Enter The Matrix: Slice out and get the best part from your hard drives

[Robbie T]

Wow nice marks

 

[bing]

Hi there, Im new at this raid thing and just last week ive decided to do it but ive done Raid-0 on the promise controller my question is there anyway of changing from Promise controller to de Intel Matrix raid without having to reinstall OS again?

Afraid not, cause even you can backup the drive image and restore it back to Matrix raid volume using external boot like BartPE with matrix raid driver embedded, since its system volume the restored system will not boot since the installed promise raid driver can not read matrix raid volume.

But I'm not sure, worth a try though.

 

[Mangas]

Im going to start a new one then, but how do I make a FD for the F6 with rigth drivers for my Mobo P4C800-E Deluxe?

 

[hyperasus]

Does the P4C800-E even have Matrix Raid? I know it doesn't have raid 5.

 

[Mangas]

it as the ICH5R, Intel® Matrix Storage Manager v5.5 is the last version that provides support for ICH5R.
Ive found it on how to do FD just used Floppy Configuration Utility - Intel Matrix Storage Manager [F6FLPY32.ZIP] 5.5.0.1035

 

[bing]

Mangas, I suggest before you format it, just grab BartPE and make a bootable CD with the Matrix Driver embedded, trust me, it will be handy when disaster strike.

Good luck and looking forward to see your result & experience here !

 

[Mangas]

will do that Thx

 

[fhpchris]

Four 320GB Seagate 7200.10s on the way, going to have fun with my P5WDG2-WS Pro and E6600

I think I will run raid 0 OS and raid 5 Data over the 4 disks...

 

[hyperasus]

P5WDG2-WS Pro and E6600? I didn't know that MB would work with C2D.

 

[bing]

Four 320GB Seagate 7200.10s on the way, going to have fun with my P5WDG2-WS Pro and E6600

I think I will run raid 0 OS and raid 5 Data over the 4 disks...

Wow, whata mobo !!

How big do you plan for the raid 0 ? 10gb each = 40 GB ? I guess it will trash raptor's seek time !

Please update us will ya ?

P5WDG2-WS Pro and E6600? I didn't know that MB would work with C2D.

I think you're mistaken by P5WDG2-WS, mark the "pro" word. That is the latest revision from Asus.

Check this out at XS -> Asus p5wdg2 ws pro initial result

 

[fhpchris]

P5WDG2-WS Pro and E6600? I didn't know that MB would work with C2D.

Yes, the WS Professional supports Core 2 Duo.

the normal WS does not.

 

[Mangas]

Well after reading a bit more about this ive discover that I cant do it on my mobo the ICH5R does not support the raid matrix..

"The Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver may be installed on systems using supported controller hubs older than the Intel ICH7 Controller. However, features that require ICH7R hardware will be unavailable in the Intel Matrix Storage Console."

Anyway I was on the promise controller and now im on the intel Matrix and gain a better performance them the Promise controller.

 

[NoVaGator]

This is a great thread!

Here's a noob Q:

I'm doing a Conroe build on a 975xbx board. My primary use will be be HD video editing.

I have one 74 GB Raptor and two 320 GB Seagate 7200.10s

My original plan was to put the os and apps (Sony Vegas, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc....) on the raptor, and all of the video data on the Seagates in a Raid 0. (I'm not really worried about the integrity of the data in the raid 0 setup because I'll have all of my raw footage on DV tapes.)

Then I see the matrix driver disk with the mobo so start researching...and now I'm undecided.

Thoughts? Would I be better off with the os/apps in raid? I really need all of the space on the Segates because HD files are so large.

 

[fhpchris]

This is a great thread!

Here's a noob Q:

I'm doing a Conroe build on a 975xbx board. My primary use will be be HD video editing.

I have one 74 GB Raptor and two 320 GB Seagate 7200.10s

My original plan was to put the os and apps (Sony Vegas, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc....) on the raptor, and all of the video data on the Seagates in a Raid 0. (I'm not really worried about the integrity of the data in the raid 0 setup because I'll have all of my raw footage on DV tapes.)

Then I see the matrix driver disk with the mobo so start researching...and now I'm undecided.

Thoughts? Would I be better off with the os/apps in raid? I really need all of the space on the Segates because HD files are so large.

You could sell the 74 gb raptor, and buy one or two more 7200.10s

Then you got raid 0 thats very fast and a huge drive for storage...

 

[richklein]

Bing, I read this whole thread & it does seem very interesting. I have a few questions for you. Currently in the system I am using (Asus P5WD2 Premium - http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=184&model=493&modelmenu=1), I have 1 raptor 150 gig. I already ordered 2 of these WD Cavier drives (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136003) for another system, but I could always play around with them for a few weeks in the P5WD2 system.

I have never played with raid at all, but I like the combo raid 0 & raid 1 (or 5). The P5WD2 system is pretty much a gaming rig (2 gigs of ram, 4ghz DC stable processor X1800 video, etc) & I like the idea of having a raid 0 section with the raid 1 backup security. I am not sure how safe the setup would be from a data loss perspective, or if the mobo died, moving the data to another PC.

Do you make the raid array through the raid controller or is it made after the OS is installed with the intel matrix setup? Its a bit confusing to me.

Is it worth doing this with either 2x 150 gig raptors, or the 2 x WD drives? Would there be a large performance difference between the two setups?

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Xaotic]

Do you make the raid array through the raid controller or is it made after the OS is installed with the intel matrix setup? Its a bit confusing to me.

The array needs to be configured prior to OS load, unless it is not going to contain the OS.

Is it worth doing this with either 2x 150 gig raptors, or the 2 x WD drives? Would there be a large performance difference between the two setups?

Expect higher performance, at least subjectively, from the Raptors. The difference in access time should be quite noticeable, though STR will not be as much so.


I finally got some initial, non tweaked, results on 4x 320GB disks. Had time for a single HDTach run on the OS array. Config is 80GB RAID-0 and 853GB RAID-5. STR is running between 180-200MB/s and Access Time does not seem correct. 8.5ms is a bit lower than I'd expect, unless it's either not reading disk latency properly or is hitting the cached data in this test. I'll try to hit more testing tonight.

 

[richklein]

The array needs to be configured prior to OS load, unless it is not going to contain the OS.

So, do you set it up as a raid 0 & then reconfigure the partitions within windows using the Intel Matrix software? Or do you configure the raid setup within the windows XP inital setup (F6 to continue)?

I thought the intel matrix raid software was a windows based raid "utility"? Is it a true dual raid enabling device, or does it trick the windows software to see it as two separate raid arrays?

The difference in access time should be quite noticeable, though STR will not be as much so.

Sorry, whats STR?

I finally got some initial, non tweaked, results on 4x 320GB disks. Had time for a single HDTach run on the OS array. Config is 80GB RAID-0 and 853GB RAID-5. STR is running between 180-200MB/s and Access Time does not seem correct. 8.5ms is a bit lower than I'd expect, unless it's either not reading disk latency properly or is hitting the cached data in this test. I'll try to hit more testing tonight.

So your taking a 20 gig "sweet spot" from each of the 4 hard drives, then using a raid 5 array?

Raid 5, thats the one where its a sort of cross between raid 0 (two drives acting as 1) and raid 1 (mirrored drives).

How safe is raid 5? If you lost an entire drive, couldnt you still lose the whole array?

 

[Xaotic]

Matrix RAID, like most onboard RAID controllers that are bootable, has a BIOS ROM that stores some configuration data and boot settings.

During configuration, boot into the BIOS of the Matrix RAID and configure the drives and volumes there. There can be two volumes maximum, so plan for this in your strategy. I chose 80GB for the OS volume to take advantage of the more consistent and higher Sustained Transfer Rate(STR).

RAID-5 is basically like a RAID-0 set on all of the drives but one and the contents written to those have a parity calculation performed and the parity data is written to the last drive. This data can allow the data off any disk to be recreated by reversing the algorythm and writing data to a new drive. While redundant, RAID-5 is not a backup and is still subject to many types of failure, data corruption is a good example, controller failure is another. Either could cause irreparable loss of data and that's why a solid backup strategy is necessary.

 

[bing]

Matrix RAID, like most onboard RAID controllers that are bootable, has a BIOS ROM that stores some configuration data and boot settings.

The Raid configurations is stored within the disk itself, roll back few posts of mine, it was proven since I just changed/upgrade my mobo from 945G/ICH7R to P965/ICH8R, and the new mobo just recognized the Raid array and booted from the 1st time I hooked em up.

Heck, I even deliberately plugged em "randomly" at my P5B Deluxe mobo with has 6 SATA ports, port 2 and 6 while at old mobo they were at port 1 & 3. Nice eh ?

I thought the intel matrix raid software was a windows based raid "utility"? Is it a true dual raid enabling device, or does it trick the windows software to see it as two separate raid arrays?

Well, its not "pure" software, sort of hybrid since it needs a certain Intel chipset to perform that functions. If you spend some time at the web site below, even on certain Intel own chipset has a limitation.

Yes, as Xoatic pointed, you need to reinstall the OS with the F6 additional driver during XP cd boot time at the 1st stage of installation.

Grab the latest here -> Intel® Matrix Storage Manager web site

How safe is raid 5? If you lost an entire drive, couldnt you still lose the whole array?

Nope, but again only 1 drive max, no more than that !

Just a reminder, any Raid solution is not equivalent to a decent backup.

 

[Xaotic]

The Raid configurations is stored within the disk itself, roll back few posts of mine, it was proven since I just changed/upgrade my mobo from 945G/ICH7R to P965/ICH8R, and the new mobo just recognized the Raid array and booted from the 1st time I hooked em up.

Heck, I even deliberately plugged em "randomly" at my P5B Deluxe mobo with has 6 SATA ports, port 2 and 6 while at old mobo they were at port 1 & 3. Nice eh ?

In most higher level RAID implementations, the boot and RAID configuration information will be stored in both places. I'd suspect that if you plug in different drives to the RAID ports, you'd get a message that states the RAID configuration has become invalid.