[hobo]eclipse

Alright so i have a Seagate ST3640323AS 640GB SATA along with a SAMSUNG Black 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD Burner on the way. be here in 2 days.

I already have 3 Seagate - Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 3.0Gb/s 320-GB Hard Drives of varying firmware:


1:2:

3: Info not appearing correctly in HD tune? 3: Crystal shows some info


All will be done on Gigabyte EX38-DS4 bios F6a w/ ICH9R

1st. i am interested in making a RAID 0 array with 2 of the 320s. Not for any reason other than never having set up RAID before. Wandering if there is any specific info i need to look at or opinions on which 2 of the 3 drives i should use and if the different firmware matters. How do i update the firmware? Also on the RAID side of things, isn't there a setting for stripe size or something? What would be best? Any input on RAID would be appreciated for the RAID nub.

2nd. Which would be the better drive to partition and install the OS on? the 640 or the raid 0 2 x 320? i'm looking for a 150GB OS partition and the rest as storage. regardless of where the OS is i am considering keeping more valued data on the 640 after i establish its initially ok. opinions?

And 3rd. Anything anybody feels i should know about running a SATA DVD-ROM? I am looking to do a clean install of vista x64 a time or 2 using it, figuring out how i want this HDD config. It will show up in the RAID bios now and not the regular bios, correct?

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temeteus82

1. I use the same seagates as my main OS volume in RAID0 they work just fine. Stripe size is 128KB. Remember that when you make the RAID all the data on the drivers you selected will be lost. So backup all the data that's important. You might need to install the Intel's RAID driver during the Vista setup, so get this: link. And get the matrix storage manager too.

2. I would install the OS on RAID0 since it's a lo faster than the single drive I think you can do the partitions as you like.

3. It will show up in the RAID bios yes and not in the normal BIOS, but I think you can still configure the BIOS so that you can boot from it.

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[hobo]eclipse

so it seems of the firmwares aak is the worst of the performers. A well logged issue online (1) (2). Seems some users are seeing improvement flashing aak to aam firmware here, here and here , but it seems this isnt something seagate support. any one with experience flashing firmware on seagate drives? i have the download from this post at XS. opinions if its worth it? any better info? As it is now the AAK is in an antec external enclosue via eSATA filled with media.

Use the AAD/AAE together or backup/flash the AAK to AAM hoping for numbers closer to AAE for an AAE/AAM setup? (hope that is readable) this post at XS is insightful to almost this very situation

whats the pros and cons of the different stripe sizes? is it relevent to the size (many/small or fewer/large) of the files to be used on disk. better stripe size for booting? better size for storage/archiving?

also just read a lil about a "fast slice", opinions ? worth it? tried it?




thanx for reply temeteus82:

i already have the RAID bios on in the bios and my current HDDs controlled by it, i did not create any actual arrays though. when i installed windows (vista U x64) it did so with out any drivers (RAID bios on in bios) then i installed the matrix manager (for sure) and a raid driver (i think, intel/RAID nub).

since i want to create an array and install os to it will these things need to be provided during initial install? and if so hope vista x64 lets me use USB thumb drive as i dont have a floppy right now.

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Judas

so lets tally up the drives you've got right now

you said


3x Seagate 7200.10's 320gb 16mb SATA2
1x Seagate 640gb SATA2
1x Sata DVD-RW drive

You want to know what would be best for a raid setup and configuration.

You entioned 2 of the 320gb, but left the last out ????

Make sure you back everything up as the 320gb drives are going to be wiped in the process

Either way this is what i would suggest.

Put all 3 of the 320gb drives in as SATA0/1/2
Put the 640GB as SATA 4
Put the Sata DVD drive as Sata 5 (being that i started with 0 as the first port, obviously 5 is the last one)

This leaves number 3 open for use. And if you only really want to use 2 of the 320gb, that leaves number 2 open as well.

Now,

Turn on the ICH9R raid controller in full NATIVE mode, ACHI.

Go into the ICH9R Raid console to setup your drives.

Select the 320gb drives for raid 0, make sure you set the stripe size to as large as possible (128KB currently)

MAKE the raid array exactly 150gb as you wanted. This will leave the remaining as unused space. After the 150gb is completed, Repeat to make another partition that uses the remaining space. (this is extremely handy as windows will see the 2 seperate partitions on the drive as completely different hardrives, with thier own specific information, keeps things a little neater ).

Leave the 640gb alone.

Install windows to the 150gb.

IN THE CASE that you get a message that the drive does not meet the required criteria. Do the following:

Unplug the 640gb drive, and then go into the raid console and remove the one partition that is larger then 150gb. LEAVE only the 150gb as the only drive. Install windows, after windows has been installed, go back in.. recreate the larger partition, and then plug in the 640gb again. You shouldn't have any problems from there on.

MAKE SURE YOU GET the latest Intel Matrix Storage Drivers and Interface asap, followed by the latest Intel INF Update utility installation.

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[hobo]eclipse

thanks judas, that cleared some things up.

im gonna use the 3rd 320, it'll be in an external eSATA enclosure. any opinions on the flashing if the 320 firmware or which 2 to use in the array?

also why AHCI the bios and not the RAID option? (since i'll actually be ussing raid) i currently have no raid arrays and in bios i have RAID set over AHCI. wasn't there trouble with vista and AHCI or something?

that fast slice, maybe that happens automatically to the 1st partition setup on the array?

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Judas

no go RAID... just make sure the sub setting isn't set as some legacy non native mode (i've seen some weird bios options) if you set it to raid and there is no other options... your all set

While i would recommend flashing all drives to the latest Firmware (it's usually best if all the drives have identical firmware specially in RAID setups)

When i flashed the firmware on my maxtor drives, i had to set the bios to IDE Enhanced mode to get it to work. Otherwise the flasher wouldn't work/detect the drives. So if you go ahead and try to flash, make sure you try your raid option first and if it's a no go, IDE mode 2nd.

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[hobo]eclipse

HDD flashing isnt a definate data loss is it?

u never flashed any seagate 320's?

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Judas

Generally no, you won't lose your data... BUT there is the possibility, specially if the flash goes "bad" and the drive is made into nothing more then a paperweight. (i've yet to have this happen though)

Flashing the seagate drives isn't difficult... i was just mentioning the last time i flashed, i flashed the maxtor drives and that was quite some time ago.

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temeteus82

Hmm... perhaps I should flash my seagate's they have AAK and AAE firmware versions...

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[hobo]eclipse

seems the flashing isnt very cut and dry

heres an article
Article: Seagate's AAK-firmware

and discussion
Seagate's AAK-firmware

seems there are 2 different firmware to use depending on 500 or 320 drive.

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Judas

i don't have the AAK versions on hand...

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[hobo]eclipse

quick question, are u able to flash bios while RAID array is present?

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temeteus82

as far as I know when the drives are on RAID mode flashing them is impossible.

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Judas

it's always recommended to run in the safest possible mode ... meaning not raided.... in capability mode not performance mode... when flashing.

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[hobo]eclipse

flashed over the AAK to AAM and the single drive resualts were slightly better, about 10 MBs faster to start (79) and sloped off as it should rather tham stepping (so they say).

RAID'd up the AAE with AAM(AAK) and heres the hd tune bench


access time is much improved, the burst rate is about the same as the AAM drive alone in the 130s, the AAE drive was getting 160s here (see above).

if i were to raid the AAE and the AAD, (both getting in 160s in the burst rate, above) and the resualting array got a burst rate in 160s rather than 130s would i be able to tell/feel the difference? where?


heres a hd tach also, with 32 mb test


thanks judas for the lil run through and teme for the driver link much appreciatted, these numbers look right? they certainly "look" better

the seagate 640 and 22x DVD sata burner come tommorrow, w00t!

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Judas

did you install the intel matrix storage software/driver?

if so.. go into the matrix software.... go into advanced view and then move through the tree to the raid array, right click it and select "ENABLE WRITE BACK CACHING"

then run a few more tests

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[hobo]eclipse

well that was invigorating! thanks Judas. I was considering redoing the arry with the AAE and AAD drives, think ill stick with this. curious to see later what the 640GB Seagate gets on these benchmarks alone.

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temeteus82

man, I really need to update one of those seagates...

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[hobo]eclipse

out of curiosity what are the firmware of the drives u have teme and if an AAK one is in an array what are the benches it shows?

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temeteus82

AAE and AAK are the firmwares...
here's a picture:

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[hobo]eclipse

well heres the rest of the array, 480GB, back to the slope again.

i created both volumes in the RAID bios so like judas said they are seen in windows as 2 seperate drives.



the flashing of the AAK went fine, i had already backed up and removed all the data from the drive, but after the flash the partition, filesystem and a single folder i left on the drive were still intact.

btw, wtf is with the burst rate going up like 10x after that trick judas told me about? is that a real world gain or purely synthetic?

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temeteus82

Do note that I had the write back caching on on my bench results ....

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[hobo]eclipse

well get flash'n!

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Judas

the gain is mostly synthetic... but it has real world benefits.... mostly seen when initial loading or when taking sudden massive data burts....

it also appears to improve a few things overall. Intel Matrix Storage is the "shit"

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[hobo]eclipse

Well heres the results of the Seagate 640GB 7200.11, all seems to be running well.



lovin the performance of my first raid setup, gets me wandering about more.

The samsung sata dvd burner is installed, was recognized, and has given me no trouble, i have not installed windows with it yet but all burns have came out good(audio CD, CD/DVD data). the speed at which it burns is not really an issue, i have 16x DVD media so thats as high as i can select in nero. there is a noticable difference in the spin up time, with this sata samsung spinning up alot slower than the IDE samsung i had in here before.

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Judas

some of the intial or cheaper SATA DVD-RW drives i've come across do seem to be a little slow... but it's also dependant on the controller i find as well.

Pioneers DVR-212's are very quick

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