Intel RAID set up?

[Mark John]

Hi, I'm trying RAID 5 onboard for the first time. I used the Seagate disk utility to set up three 2 Terabyte drives as dynamic. Set them up together in BIOS on the Intel RAID controller. Created the array in the Intel rapid storage software. After creating the array for 4 days, the Intel program says everything is OK, but available space is 0? And the three drives or RAID volume don't show up in "My Computer" or in disk management. Device manager shows the RAID volume under disks drives. Can anyone help?

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Intel RAID set up?

What motherboard do you have?

You may need to use this program, but I'm not really sure if this would help with RAID arrays?
GIGABYTE Tech Daily: GIGABYTE Announces 3TB+ Unlock Utility - Enables 32bit Systems without Hybrid EFI Technology to Utilize Unallocated Space on New 3TB+ HDDs

You do need to use GPT partitions for partitions larger than 2TB, did you?

[Mark John]

Re: Intel RAID set up?

I have the GA-P55A-UD3. i wasn't aware of problems going over 3 TB. Looks like the P55 is not supported for that program. Thanks for the link and quick reply.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Intel RAID set up?

Ya, there is a windows NTFS 2TB partition limit, it's not really a 3TB issue not sure why they named it that?

You should be able to do this without any tools, you just need to make GPT partitions and it will not be a bootable array.

[Mark John]

Re: Intel RAID set up?

The Computer I wanted to do this on, has 32 bit XP. From what I'm reading GPT is not supported? This is becoming a PITA. Is it worth trying to get software RAID running with partitions? Further reading shows a lot of overhead and not much reliablilty using onboard (AKA FAKE RAID) RAID 5.
If I keep going, I was wondering, leave the drives set up as one RAID array in BIOS. Then create a RAID array with the Intel rapid storage software using all three disks and custom settings for half the space. The create another RAID array with the Intel software for all three disks, and hopefully it just shows the remaining half of the space? Or do I need to partition one of the drives first?

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Intel RAID set up?

Yes, it does look to me like you cannot use this in XP 32 bit
Windows and GPT FAQ

I think the RAID will be fine, and yes that would be ideal if you can partition it under the limit so it's usable. RAID array in the BIOS is the same as RAID array in the Intel utility, you can use either one to make two separate arrays and you do not need to partition anything.

Delete all volumes, and then either go into the Intel RAID ROM at startup or use the Intel utility in windows and create two arrays, each 1.5GB or so depending on how much actual space there is on each disk. While you create the array you choose the size, so just select half for the first one and then the second one will automatically choose whatever is left over. Probably best to do that from within windows so you don't have to wait on the initialization from the RAID BIOS (Not sure if you do or not).

[Mark John]

Re: Intel RAID set up?

Thanks for your patience.
The full unreadable RAID array showed around 3.8 TB's of usable space. This was with three 2TB drives. So would I use Intel Rapid storage and make two arrays of around 1.9TB's? Or do I need to make them according to empty space, like making three 2TB arrays?
I'm hoping that once I make an array, rapid storage will just see the left over space, and I can continue making an array on that?

Making multiple arrays over three drives, that'd mean if a drive goes bad, all arrays would need to be rebuilt, right?

Thanks again.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Intel RAID set up?

You can only make two arrays with the Intel ports, and they can be different types if you want. Ya, 1.9 sounds ideal, or however you can best use all that space under 2TB with two arrays.

How failure works depends on what type of arrays you use