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R310 RAID Woes
I recently bought a R310 with the idea of installing Security Onion(Linux). However, once I got set up, I realized the S300 raid controller driver is proprietary to Windows. Searching the internet, I found some posts from other R310 owners suggesting to bypass the raid controller by pull the card out and wire the hard drives directly to the motherboard’s SATA ports. I have taken both steps but the hard drives still do not register while running a OS from the dvd drive. I am running BIOS version 1.14.0, the hard drives are Seagate Cheetah ST3450856SS. I set the bios SATA settting to ATA Mode, and each drive is set to automatic. Does anyone know how to properly set up a R310 to bypass the raid controller?
Dell-DylanJ
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March 14th, 2019 07:00
Hello,
The only thing I can think to test would be for you to go into SATA setting and try AHCI mode. RAID On would have the system trying to use the onboard RAID controller and the OS installs I've done otherwise were in AHCI mode. AHCI stands for "Advanced Host Controller Interface" and should allow the software to communicate with the SATA drives.
AHCI should be the newer standard controller, and I would expect it to give you a better experience. My knowledge of ATA mode is less concrete, but as I understand it, the controller will emulate older Intel controllers and I would think it's primary purpose would be for older drives.
Dell-DylanJ
2.9K Posts
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March 14th, 2019 08:00
I pulled one of these a moment ago, and I see what you mean. I reviewed the BIOS directly, but nothing really jumps out at me. What I can offer though, is to download their .ISO and take a crack at it on my end. It may take some time to get back to you on it, though.
The only jumpers on the board are for clearing NVRAM or BIOS password reset.
Dell-DylanJ
2.9K Posts
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March 14th, 2019 08:00
If that's what you're seeing in the manual, I'd bet on it being correct. With this being an 11G server, you can probably locate a compatible RAID controller fairly cheaply, though. If you go that route, I'd recommend looking for an H700. There are numerous part numbers for that, but J9MR2 should help get you started.
Alternatively, SATA drives would make for a simpler solution.
dfclin073
5 Posts
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March 14th, 2019 08:00
Dylan,
AHCI mode isn't on option in the BIOS. My only options are RAID, ATA MODE or OFF. Is there a jumper or another configuration setting that needs to be set to tell the system to look at the SATA ports on the motherboard?
dfclin073
5 Posts
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March 14th, 2019 08:00
I already tried that. I used perc 6/i from a dell 2950, event that controller couldn't see the SAS drives. But I may have miss-configured the setup. Should I use the SATA ports on the mother board or the RAID port? and What would the bios be set to for SATA Controller? ATA or RAID?
dfclin073
5 Posts
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March 14th, 2019 08:00
I may have identified the issue. My hard drives are SAS. According to the dell owners manual SAS works with the RAID controller but does not work when plugged directly in to the Mother Board.
Dell-DylanJ
2.9K Posts
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March 18th, 2019 07:00
Using RAID mode is going to activate the software RAID controller on board, which is generally only supported by Windows. Provided the drives are supported drives, the controller should have seen them. When you say they were unseen, was that in the Control + R RAID BIOS, or in the installer?