Intel ICH8R RAID5, 4Terabyte Array possible?

[IVB]

I've been googling & searching to no avail. I'm using Windows XP on a mobo that's got an Intel ICH8R RAID chipset on it.

Does anyone know if there's any issues exceeding 2 terabytes on this? I'd like to put 5 1 Terabyte drives on it.

[stanger89]

I'm pretty sure none of the onboard RAID solutions let you expand the array (don't know if that's a problem or not).

[mattdcknsn]

The only RAID cards that I know of that allow you to go beyond a 2TB array are the latest SAS RAID cards. (The Dell PERC 5/E and PERC 6) I think they are based on LSI chipsets. These RAID cards are SAS and SATA interchangeable.

Take a look at this:
http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/prod...elp/index.html

This is their lowest entry level RAID card and it supports over 2TB.

Another way to get a greater than 2TB limit in Windows is to create multiple arrays in the RAID card and then bind them together in another array within Windows. I would not recommend this at all, too many problems could occur. But it is an option.

edit: (a quick online price check has these at $250)

[IVB]

Well, crap.

I don't need to expand the array, but I would need 1time setup. Thanks for the LSI link, i'll check that out.

Thanks.

[IVB]

Originally Posted by mattdcknsn

The only RAID cards that I know of that allow you to go beyond a 2TB array are the latest SAS RAID cards. (The Dell PERC 5/E and PERC 6) I think they are based on LSI chipsets. These RAID cards are SAS and SATA interchangeable.

Take a look at this:
http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/prod...elp/index.html

This is their lowest entry level RAID card and it supports over 2TB.

Quick Question: I noticed a newegg review said the parity generation is done by the CPU, and RAID5 is slow as a result. I have a Core2Duo E6300 running just SageTV & CQC (which takes very very little). I have the HD-PVR, HDHomerun, & PVR500, so in theory 3 HD streams and 2 SD streams could be writing while an HDExtender is reading.

Would that require the hardware based parity generation of their midline?

[stanger89]

If you really don't need to expand, you could probably get by with the intel RAID. Parity overhead isn't really an issue with today's CPUs.

[IVB]

I just ordered the LSI one above, thanks. Has anyone ever actually tried expanding an array? I could just get the 4 1TB drives, or 3TB array now, and buy another 1TB drive later if I want to expand to 4TB. That'd save $200ish, which would help.

[mattdcknsn]

I haven't done that in years, The last time I tried it was with SCSI 160 drives. It took forever to expand the array. It worked but took around 10 hours. That was with alot more drives, I think 10 drives to 14 drives (I think we expanded it to 500GB). So it had to recalculate the parity on all those drives. In your situation it should go quicker. However, ever since then we would find ways around it.

I would be nervous about expanding an array, All your data can be gone very quickly. I would make sure there were no storms in the forecast (just in case a power failure) and cross your fingers. If you can, backup everything or at least the important stuff.

[IVB]

Originally Posted by mattdcknsn

Take a look at this:
http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/prod...elp/index.html

This is their lowest entry level RAID card and it supports over 2TB.

Well, i installed this card, plugged in the 4 1TB Seagate drives I bought, and no love. It comes up with "no hard drives found." The drives are fine straight via XP. Google shows nothing, and tech support is closed until Monday am, so i'll have to wait until then unless anyone here knows anything about this.

Pure intel mobo too (intel DP35), so it's hopefully not an incompability thing. There is an ICH8R on the mobo, but it would be dumb if that interfered with it.

[gplasky]

You may have to reinstall the OS. When you do you have to do the F6 key when the install is starting up so you can install the drivers for the RAID card before the install of Windows actually starts. (Unless the built-in RAID is somehow interferring with it.)

Before doing that you may want to disable the onboard RAID. You should also see the RAID bios messages during bootup for both the on board and your new card. You may have more options from there also. (You may have to go into the bios of your PC so that you're not doing a quick boot and that you see all your screen messages during bootup.)

Gerry

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by IVB

Well, i installed this card, plugged in the 4 1TB Seagate drives I bought, and no love. It comes up with "no hard drives found." The drives are fine straight via XP. Google shows nothing, and tech support is closed until Monday am, so i'll have to wait until then unless anyone here knows anything about this.

The RAID card BIOS itself says no HDDs? Is there a firmware update for it available?

[IVB]

Originally Posted by stanger89

The RAID card BIOS itself says no HDDs? Is there a firmware update for it available?

Yep. One part I left out is that it won't allow the box to get past the missing HD failure to do the boot; it just sits there. Hence, neither a firmware update or F6 is even possible. It's also why I was totally baffled about next steps.

[gplasky]

Make sure you removed the jumper on all your Seagate drives so that they run as SATA II drives. Your card will only recognize SATA II or SAS drives. Maybe that's why they don't see them.

Gerry

[IVB]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Make sure you removed the jumper on all your Seagate drives so that they run as SATA II drives. Your card will only recognize SATA II or SAS drives. Maybe that's why they don't see them.

Gerry

Yep, depressingly the jumper has been pulled. My god, this is annoying.

[stanger89]

If you don't connect the drives, will it still not boot? Do you have other drives attached to the system, a boot drive?

[IVB]

won't boot even if no drives attached to the RAID. I do have a boot drive attached to the system, but it doesn't look like it's even getting to that step (unless pure existence is killing it).

[mattdcknsn]

Just to confirm what you are seeing. With your system as is (all older HDs connected) the system wont finish POSTing with the new RAID card installed? even if there are no HDs plugged into it?

What type of motherboard are you running? Are you using a PCIe 4 slot or a larger one? If you are using a PCIe 16 slot there might be some BIOS settings that need to be modified so that it doesnt think its a video card.

Are you able to get into the MegaRAIDs bios at all? What other PCI slots do you have populated?

[IVB]

Thanks for the reply.

Correct, it won't finish posting with no HDs plugged into it.

I'm running an Intel DP35, and using the PCIe 16x slot. I can't get into the MegaRAID bios, the other PCI slots are:
- VBox cats eye HD tuner
- PVR-500 tuner

Good thought about the mobo bios setting to tell it this isn't a video card, i'll have to check that tonight.

Thanks for the tip.

[mattdcknsn]

Just found this in the manual for the intl mobo you might have:

PCIE x16 Link Retrain
This BIOS setting may be
present on Intel® Desktop
Boards that include PCI
Express slots.

• GFX Card
• Disabled
• Enabled
Used to adjust configuration for devices such as PCIe
graphics cards which may need accommodations to
function properly when link training. Some PCI Express
cards may not be detected properly. Link retraining allows
the system to keep trying to train or detect and configure
the card. This setting will increase boot time.


Might work.

[IVB]

oy, you're a stud! Thanks! I want to leave work now to check that out :-)