Booting from RAID striped

  • Thread starter Thread starter Terry
  • Start date Start date
T

Terry

I have made an XP drivers disk for my P4SCT mobo. I have changed my
bios to RAID. I have made an array RAID 0 and made it bootable. I
have 2 SATA 160G WD hard drives.

When I run XP SP2 setup disk I press F6 and load the driver disk from
floppy.

XP asks where to install itself. I get two choices
C:Partition1 (unknown) 160
unpartitioned 160

Is this what I should see? I would expect only have one 320 drive.

TIA
 
Which SATA controller are you using?

Your mainboard includes two separate SATA controllers: the native Intel 975X
one, and a third-party one from adaptec. At a guess, you're installing the
RAID drivers for the wrong controller.

If you've lost your manual, it is available for download:

http://www.supermicro.com/manuals/motherboard/E7210/MNL-0719.pdf

(The manual isn't clearly written, unfortunately.)

HTH.

Return address scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.
 
I have no clue what SATA controler I am using.
How do I find that out?
The mobo only has two SATA ports.
I have one drive plugged into each port.

I am afraid I have read the manual. I just don't understand much of
what it is saying.

I know what a hard drive is and I know what the mobo is, but that is
about it.

The manual says make a boot disk using Intel Hance Rapids Driver
(Adaptec)
That is what I have done.
 
Terry> XP asks where to install itself. I get two choices
Terry> C:Partition1 (unknown) 160 unpartitioned 160

Terry> Is this what I should see? I would expect only have one
Terry> 320 drive.

I'm not an expert on RAID but I did what you did (but with 4
drives). The BIOS probably doesn't know anything about real RAID
(google fake RAID and you'll see what I mean) so just install XP on
partition 1. When everything is loaded, then you should have some
higher-level program to install which will let you switch RAID styles
and whatnot. At that point you will add your second disk partition
and you get to choose which RAID to use.
 
Ah. The plain P4SCT doesn't include the Marvell SATA controller.

If you've built a RAID 0 in the BIOS settings, and installed the RAID
drivers (C20 on the downloadable manual), I don't know why it didn't work.
When you were installing the drivers, did you get the screen listed in step
J (where you get to choose the "Adaptec Embedded Host Serial ATA Raid
Controller" from a list of devices)?
 
I have made an XP drivers disk for my P4SCT mobo. I have changed my
bios to RAID. I have made an array RAID 0 and made it bootable.
Click to expand...

Hello Terry,

Page C1 of the manual says that you need the Adaptec RAID drivers found
here:
http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/P4/875/P4SCT.cfm
Left Click 'Download the Latest Drivers and Utilities'. Select
'Microsoft', 'XP + SP2" and 'SATA'. Left Click 'Submit'. Left Click
'Download'.

Create a new floppy with the Adaptec drivers if needed.
I have 2 SATA 160G WD hard drives.
Click to expand...

For the sake of others reading this, they should read the other post I
wrote. There are warnings in there that should be read carefully.

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comp.hardware.pc-
homebuilt/msg/94b5418e121b0f5f

Press Ctrl-A during Power On Self Test (POST) to enter the Adaptec RAID
Configuration Utility (ARC).

Page C6 in the manual shows how to enter the Array Configuration Utility.
Then select Manage Arrays. You should see one large volume or as your
manual refers to it one large array and it should be 320 GB.

Page C7 shows how to select the disks that you will use for the array.
Did you select *both* hard drives before pressing <Enter>?

The ARC menu also allows you to format and verify your disks.

If you have created an array on only one drive, you will have to delete
the array and start over.

When recreating the array, select the first drive by pressing the <INS>
(insert) key to select the first drive. Then press the <DNArrow> (down
arrow) key once to move to the second drive. Press <INS> key again. You
should see two drives in the box on the right. Press <Enter> to finish.

If everything checks out and you have one 320 GB array, you should be
able to install XP as you have already done by pressing F6 using your
Adaptec RAID floppy.

If you still don't see one 320 GB array:
Did XP read your floppy and load the RAID drivers?

You will probably want to set up a partition smaller than 320 GB to load
XP on.

By the way, the RAID section of the manual is very good. I couldn't
state it any clearer myself. Most motherboard manuals have *no*
information at all about installing and configuring RAID.
 
Hello Terry,

Page C1 of the manual says that you need the Adaptec RAID drivers found
here:http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/P4/875/P4SCT.cfm
Left Click 'Download the Latest Drivers and Utilities'. Select
'Microsoft', 'XP + SP2" and 'SATA'. Left Click 'Submit'. Left Click
'Download'.

Create a new floppy with the Adaptec drivers if needed.


For the sake of others reading this, they should read the other post I
wrote. There are warnings in there that should be read carefully.

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comp.hardware.pc-
homebuilt/msg/94b5418e121b0f5f

Press Ctrl-A during Power On Self Test (POST) to enter the Adaptec RAID
Configuration Utility (ARC).

Page C6 in the manual shows how to enter the Array Configuration Utility.
Then select Manage Arrays. You should see one large volume or as your
manual refers to it one large array and it should be 320 GB.

Page C7 shows how to select the disks that you will use for the array.
Did you select *both* hard drives before pressing <Enter>?

The ARC menu also allows you to format and verify your disks.

If you have created an array on only one drive, you will have to delete
the array and start over.

When recreating the array, select the first drive by pressing the <INS>
(insert) key to select the first drive. Then press the <DNArrow> (down
arrow) key once to move to the second drive. Press <INS> key again. You
should see two drives in the box on the right. Press <Enter> to finish.

If everything checks out and you have one 320 GB array, you should be
able to install XP as you have already done by pressing F6 using your
Adaptec RAID floppy.

If you still don't see one 320 GB array:
Did XP read your floppy and load the RAID drivers?

You will probably want to set up a partition smaller than 320 GB to load
XP on.

By the way, the RAID section of the manual is very good. I couldn't
state it any clearer myself. Most motherboard manuals have *no*
information at all about installing and configuring RAID.
Click to expand...

Well lets forget about XP for a second.

I set my bios to RAID
I reboot and press Cntl A for Raid options.
When I pick create array I show my 2 160 Gig drives.
I have to highlight both of them to continue.
I get a report that I have one 290G array.
I set this to bootable.
I then go to disk options
I show two drives again.
I have the option to format one or the other. I don't have an option
to format the set.

Should I format each drive separately? I would think I should get an
option to format both at once.
 
Well lets forget about XP for a second.

I set my bios to RAID
I reboot and press Cntl A for Raid options.
When I pick create array I show my 2 160 Gig drives.
I have to highlight both of them to continue.
I get a report that I have one 290G array.
I set this to bootable.
I then go to disk options
I show two drives again.
I have the option to format one or the other. I don't have an option
to format the set.

Should I format each drive separately? I would think I should get an
option to format both at once.
Click to expand...

Hello Terry,

Unless your BIOS has the Adaptec drivers 'built in' which I seriously
doubt (and why you need the floppy driver disk to install XP), the BIOS
can only see one drive at a time. I'm not 100% sure about that, but that
is how it should work.

It sounds like you now have one striped 290 GB array. That's good. It
is time to start worrying about XP. I haven't used XP in a while so am
unfamiliar with the disk options during setup. You may be able to format
the array there once the Adaptec drivers are read.
 
Unless your BIOS has the Adaptec drivers 'built in' which I seriously
doubt (and why you need the floppy driver disk to install XP), the BIOS
can only see one drive at a time. I'm not 100% sure about that, but that
is how it should work.

It sounds like you now have one striped 290 GB array. That's good. It
is time to start worrying about XP. I haven't used XP in a while so am
unfamiliar with the disk options during setup. You may be able to format
the array there once the Adaptec drivers are read.
Click to expand...
I think I hit the right combination. Finally.

Thanks everyone
 
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