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Alienware ALX RAID 0 to RAID 5
Intel Rapid Storage Technology 9.6.0.1014
Windows 7
Intel X58 Express
ICH10 Family
Help documents states I should be able to change a volume type from 2-disk RAID 0 to a 3 disk RAID 5
Currently have a 2 disk Raid 0 with ST31000528AS (seagate 1TB Barracuda 7200.12)
Have a 3rd that was a single D drive with nothing on it. It was used up rebuilding one of the raid disk.
so 2 disk Raid 0 2 more free disk (empty)
When there was 3 drives icons was Status, Manage, Preferences, Help
with nothing that was changable other than 3r drive could be made a spare.
Now have 4 drives icons are Status, Create, Manage, Preferences, Help
Under Create it has Raid 1, Raid 0, Raid 5(greyed out), Raid 10(greyed out)
Objective is to Migrate to a 3 disk RAID 5 or a 4 DISK RAID 10.
Manual says to "Chainging Volume Type"
1. under status or manage click the volume to modify.
2. Click 'change type' == I am unable to find a "change type" Under Manage Array the only choice is to enable or disable data cache Under Manage Volume the only choices is to rename, enable or disable data cache, Verify
Tesla1856
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July 5th, 2010 01:00
You seem to know a lot about it, so I would say Image the drives and then give it a go.
RAID 10 would be cool but I will probably just go RAID 0 with a large eSata drive (maybe an inexpensive WD Blue) for monthly Acronis Images.
On my older XPS, the Intel Raid menu appears in the Bios postings. As I remember I actually used the Intel Matrix software (inside Vista) to RAID it, but I liked knowing I could do maintenance outside the OS if I needed to.
Do we have a Bios Raid menu? Does it not appear until you Raid something?
Elfiwolfe
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July 5th, 2010 10:00
One reason I want to migrate is because one drive became unstable within a week. But I had ordered that 3rd drive to be the same so got it migrated in a few hours and dell overnighted a replacement.
I don't want to image the drives because that would wipe the data.
Raid 5 or raid 0+1 would allow a drive to Catastrophicly fail and I would not lose data.
I think the problem is that for a boot OS drive it cannot be larger than 2TB and with 2 1TB drives in raid 0 it comes up to 2TB
So the Intel Rapid Storage Technology will not show the change raid from 0 to 5.
If I had smaller drives it would show the option.
I think that it is not possible to migrate due to the size.. I got the replace drive setup as a spare so incase the SMART shows a drive having problem the RST will automaticaly grab that drive and rebuild. and I back up data files and I have a DVD with the Alienware image on it to rebuild computer.
Chiller3333
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July 5th, 2010 12:00
In INTEL Matrix Storage Manager this was very easy.
Of course, the easiest way is backing up everythng and reformat the drives under RAID 5.
I think that that's the last possibility.
Tesla1856
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July 5th, 2010 12:00
I don't want to image the drives because that would wipe the data.
No, I meant "Image" as in backup (to external drive).
Like Chiller suggests ... reconfig the RAID, then either
1. Restore backup image.
2. Reinstall Windows, reinstall programs, and then restore just the data files.
Tesla1856
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July 5th, 2010 14:00
RAID 5 is a neat trick, but for a desktop workstation, I think you will be much happier with a RAID 10 ... just buy the extra drive so you have 4 ... 2 for RAID 0 speed, and then 2 more to backup those 2.
I would only use RAID 5 on a server (Server OS, dedicated RAID card with it's own co-processor, never turned off, always on a good UPS backup, no local user).
Even the server guys say it's not all it's cracked up to be. Losing a second drive (due to hardware failure or file system corruption) before the first one can be replaced and rebuilt is not unheard of.
See:
http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19329017/19683992.aspx#19683992
Even he went back to RAID 1.
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/servers/f/906/p/19313687/19624167.aspx#19624167
Notice Servers (see above why that's a different/better environment)
http://jopinblog.wordpress.com/2008/04/15/raid-5-sucks-on-intel-matrix-ich8-integrated-controller/
You really need the dedicated RAID card ... after all, we want performance, right? Also read how the Indexing Service (of Desktop OS) caused RAID 5 corruption.