Getting RAID to work on the ASUS Maximus SE

Greetings,

I can't even get my Raid 0 array on the 3x1TB drives to display as Bootable. I upgraded the BIOS from v602 to v802, hoping this illusive "Raid Boot-Rom" option would appear rendering the array Bootable but the option is still nowhere present that I can see.

Other relevant details...
- Running v802 Bios for Maximus Formula (Non-SE)
- IMSM displays the raid array as Bootable: No
- I'm using the latest Intel ICH9R Drivers v7.8.0.1012
- Latest drivers do nothing to make my raid array visible during Vista64 Ultimate setup
- The drives went in straight from the box so they probably haven't been initialized, if that's a prerequisite. If it is, perhaps someone could direct me to a prepackaged boot-img with the utilities and drivers to simplify the task.

Thanks in advance,
Pacal

Hi guys, first post on this board :)

I just put a system together and I'm in the midst of trying to get the raid to work so I can do the fun stuff like cable management ;)

First, here are system specs:

vista 64bit
Maximus Formula
E8400 w true120x and sflexf
8g Gskill pc8000
corsair 620w psu
his radeon 3870x2
soundblaster xgamer
wd raptor 150g for os
2 barracuda 7200.11 500g's that I want to raid0.

Here is what I've done: I first updated the bios to 1004. Then I installed only the raptor and loaded the os. I updated all relevant drivers there, or so I thought. Then I plugged in the barracudas and tried to raid them immediately. os wouldn't load, kept going back to bios, so I de-raided them.

Then I initialized them and tried again with the same result. I downloaded the iata78_enu.exe and when i try to run that it says my system doesn't have the requirements or some such. Do I need to put that on my ext hd and reinstall windows and do the f6 thing to install the new raid drivers, or is there a workaround so I don't have to?

Thanks for all your help!

:welcome:

Firstly, Vista x64 comes with the required RAID drivers for the ICH9R chipset.

It's possible to configure raid in Windows (software raid), although it's better for performance if it's configured outside the OS.

I think this has already been covered, but I'll run through the basics again:

1. Enter BIOS and configure SATA to RAID
2. Reboot and at the prompt, press '<CTRL>' + 'I' to enter RAID setup
3. Select the drives you want in the RAID with appropriate settings and then exit the utility
4. Install Vista64

The RAID should be visible to select during installation without needing to install any additional drivers.

If you have any problems after following the above procedure, then please repost with details.

Hope this helps.

so basically you're saying if I had set the barracudas up for raid before I'd installed the os I'd have been ok?

I tried the software raid and that didn't work.

so reinstall windows then?

Correct. Once the SATA is configured to RAID (BIOS) and the drives assigned to a RAID array (RAID configuration utility), then the array should be available during Vista installation.

Unfortunately, this does mean you will need to reinstall the OS if you want the best possible performance gain from your RAID.

so can I just go to the bios, set the hd setup to raid, set the raid array in the intel matrix controller, reboot, then go back to the bios and set it to boot from cd and is there an option to reinstall windows?

is that the procedure? I haven't reinstalled an os on a setup like this in quite some time.

That's pretty much it. Here's a couple of pics from an earlier post:

BIOS SATA Configuration - set to RAID

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f9/laserskys/bios.jpg


Intel Matrix Storage Manager (after hitting <CTRL> + I at the prompt) - assign disks to RAID array:

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f9...kys/matrix.jpg

As you stated, you will also need to re-enter BIOS to set the CD/DVD to 1st boot device (and also to set the RAID array to the 1st HDD).

Note that the action of setting the SATA configuration to RAID may prevent you from booting into the existing Vista on the Raptor as different drivers are used in Windows based on this BIOS setting (if the previous setting was IDE - should be no problem if your previous setting was AHCI). However, if you do have any problems and need to go back to this OS, then resetting the SATA configuration to it's previous setting should allow everything to work as before.

yep, no issue's with those screenies... and yes the issue you mentioned of going from ide to raid is exactly what I've been experienceing-no os load...

once the raid array is created will setting it to hdd 1 influence where the os is installed-since I want it on the raptor?

I'm doing what you've said right now.

I set config to raid, created the array in intel matrix, went back to bios-set raid array as hs 1, raptor as hd 2, and set to boot from cd.

i'll update as I go.

eta: ok, install window finally loaded-I assume I choose install now not repair your computer?

You stated that you want the OS on the Raptor and not on the the RAID (which I missed in your 1st post).

For this, then you should set the Raptor to 1st HDD so that the system knows which hdd to boot from.

This still leaves the problem of the existing Vista installation not booting due to the change of SATA configuration. I'm going to check if there's a workaround for this that will not require a new install. I'll report back in a few mins if you can wait.

ok - just checked and it may be possible to do this without reinstalling Vista.

Before changing the SATA configuration in BIOS to RAID, go into Vista device manager and try and install the AHCI drivers.

Here's the forum where I found the info. Give it a try - could save you some time.

Let me know if you need further help with the installation (haven't read it in detail yet, but looks good).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Exahertz

Whow how are you gettin a burst speed of 2570.8 Mb/s while DK DEVIL and I are only in the 250s?????? Is that number real??

---

it's a bug in the software

aoe- I'm not concerned about reinstalling the os, I haven't loaded anything important on the system because I was anticipating having to reload it because of this raid issue. should I just switch the raptor to hdd 1 and boot from disc again?

Having now read the forum post in more detail, this seems to be the procedure for adding the driver in Vista:

Quote:

---

In Device Manager select you IDE/Sata cotroller
and properties and selected updriver. The select browse my computer for
driver software. Select let me pict from list. In the screen untick the
box "show compatible hardward". Scroll dowwn under the Manufactuer
column and select the Standard AHCHI driver and select next. This should
the Microsoft AHCI driver. Reboot. Then go into the bios and change your
IDE configuration to AHCI. Once your reboot you can then install the
AHCI driver for your particular motherboard.

---

My apologies for not noticing earlier that you wanted to use the same HDD for the Vista installation.

There should be no problem switching the SATA configuration back to IDE in order to perform this task, then switching back again. Your RAID array should still be intact once the SATA has been set back to RAID mode.

However, if you prefer to reinstall, then this also is fine (and may be the better option to keep everything clean). The Raptor should be defined as the 1st HDD as this is the one that will have the OS.

Note that you may need to reactivate Vista whichever solution you use as it may be detected as a hardware change (commented on in the forum post linked earlier).

ok, I'm now at a screen that asks wher eI want to install windows. I obviously want to put it on the raptor-it gives an option to format the drive, I should do that right?

there's also a load driver option-is there any need to see about putting that iata78_enu.exe file on to the raptor after I format?

eta: I formatted it, just curious about the driver now.

When reinstalling, it's always best to reformat. I tend to choose 'Quick format' to save time.

You should not need any additional drivers for SATA when doing a reinstall as all necessary drivers should be contained on the Vista installation DVD.

ok good. reinstalling is gogogo =P

install appears to be successful, downloading updates atm, then i'll get all my drivers again-then we can do some benchmarks =)

I'm all set up again, the raid array appears in the device manager but doesn't show up on my computer and I don't know how to access it. any tips?

You'll need to go into Computer Management and enable/format the disk. It can be found under Administrative Tools in the Control Panel. Once there, select Disk Management under Storage and then right-click the drive. There should be an option to format.

ok, I went in and initialized it.

when I right click it, it only gives the option for new simple volume, properties and help. should i go through the simple volume wizard?

Yeah - simple volume wizard should do the trick :up:

ok, been gone for awhile. the volume has formatted-it shows it as 931.5g. shouldn't the raid0 of 2 500g drives be ~465 like it shows in the intel matrix controller? or is the 931g just what the disk manager shows?

I'm gonna restart and then do some benching.

Each 500GB hdd has a formatted capacity of around 465GB.

In RAID0 (stripe), half the data is written to each drive increasing read/write times, and you add the capacity of each drive resulting in a total array capacity of around 930GB as you currently have.

If you were to choose RAID1 (mirror), then all data is written to both drives improving data security and the array capacity would be the same as the capacity of each drive (465GB).

Sounds like you're good to go.

yup, it's been working just fine. I'll post some screens of benchs here, so we can analyze them...

eta:
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...telmatrix1.jpg

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...150ghdtune.png

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...aid0hdtune.png

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...aptorbench.png

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...a2500g7200.jpg

I don't think I'm getting optimal performance-but you guys know better than me... If there's any other info that would help, let me know. So, any suggestions?

I must need a faster cpu or something. here's my 2 wd 74 gig in raid 0