Storage solution on a Precision T7610

@BLEQ,

Thank you for your question.

-LSI is a storage controller and RAID is a collection of ideas for storage. So you have to decide which data backup idea is best for you. 

-RAID 0 is for performance and if one drive goes out, you lose the whole RAID. RAID 1 is redundancy so if you lose one drive, your are still up and running. RAID 1 is not meant to be 100% backup however, and it's always best to have external backups even with a RAID 1. 

-Typically, any time you create a new RAID array, the partition on all the drives is wiped. Backup all your data before you build any RAID.

-Yes. RAID is always optional. The default configuration in the BIOS is for all drives to be stand-alone and no configuring is required.

-The issue you're having with drive detection: You probably have the hard drives connected to SAS_0 and SAS_1, instead of SATA_0-1. If you want the drives to be detected, either switch them to the SATA ports or install the LSI driver. There are 2 different storage controllers on the same motherboard. You may have to enable the LSI in the BIOS and install the driver, both. 

Hello Justin thank you so much for the valuable answers. Could you please elaborate more, with some details or links, on how to switch from SAS to SATA (are you referring to the 2 SATA ports that already have the CD/DVD and the SSD Drive). Does this involve work inside the workstation? With regards to the drivers, in Device Manager, I do see two drivers installed: - LSI Adapter, SAS2 2308 Mustang - Microsoft Spaces Storage Controller The LSI driver that you referenced seem to be for windows-7. Also "SAS LSI Controller" is enabled in BIOS. When you suggested to install LSI driver is that for the purpose of using RAID? or is it also needed for using the HDs without RAID? Best Regards, Hassan

@BLEQ 

If your SATA ports are already occupied, then you'll need to use the SAS ports.

When I suggested to install the driver, it is simply to make sure that the controller which the drives are attached, is installed. Sounds like it is.

Are the drives seen in device manager and disk management? If so, you may simple need to partition them. 

Thanks again for follow-up. I have 2 additional HDs installed in 2 of the 3 free slots. The HDs are not visible nor detected at any level (Bios, Device Manager, File Explorer,...). The HDs are used and have data in them, that is why I'm reluctant to use RAID at this point... That could be a last resort to transfer the data, then configure them in RAID and then put the data back.

This article from Dell support mention some SATA ports, can these be used for HDs and how?

https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/sln290601/what-are-the-sas-and-sata-port-specifications-and-throughput-on-the-precision-t7610-desktop-workstation?lang=en#SATAportspecificationsandthroughputonthePrecisionT7610DesktopWorkstation

I'm still surprised why the additional HDs can't be used straight without need for RAID....

Thank you

Hassan

 

 

 

@BLEQ,

The drives which are attached to the LSI controller won't be seen in the BIOS. They would be seen in the RAID BIOS, entered by pressing CTRL+C at the Dell screen.

You can hook up the drives to the LSI controller and run them non-RAID but you will run them off that controller.

Did you enter the BIOS, go to 'system configuration' then 'SAS RAID Controller' and 'enable' it?

The “SAS RAID Controller” came disabled, the HDs were not detected at any level. I enabled it, the HDs are still not detected even in RAID BIOS (I believe once RAID is configured they will show). Not sure how to use HDs in a non-RAID way...

@BLEQ,

You can't even make a RAID unless the drives are detected in the RAID BIOS. The controller or ports may be defective or incompatible with the drives. What happens if you move the SATA drive that does work over to the SAS ports, inside of the LSI RAID BIOS?

1. No RAID is better for back up now days external hard drives a quite large, fast and reliable for back up. RAID is not needed for internal data storage since 2.5 hard drives are now available in 2 and 4 TB unless your transferring huge video, auto Cad or other huge 250GB files on a daily basis RAID is just a good way to lose your data.

2. RAID 0 doubles your capacity on one volume made up of the data of 2 hard drive creates a virtual Volume. RAID 1 is just that mirror disk. not needed since you have a great back up scheme and your data is back up daily to an external drive.

3. Yes, it's possible with all data on one drive when you create a RAID Array the data will automatically be written to both drives. and become one Volume. Also if you have data on both drives in RAID mode you can create an image with Macrium Reflect Free. Then Clean and initiate both drives as Logical not array drives and restore the created image to one single drive.

4. Yes unless they are already set up in a RAID Array you should be able to use them individually with either AHCI driver or RAID driver. Someone else will have to clean this up better than myself. But I would use Disk part to Clean then initiate them as Logical drives