.counton.org/alevel/pure/purtutprocom.htm), but yes, you're increasing your risk of data loss with RAID 0.

I thought the myth that there's a performance boost in gaming with RAID 0 was busted years ago.
They're not mythic so much as kinda negligible (http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2760&p=9). Bottom line: as with RAM, high transfer rates are of little value on relatively small data. If you're working on huge data files - e.g., hi-res image or video processing - then RAID 0 may be worth the risk; for games, though, not so much.

[Skipper]

Actually, probabilities don't quite work like that (http://www.counton.org/alevel/pure/purtutprocom.htm), but yes, you're increasing your risk of data loss with RAID 0.

Full disclosure: I'm no math wiz. My last math class was in '91.

From what I understand on what you linked the probability of two independent events with the same failure rate would come out nearly double.
Drive has 2% failure rate: A and B = .02
Probability of either = P(A)+P(B)-P(A)P(B)
Probability of either = .02 + .02 - .02 x .02
Probability of either = .04 - .0004
Probability of either = .0396
Or roughly speaking ... 4%

I wasn't trying to mislead him in any way. Feel free to correct my math if I made noob mistakes here. About the only probabilities math I do anymore is calculating the probability of getting our early on Friday when my boss is out of the office.

Again, I'm not a math guy, but RAID 0 does have risks. I've lost a RAID 0 volume and it's not fun.

[unbongwah]

From what I understand on what you linked the probability of two independent events with the same failure rate would come out nearly double.
For sufficiently low probabilities, you are correct; and if you had said "nearly double" the first time, I wouldn't've complained. But "nearly double" != "double" and as both a former English major turned copy editor and a recovering math geek, it irritates me to see people repeat common errors like "double the drives, double the risk!" Well, almost, but not quite...

Just me being pedantic about words & numbers. :-)

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[ydejin]

Bottom line: as with RAM, high transfer rates are of little value on relatively small data.
Off topics, but is overclocked RAM going to have an impact on game performance, or is game data too small?

[Machfive]

Every extra bit of RAM speed will have an impact, just don't expect more than fractions of a percent.

[unbongwah]

Off topics, but is overclocked RAM going to have an impact on game performance, or is game data too small?
Not really (http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2916&p=6). Usually the main reason to overclock one's RAM (besides bragging rights) is if you need to keep your memory bus in sync with your FSB when you overclock your CPU.