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Raid Question
I have a new XPS 420 Q6600 that I'd like to install Raid in. I want to leave the main drive with the OS alone (on SATA 0), but put in two new disks for data running raid 1 (on SATA 1 & 2). The manual says you can do this by turning raid on in the Dell BIOS, going into windows and setting the raid up using the Intel Matrix Manager. Has anyone done this and do you have to do anything with the Intel Raid BIOS (Cntl I at bootup). I want to be careful here and not lose my OS disk.
gdwrnch3
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January 12th, 2008 14:00
seemaxgo
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January 12th, 2008 16:00
HaloBox
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January 12th, 2008 17:00
seemaxgo
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January 13th, 2008 15:00
HaloBox
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January 13th, 2008 15:00
gdwrnch3
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January 13th, 2008 16:00
johnb111
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February 21st, 2008 10:00
Just wondering what the result was for this...
I'd like to do the same thing except with RAID 0.
seemaxgo
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February 21st, 2008 11:00
I spent quite a few hours (days) working with Dell support on this. I have to give them a lot of credit for their effort. They tried everything I had seen listed in the forums and then some. Finally at wits end (I was ready to send it back) they took me through a reinstall of Vista and it worked fine. I now have Raid 1 up and running and my external SATA drive now works also (both were nogo without Intel Rom working from BIOS). I believe it has to do with getting the right drivers in there to begin with. Once you have it up and running you can totally manage it with the Matrix Storage Manager.
johnb111
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February 21st, 2008 21:00
one other question:
What motherboard ports did you end up having the non-raid and raid drives plugged into?
Some have reported issues with sata port 2 (white one).
johnb111
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February 21st, 2008 21:00
So get this straight:
-you had to reinstall vista from the dvd and add this driver once vista prompts to load driver during installation: Intel Matrix Storage Manager (OS Pre-Install Driver Only), v.7.8.0.1012, A12
--was this before you physically added the new drives?
--were you able to just burn the driver to CDR and use that for loading? others had mentioned lack of anything except a: drive during installation....i think that might be limited to XP though.
-You then hit ctrl-I on the next boot and configured the raid in there.
--was there anything cosmic during this process, as i can't seem to find any documentation for it?
I may just end up waiting to do this until SP1 comes out...sounds like it's only a couple weeks away. some people have solved their raid issues by using SP1.
seemaxgo
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February 21st, 2008 22:00
The DVD/CD drive is on SATA 4. SATA 3 is still open.
seemaxgo
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February 21st, 2008 22:00
I'm not a technical expert, so take this with a grain of salt, its from my memory. You may want to have Dell help you, they are very good and walked me through the whole process. Probably each case takes them down a different path, customized to each situation. Also be sure to save all your critical data. A reloadable image copy would be best.
I did not need a driver on a CD or USB stick. Vista has it, it just needed to use it properly as it built itself, during the reinstall. I think it senses using the Intel Rom.
I wanted to configure my machine with a bootable "C disk" SATA drive and two additional drives in a Raid 1 configuration for my data. I also wanted an Esata drive for my scheduled backups. My boot drive is on SATA 0, my Raid 1 is on SATA 1 and Sata 2. The DVD/CD drive is on SATA 5. I installed the new raid hard drives in the system before my reinstallation of Vista.
We did several boot-ups. We first changed the Dell BIOS (F2) to turn Raid On. Then used Control I to go into the Intel Rom Bios and defined my Raid. Then Dell (F12) booted with the reinstallation CD and did the re-install, including all its Dell drivers of which the Intel Matrix Storage Console was one. The proper sequence of loading drivers seemed very important.
After that I began the process of reloading all my programs and data, that I had saved before hand.
johnb111
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February 23rd, 2008 00:00
Ok, wanted to report that my raid 0 is working. i did the same thing where i kept vista on one HD, then installed 2 more hard drives configured for raid. I also didn't have to reinstall the OS either. just loaded the most current intel application/drivers from the dell website, enabled raid and the sata ports in the bios, then let it boot up, ran the matrix manager program and configured it all there from within windows. worked like a champ and was easier than i thought it would be. i even hit ctrl-I on the next boot and didn't even have to touch anything...it was already configured. lets just hope it runs fine now without the issues listed elsewhere in the forum....hopefully those issues are limited to using raid on the same drive that the OS is on.