RAID on motherboards...

Martoch · 04-15-2002, 10:05 PM

If I purchase a motherboard with RAID capabilities but only want to use the 4 IDE ports to keep my devices as masters on their own IDE ribbons, do I have to do anything special? Or will the board work with 4 independent IDE ports unless I set up the RAID feature? I have NO experience with RAID technology, so please bear with me... Also, can you suggest good boards similar to the Soyo K7S Dragon Plus? Here's a link to it...

http://www.gameve.com/store/gameve_v...?idproduct=334

Kuasimodem · 04-15-2002, 10:16 PM

Presently I'm running my KT7-RAID in RAID0, but prior to that I was running the drives independently. It's kinda nice to have each device on it's own cable, makes transfers to/from each drive a bit faster

Yes, you can run one device on each cable without any special setup.

Warning - The RAID controller does NOT like drives with removable media, only put hard drives on the RAID controller.

Martoch · 04-15-2002, 10:19 PM

Well I know this is a totally dumb question, but I'll ask anyway...I'm sure the RAID controllers are labeled right? I mean, I wouldn't want to hook my CD-ROM/RW up to them by mistake. Your board looks nice, but I'm looking for a good board with DDR RAM support and a fast bus...preferably >266.

Kuasimodem · 04-15-2002, 10:29 PM

Well, I built a system for a friend a short time back with an XP1600 on an Abit KG7-RAID, it uses the AMD 760 northbridge mated with the VIA 686B southbridge and it's very stable

quick too

:

If you want a totally VIA option, look at the KR7A-RAID.

Both boards are DDR w/ 266Mhz FSB, and NO onboard BS (sound, vid, LAN, etc). They are also wonderful for overclocking and tweaking, since they both have Softmenu III and are TOTALLY jumperless

BTW - On most Abit boards, the RAID connectors are orange or blue or yellow, while the onchip IDE connectors are usually black or white.

Martoch · 04-15-2002, 10:49 PM

Thanks! I've never dwelled into the overclocking realms...I have nobody nearby to show me the light and I really don't want to try it by just reading some instructions and going for it! I'll read up on those boards and make a decision soon--I'm itching for an Athlon XP 2000 with DDR...

MegalosSkylaki · 04-15-2002, 11:59 PM

Martoch, IF you look in Storage Forum , you'll find two threads (posted by Yours truly) about RAID and IDE devices.

Check 'em out to see if anything is of help/interest. (Sorry, Too tired to post the links now.)

Good Luck

DOOOOG

Gomer · 04-16-2002, 09:28 AM

I am curious about this as well. Anyone else care to shed some light on it? I am getting ready to buy a new epox board for a new system and was curious about this onboard RAID deal. Right now, I have little knowledge of RAID, nor do I plan on using it anytime soon. However, if there is a healthy increase in IDE performance if each device has its own controller, I will probably go that route. Doing so would able me to pursue RAID in the future should I want to.

Also, I see that the epox 8K7A does not have the extra IDE ports, while the 8K7A+ does. The board I plan on buying is the 8KHA+. It is $9 less than the 8K7A+ and does not have the extra IDE ports. However, the 8KHA+ supports STR (suspend to RAM) while the 8K7A only has hardware sleep/resume. I like the STR because it kills everything, fans and all. There would have to be a healthy increase in performance with the additional RAID ports being used to give each of my IDE devices an independent channel. Like I said, I don't plan on using RAID anytime soon.