Help setting RAID 0 configuration w/ SSDs

EXCellR8

EXCellR8

Posts: 1,797   +1
I have two Intel X25-M solid state disks (80GB) that I want to stripe and use as my OS drive. I have the Asus P6T motherboard with ICH10R and support for RAID 0,1,5 and 10. My problem is I need to clone my OS partition with True Image and copy the volume to the striped drives. Here's the catch, my OS is already on one of the X25's and I will need to use an X25-V as a temp boot drive in order to stripe the two drives and still be able to use Windows for cloning. I also have 2 or 3 other SATA drives that I do NOT want to be configured in RAID.

So, I guess my question is will the striped SSD's take the cloned partition or will I encounter issues coming from a single drive? I don't have a ton of experience with RAID but I haven't had any problems either, but I want to play it safe. Any help would be helpful; I'm sure there is someone on here with much more knowledge on this matter. Thanks in advance!
 
EXCellR8 said:
I have two Intel X25-M solid state disks (80GB) that I want to stripe and use as my OS drive.
Click to expand...
DON'T - - Even Microsoft does not like that option - - the boot drive should not be Raid-X says MS.
 
are you saying that the drives should not be set to RAID at all or just RAID-10?

i would be using RAID-0
 
Copy os to regular hdd using true image. Reinstall windows install raid drivers for ssd's. Get into windows use acronis backup to pull image from your hdd select a location for the image to install on reboot. Done.
 
you can install raid drivers when you reinstall windows right after start up. My mobo allowed me to put them on a flash drive so yours should too. Get the drivers from your cd that came with the mobo or from the site. Some people have said(knowledgeable people) that you can setup raid at windows startup by pressing f8(or f4), you may want to restart to check that asap. If you can that would save some time and it only takes 20 secs to check if that disk utility is built in.
 
well i know there is a RAID utility built in, because I've used it before, but now I'm confused as to when to install the drivers, or if they are already installed. i don't have the disk for the mobo so i guess i will have to try the flash drive or burn them to a disk.
 
EXCellR8 said:
Easy enough, the RAID drivers should be on the disk that came with the SSD correct?
Click to expand...
Raid drivers are motherboard chipset specific. You can find them usually on the motherboard manufacturer site but depending on your motherboard, you can also get them from the chipset manufacturer as well. E.g. Intel etc.
 
cool, thanks for the info ...but now i'm thinking i actually can't pull this off. i have the two SSDs that I want to RAID-0 but i also have other SATA drives in my system that I don't want to RAID; I don't think my mobo will let me do both. right now the serial drives are configured as IDE and not RAID so my guess is once I change it my disk structure will be messed... and I have some important data on them.
 
if you're using Windows 7, (which you should with SSD's), then the drivers are on the disc.
and if i were you i'd do a clean install after setting BIOS to RAID followed by the intel RST driver right after OS is installed.
but that's me.
 
alright i'm just totally confused this shouldn't be this complicated. all i want to do is RAID two of my SSDs and now i'm looking at a ton of different software that needs to be installed at different times. now i know why i never bothered with this before... i don't know when to install the RAID drivers for my motherboard and i can't just configure all of my SATA drives to RAID from IDE, because i don't want all of them in the array. i have no idea what this RST thing does and Intel's site is garbage as a knowledge base.

in the download section, there is RST, the 64-bit driver files for RST, and then the Matrix Storage Manager. i'm pretty sure i need all three but how and when do i install them--after or during the OS installation? do i put everything on a disk or flash drive? this is ridiculous...
 
i finally figured out the drivers and which order to install the software, but now I have another problem. if i reinstall Windows and enable RAID for SATA drives i will be able to setup the OS fine with RAID 0--but then i wouldn't be able to recall the image of the previous installation without it containing the RAID drivers. the system would probably not boot correctly afterward and then i would be dead in the water. so, would it be possible to install the storage drivers now, re-image the OS, and then have it boot normally after the RAID is configured?
 
I've had many problems setting up two HDDs (not SSDs) in RAID0 on my ASUS P6T Deluxe... so many that I decided to take it out and go with a single SSD, which seems to perform just as well.
 
EXCellR8 said:
alright i'm just totally confused this shouldn't be this complicated. all i want to do is RAID two of my SSDs and now i'm looking at a ton of different software that needs to be installed at different times. now i know why i never bothered with this before... i don't know when to install the RAID drivers for my motherboard and i can't just configure all of my SATA drives to RAID from IDE, because i don't want all of them in the array. i have no idea what this RST thing does and Intel's site is garbage as a knowledge base.

in the download section, there is RST, the 64-bit driver files for RST, and then the Matrix Storage Manager. i'm pretty sure i need all three but how and when do i install them--after or during the OS installation? do i put everything on a disk or flash drive? this is ridiculous...
Click to expand...

I never had to install this or that... maybe a RAID driver, sure.. but nothing that wouldnt be provided on ASUS website.
 
EXCellR8 said:
i finally figured out the drivers and which order to install the software, but now I have another problem. if i reinstall Windows and enable RAID for SATA drives i will be able to setup the OS fine with RAID 0--but then i wouldn't be able to recall the image of the previous installation without it containing the RAID drivers. the system would probably not boot correctly afterward and then i would be dead in the water. so, would it be possible to install the storage drivers now, re-image the OS, and then have it boot normally after the RAID is configured?
Click to expand...

Sorry, to get to your most recent problem... I'm posting on old stuff, I appologise.

I was never able to copy my old HDD image to the RAID configuration, either. I ended up reinstalling windows completely. I have no good news for you on this topic, I am so sorry!

If you figure out how to do this, I would love to be enlightened!!!
 
If you have Windows 7, and you should for SSD's, the Raid drivers are on that.

Connect both SSD's to Intel SATA ports 0 and 1
Go into BIOS and set Intel chipset SATA controller to RAID
At POST you should see an option in addition to the options to get into your bios, one about RAID and create your array
Boot from your Windows disc. At this point you should see the combined disk space of your two SSD's
Install Windows. During install when asked about Windows Updates select Ask me later
Install RST Driver 10.1.0.1008 (allows TRIM commands to be sent to RAID arrays via chipset)
Download and install Intel Chipset Drivers - Intel Chipset Drivers v1.1.30.0 - needs internet connection for install
Download SSD Tweaker 1.8.4, run it and hit the Auto button. Click File at the top then Exit
Restart computer
Disable Disk Defragmeter Service
Install Windows Updates
Install Programs
 
ok thanks for the info guys... appreciate it. i am going to experiment with this for the next few weeks and see which configuration i like best. i've been told that switching to AHCI and using a single SSD would see better results so that's always an option--anything but IDE at this point because I feel like i am not getting the most out of the SSDs.

thanks again
 
I think I may have actually figured out a way to apply the image of my current OS SSD to a pair using RAID. Acronis TrueImage can make the images "universal" and which fully supports RAID-0. it looks like all i need to do is add the drivers for the controller when I make the backup image and then it could work once the array is configured. it's definitely a long shot times two, but if i could actually pull that off i wouldn't have to continue plucking my registry for entries that i need to salvage.

http://kb.acronis.com/content/13671
 
5/10 Update - It Worked!!

Sorry for a 2-week bump, but (after hours of experimenting) I was finally able to get the SSD RAID array working with the cloned image of my single disk OS. After many failed attempts I got Windows to boot under RAID-0 and it seems to be working just fine! Here's how I did it:

-used Acronis TrueImage Home 2011 to create an image of OS
-created bootable rescue media with TI 2011 plus pack (CD-ROM)
-configured SATA as [RAID] in BIOS (wiped SSD)
-configured RAID-0 array with Intel SSD's (149GB total)
-installed Windows 7 64-bit onto the array
-restarted the computer and used the bootable rescue media CD
-used rescue CD to recall the image of the OS excluding old MBR
-booted RAID array with cloned OS, installed RST and SSD tools
Click to expand...

I know it's a lot of steps but I wanted to post them here just to prove that yes, it is possible to clone the OS from a single drive and then apply it to a RAID array. I haven't done any real performance testing but all of my programs are working and so far I haven't had any errors :D
 
EXCellR8 said:
Sorry for a 2-week bump, but (after hours of experimenting) I was finally able to get the SSD RAID array working with the cloned image of my single disk OS. After many failed attempts I got Windows to boot under RAID-0 and it seems to be working just fine! Here's how I did it:



I know it's a lot of steps but I wanted to post them here just to prove that yes, it is possible to clone the OS from a single drive and then apply it to a RAID array. I haven't done any real performance testing but all of my programs are working and so far I haven't had any errors :D
Click to expand...

Thank you for posting you results!

Best luck to your RAID0 partition as your OS.
 
No problem, I'll post back if I run into anything... so far so good though. disk performance is amazing right now!
 
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