Will Asus A8V Dlx. support 4 WD raptors as Raid 0+1?

[seanthe]

I currently have an Asus A8V deluxe MB w/2 10k WD Raptor SATA HDDs in a RAID 0 setup. (Promise 378). Would like to add two more HDDs(same) and change to 0+1. My problem is both the manual and the on-disc documents are very vague. Also no response from Asus site. The manual leads me to believe that 0+1 can only be achieved using a comb. of SATA & reg. ATA drives. Again very vague leaving many questions. Wouldn't two pair of drives operating at diff. rpms cause some type of problem? There are 4 SATA connections on the MB but I don't want just a bigger RAID 0. Am tempted to just plug in the new drives and try it but don't want to make a costly mistake. Also wondering if when Asus says NEW drive would a newly formatted one (or Pair), mean the same? Have searched but found no clear answer, any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Gandalph]

According to the manual available at ASUS's web site, you have 2 controllers on that motherboard(Promise and VIA), each supporting 2 SATA drives in RAID 0 or 1. In order to set up a 4 drive RAID 0+1, you would need one controller supporting 4 SATA drives. As to the "new" drive question, I am sure they are referring to any drive attached to the system for the first time, so a newly formatted drive would work just fine.

Edit: You could sort of do what you are trying to do by creating a RAID 0 array on your second controller, then use WinXP to create a RAID 1. You can email or PM me for instructions on that.

 

[seanthe]

Thanks. Had to look dumbly at your reply til I checked back after your edit. I'm entirely self-taught and do that a lot. But I think you've nailed what I was essentially looking for a second opinion on.Thanks again, and I will probably soon venture again into the area of "let's see if this works,"