Need help w MSI 790FX GD70 raid 0 setup want to confirm couple things

[Cisco Kid]

Hi Guys,

I messed my OS up and am now forced to reformat as I had not backed up. I can not remeber how I had bios settings set since I have been trying to get back into windows but have given up. Before I start a fresh format I want to make sure I am setting up the best way as I noticed boot times seemed slow but this may only be due to detection of the raid arrays

windows 7 64 bit
2 x Vertex 60GB SSD raid 0 on SB750 for main OS (latest firmware running GC)
2x WD640 Blacks raid 0 on SB750 (data/music/extra games)
1 x 250 esata external (backup)
1 sata dvd drive on SB750
1 ide dvd drive
x4 955
8 gb Mushkin Ascent PC12800 7,7,6,18

In the bios under integrated peripherals I had the following:

1)integrated peripherals> on chip stata controller>enabled
2)integrated peripherals> on chip ata devices> raid mode = raid (not ahci or ide)

3)integrated peripherals> E-sata/HW raid controller> enabled
4)integrated peripherals> E-sata controller mode> IDE (choice is IDE or AHCI)
5)drive booster (HW Raid) > normal mode (default setting)

5)Advanced Bios Settings> boot sequence was the vertex raid 0 array

When I set up the main Raid 0 array and Win 7 OS I installed required raid/ahci driver via a USB during install.

Should I set #2 & #4 both to AHCI or #2 AHCI for raid ) OS array and leave #4 IDE ??

Whats best method for Raid 0 ? Or should I be using the jmicron controller for the Main OS raid 0 array and leave the WD 640 array on the SB750? from what I have read the jmicron 2 blue sata ports is not seen by most as the way to go vs the black 6 SB 750 sata

Hoping I can get some quick feedback so i begin fresh format and set this up proper then overclock system before I load my games and set up my email and other crap. AND then BACKUP reg via Acronis which I should have done which would have avoided this mess

CK

 

[Marshmallow64]

I believe the only way for RAID is to have it in raid mode. IDE and ahci will not work. I could be wrong though, hopefully someone else can have a sure answer. I had Raid 0 before in my setup, before I upgraded to one SSD.

 

[Cisco Kid]

Thanks for reply, I got some feedback via overclock.net where there is a huge thread on this board and overclocking of x3 as well as x4 chips. You are correct "raid " must be set not achi or ide for raid 0 to work, and I use achi for the esata drive.

System can not load any faster than what it does already due to scanning for the raid arrays

Anyways I got lucky , reset the cmos a second time and it allowed to me to repair the Win 7 64 corrupted file which was a raid driver, I just loaded them on a flash drive and tried those first. It solved my issue, I got back into the OS and the first thing I did was clean up and organizy to get all my files where I wanted them and I have now backed up an image of the OS as well as my data drive to an external e-sata drive

Now I can ty to get 3.9 stable overclock but I think my cooler is holding me back and if so I will settle for 3.75

Love the GD70 though it is a great board....

 

[Neuromancer]

The seperate blue sata ports IIRC are generally used for optical devices that do not play nicely with raid/AHCI yes?

 

[bigrob301]

Raid0 win7 64bit

@ Cisco Kid which raid drivers did you get win7 64bit to work. I keep getting the message that the drivers have not been signed 790fx-gd70

 

[soulfly1448]

Use the black ports. The blue ports are the HW raid which is complete garbage. Turn that option off in BIOS.

 

[S4Rs]

The blue ports are configured by options 3,4, and 5, and only effect those ports. Personally I would set 4 to IDE or else the JMicron Screen comes up during boot as it looks for drives. If you plan on plugging into the external e-sata port though, and want easy swapping without powering down set 4 to AHCI.

I am having raid issues myself with that board right now
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=637125

 

[Cisco Kid]

The blue ports are configured by options 3,4, and 5, and only effect those ports. Personally I would set 4 to IDE or else the JMicron Screen comes up during boot as it looks for drives. If you plan on plugging into the external e-sata port though, and want easy swapping without powering down set 4 to AHCI.

I am having raid issues myself with that board right now
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=637125

Yes I agree I have found that to be annoying that each time it starts up it searches for drives, I will change 4 to ahci and see how that works out.

My system has been working properly for last couple months so I can not comment on some of the other questions @bigrob301, will take a look at how I have it set up

For now I have 2 xSSD on the Sb750 in raid 0 and 2 x WD black 640's in raid 0 all of these drives plus a BR & dvdrw drive which are all connected via the black ports and I have an ext esata drive connected as well to the rear port

I have nothing connected to the blue ports, currently running at 3.6-3.8 I wanna now start overclocking the memor y and drop the multi

 

[Cisco Kid]

bonus bios 1.0a supports Thuban X6, thats awesome flashed bios recently plan to drop an X6 1055T soon