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Munch

New Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2013
I have an old i7 920 pc with a gigabyte X58 UD4P mobo running windows 7. I am getting raid errors with my 2 samsung 500 gb drives and noticing performance issues on my pc. I think one HD is getting ready to die on me.
My question is which SSD should I get? I am going to go single boot drive and use a 1tb HD as storage. Would the samsung 840 pro be a good choice? My mobo only support SATA II, Will I have any issues upgrading? I plan to do a clean install of Windows 7.

Thanks, Munch
 
With SATA2 you will be limited to transfer speeds of around 280MB reads and 280MB writes.

THere are several solid SSD's out. The Samsung 840 Pro is great, So is the Vertex 4, OCZ Vector, AData XPG SX900, as well as the Sandisk Extreme II (all reviewed on the front page actually).
 
Thanks

I appreciate your responses, When I get the new drive can I just remove old raid drives and pop SSD in and format and install OS? I'm not sure if there is any issue with Raid being setup or not. I think my budget will probably hit the 256gb SSD's so I will just have to decide on a drive. Anyone have experience with my Mobo and configuration, and upgrading to an SSD?
 
I would go into the BIOS and change from RAID to AHCI, just to keep the RAID controller from starting up every time the computer boots.

Shortens the startup time some.
 
thanks

I would go into the BIOS and change from RAID to AHCI, just to keep the RAID controller from starting up every time the computer boots.

Shortens the startup time some.

Seems like a good idea....:D
 
installing SSD

Can anyone point me in the direction of a good step by step to remove my raid array and install the single SSD that I will be getting on Wed. the 31st? I just want to make sure I don't miss something in the Bios or raid control setup. I have never gone from a raid0 to single drive, so I'm a little worried I will miss something. also after I remove the raid drives can I run disk check on each one later to figure out which one is failing?

Sorry for the beginner questions... Munch
 
Sats port

Set it up to AHCI in the bios instead of raid and install windows. :)

Thanks, One question I am having is, could I possibly be having a mobo issue here? I am getting raid errors and system slow downs, to the point of needing to hard reset my system. When my system slows I notice no hard drive light or sounds of drive activity. On my mobo I have two different options of sata controllers to chose from.

South Bridge:
6 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2_0, SATA2_1, SATA2_2, SATA2_3, SATA2_4, SATA2_5) supporting up to 6 SATA 3Gb/s devices
Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

GIGABYTE SATA2 chip:
1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices
2x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (GSATA2_0, GSATA2_1) supporting up to 2 SATA 3Gb/s devices
Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1 and JBOD

I have my Raid0 set on the South Bridge ports now. Could the South Bridge be the issue? Could I use the Gigabyte SATA2 chip instead, or am I totally lost in my thinking? Either way I will be replacing drives tomorrow night.

thanks
 
I think he just listed exactly what the manual says is the setup...no?

You can try putting the the R0 on the Giga SATA2, sure. Seeing as how you do not have SATA3 in the first place, it doesnt matter too terribly much which port the SSD is on (normally you would want it on the native intel, what you are calling gigabyte, ports).
 
It seems ED its a little more to it than just plugging in a Sata Cable, if i have the right Mobo manual. He needs to read it and change some settings and it also looks like there are different places to plug in as well as running on different Chips on his board. AJ.
 
thanks, confused

It seems ED its a little more to it than just plugging in a Sata Cable, if i have the right Mobo manual. He needs to read it and change some settings and it also looks like there are different places to plug in as well as running on different Chips on his board. AJ.

This is where I am confused..... I will try to install on the Sata port that had my raid array on and see how it goes. I entered Bios and found where I need to change to AHCI, should I change the other one(Gigabyte controller) to AHCI also? Planning on working on my system tonight, what a pain!
 
*sigh*, let me look at the manual and see what is up...

I looked at the manual (starting on page 89) and didn't see anything worth mentioning outside of the normal process to install a RAID array which I assumed the OP already knew since he has a RAID array setup already. The Gigabyte ports are the White ones and support R0,1, and JOBD, while the other are the blue and I believe support the same or more (not sure).

So basically, you have TWO controllers to which I believe you can set each independently as AHCI/IDE/RAID. The Giga (which is what I said to install your SSD on), and the other controller (where you put your RAID I believe and are having issues). Now, if your RAID array was on the Giga controller initially, you will have to keep it there and put the SSD in the blue ports, or break the array and rebuild it on the other controller as you cannot take that RAID array intact to a new controller.

I hope that helps a bit. But definitely check out the manual for help if you need it. Here is a link from the giga site instead of a potentially questionable 3rd party link... http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/motherboard_manual_ga-ex58-ud4p_e.pdf



EDIT: So let's start over. You are breaking the RAID array and going single SSD, right? Do you want to use the mechanical HDD's as individual drives now? What will you be doing with those?

EDIT2: OK, reread the thread... you will need to break and rebuild your HDD RAID array (and will lose the data) if you switched it from the Giga ports to the other(blue) ports. You cannot switch controllers on a RAID array without breaking it. If you dont want to/cant break the array, move it back to the Giga ports and setup the SSD on the other ports (you should put the SSD on the Giga ports for best performance, note).

So basically...

If you do not want to break the array, put the HDD's back on the SATA ports they were on in RAID mode and the SSD on the other controller in AHCI mode. If the RAID array was setup on the giga ports, your SSD performance will be lower than with it on the Giga ports. To that end, I recommend putting the SSD on the Giga ports in AHCI mode, breaking and rebuilding your array on the other(blue) ports of course in RAID mode.
 
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thanks

*sigh*, let me look at the manual and see what is up...

I looked at the manual (starting on page 89) and didn't see anything worth mentioning outside of the normal process to install a RAID array which I assumed the OP already knew since he has a RAID array setup already. The Gigabyte ports are the White ones and support R0,1, and JOBD, while the other are the blue and I believe support the same or more (not sure).

So basically, you have TWO controllers to which I believe you can set each independently as AHCI/IDE/RAID. The Giga (which is what I said to install your SSD on), and the other controller (where you put your RAID I believe and are having issues). Now, if your RAID array was on the Giga controller initially, you will have to keep it there and put the SSD in the blue ports, or break the array and rebuild it on the other controller as you cannot take that RAID array intact to a new controller.

I hope that helps a bit. But definitely check out the manual for help if you need it. Here is a link from the giga site instead of a potentially questionable 3rd party link... http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/motherboard_manual_ga-ex58-ud4p_e.pdf



EDIT: So let's start over. You are breaking the RAID array and going single SSD, right? Do you want to use the mechanical HDD's as individual drives now? What will you be doing with those?

EDIT2: OK, reread the thread... you will need to break and rebuild your HDD RAID array (and will lose the data) if you switched it from the Giga ports to the other(blue) ports. You cannot switch controllers on a RAID array without breaking it. If you dont want to/cant break the array, move it back to the Giga ports and setup the SSD on the other ports (you should put the SSD on the Giga ports for best performance, note).

So basically...

If you do not want to break the array, put the HDD's back on the SATA ports they were on in RAID mode and the SSD on the other controller in AHCI mode. If the RAID array was setup on the giga ports, your SSD performance will be lower than with it on the Giga ports. To that end, I recommend putting the SSD on the Giga ports in AHCI mode, breaking and rebuilding your array on the other(blue) ports of course in RAID mode.

Thanks for your replies!

I am breaking the array and then installing a single SSD. I may use the other HDD's later but not in raid. So in short I am abandoning all Raid setup on my PC. I will have to test each 500 gb HHD that was in the array to determine which one is failing(at some later point). I have a 500 gb backup/storage drive already installed that I have been moving things off the raid drives. I will be using said drive as a backup drive after I install win 7 on the SSD.
So your recommendation is to switch Giga controller to AHCI, and switch other controller to AHCI also, install SSD on Giga controller, install windows?
I may use the two vacated ports later for testing the old raid drives(one at a time of course).
When I do this rebuilding I am removing all drives from PC and just installing SSD untill windows is up and running, then I will reinstall backup drive.

Does it sound like I am headed in the right direction?

Would you let Windows 7 Ultimate find drivers and install or go to cd that I got with the mobo for drivers?

Thanks, Munch
 
So your recommendation is to switch Giga controller to AHCI, and switch other controller to AHCI also, install SSD on Giga controller, install windows?
Spot on! :)

Its just that easy. Just unplug the HDDs, either power or sata, switch the RAID setting to AHCI or auto, and you should not get any errors. My advice from the start (to switch to AHCI) was 100% right but 50% complete...I forgot about what you were doing with that array! LOL!
 
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Installed

I have installed my SSD and windows 7. I have since install read a few articles about GSATA vs SATA on Gigabyte Mobos. All I have read say the GSATA suffer from slight performance issues, I have a windows experience of 7.0 on my SSD(lowest score of all). I'm sure the issue is the fact my controllers are only SATA2, so that doesn't worry me. I wonder if the other controller would give me better performance.... If I wanted to switch to the other controller could I just power down and switch ports? When I setup Bios I set both controllers to AHCI mode, so I was thinking they would "hot swap". Would that work or would I be creating bigger problems?

Thanks, Munch
 
You can just swap them, yep.

I thought the GIga ports were the 'native' ones, but seem to be mistaken.
 
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