2x OCZ Vertex to be setup in RAID 0...help!

mantona

mantona

mantona

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For my new machine, I recently bought 2 of the following OCZ SSD's for a RAID 0 setup:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-014-OC&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=910

I have never done a RAID setup before and need help. I have read the various posts on the forum and do not yet fully understand the entire process.

Can someone please give me a step by step guide of what I am to do?

+ a few questions below:
1) What is disk alignment?
2) What size of stripe should I use? 128

I will be very happy to receive any help you can give to a newbie at this.
 
See this reply which I wrote just a few mins ago on another thread here. Should answer most of your questions. Bookmark the OCZ Forum pages too as they are regularly updated and a very good source of info.

Good Luck and enjoy - they are bleedin marvellous drives, you'll love em!

When you get up and running post some benchies in the OCZ Vertex Owners thread.

Cheers,
Si :)

Oh and welcome to the OcUK Forums!
 
Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate it, but I am still terribly confused. I do not want to give up just yet though! I know that I need to align the drives but what does that really mean?

Do I need an operating system running already to install these drives?

I've just read my new motherboard instructions and the RAID setup does not seem terribly straightforward.

Great stuff by the way regarding the tweaks and image creation.

Please can someone give me a step by step before I end up just installing one drive. Thank you in advance for your help.
 
mantona said:
Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate it, but I am still terribly confused. I do not want to give up just yet though! I know that I need to align the drives but what does that really mean?

Do I need an operating system running already to install these drives?

I've just read my new motherboard instructions and the RAID setup does not seem terribly straightforward.

Great stuff by the way regarding the tweaks and image creation.

Please can someone give me a step by step before I end up just installing one drive. Thank you in advance for your help.
Click to expand...

I've got some meetings this AM, but I'll see if I can put together a general guide for you later today. Don't give up - RAID sounds complex but really there's not too much to it, and the benefit's you'll see are great!
 
Hey Mantona,

To answer your questions simply.

If you are using Vista or Windows 7, there is no need to do partition alignment as it does it for you by default. This is only for XP.

Go with the 128K stripe size. In general its better to go with a larger stripe size vs a smaller.
 
LeJimster said:
Hey Mantona,

To answer your questions simply.

If you are using Vista or Windows 7, there is no need to do partition alignment as it does it for you by default. This is only for XP.

Go with the 128K stripe size. In general its better to go with a larger stripe size vs a smaller.
Click to expand...

Actually that is wrong for a raid setup. For a single disk installation then yes Vista or win7 will do it for you but for a raid setup you will have to do it yourself.
 
Incorrect. Windows sees no difference between RAID and a single drive when creating a partition.

I let Vista align the partition for me (default 1024k which is fine) when setting up my SSD Raid Array.

Code: 
DISKPART> list partition

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    Primary            119 GB  1024 KB
 
LeJimster said:
Incorrect. Windows sees no difference between RAID and a single drive when creating a partition.

I let Vista align the partition for me (default 1024k which is fine) when setting up my SSD Raid Array.

Code: 
DISKPART> list partition

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    Primary            119 GB  1024 KB
Click to expand...

Sorry then mate, but thanks for the info. So what you are telling me is once I get the raid setup in the bios there's no need to align, just to load OS as normal?
 
Windows 7 works too,

DISKPART> list part

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Primary 200 MB 1024 KB
Partition 2 Primary 595 GB 201 MB

It sets the 1024k offset, and by default it creates a small system/boot partition, which is hidden from the OS. Not sure why it does that, but its fully alighned for best performance anyway.
 
Ninja Please! said:
Sorry then mate, but thanks for the info. So what you are telling me is once I get the raid setup in the bios there's no need to align, just to load OS as normal?
Click to expand...

NP, Indeed.. Unless you run XP, just let Vista or Windows7 partition the drive and it'll be aligned for you.
You could align it manually, but it will be of little benefit. Unless you want to save your unused 960KB :)

Corasik said:
Windows 7 works too,

DISKPART> list part

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Primary 200 MB 1024 KB
Partition 2 Primary 595 GB 201 MB

It sets the 1024k offset, and by default it creates a small system/boot partition, which is hidden from the OS. Not sure why it does that, but its fully alighned for best performance anyway.
Click to expand...

I haven't fiddled with Windows 7 yet, but I'm guessing the hidden partition probably contains system tools for recovery and diagnostic.
 
Last edited:
Thank you for your help so far...Am I correct to assume that from the above that with Vista 64bit then I should not need to allign?

Would really be very happy for someone to give me a step-by-step guide please. Looking forward to your guide 'FaceplantSi'

Thanks
 
Plug in drives. Go into bios, set sata mode to 'raid' rather than ahci or ide.
Go to bios tab which talks about raid.

Tell it to make a raid 0, stripe size 128kb across the two vertex drives. Easily recognised as the only 60gb drives in your system. Install vista.

Not very difficult to work out, or to find on google.

edit: or in fact look at the similar but rather better guide written by and linked to by FaceplantSi in the very first response to this thread
 
Last edited:
Hi Mantona,

Sorry I couldn't get back to you yesterday...

Setting up a RAID array is quite straightforward, but the process will vary slightly depending on your motherboard and exactly what hardware it incorporates. (Most modern mobo's have onboard RAID controllers thus meaning you don't need to buy a seperate controller card as you did in the old days.)

I would strongly recommend that you download the manual for your mobo and look into it's specific setup instructions for whatever chipset it uses.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have an ASUS P5Q-E mobo which has an Intel ICH10R as it's onboard RAID controller and below is the process for setting up a RAID array as per the mobo manual.

Firstly change your BIOS so that the SATA configuration is set to RAID
raid001d.jpg



Then, as per the below, enter the Intel Matrix Storage Mgr by pressing CTRL+I at boot
raid002.jpg



You should now see the below screen
raid003.jpg



Option 1 is to Create RAID Volume, select this and you'll get the 'Create Volume Menu' as below
raid004.jpg



Next give the Array a name - I chose something like 'Boot Volume', select RAID0 as the level, then select Disks as per this image (select both your Vertex's)
raid005.jpg



Now you can set the Strip (or Stripe) size - 128k is recommended for multimedia desktop systems, and then enter how much of the disk capacity you wnat to use for the RAID0 Array - I would suggest sticking to the default whish is the max available, then when it asks if you are sure to create the volume - press 'Y' to accept. (NB - all data on the drives will be lost!)
raid006.jpg



Now you can do the Alignment if you want - Vista can do this for you as LeJimster has said but I prefer to do it manually and set the alignment offset at 128k.

After that it is simply a case of installing the OS (and if you are using Vista with SP1 then you shouldn't need to have the RAID controller driver available as it should pick up the array on it's own just fine).

Let us know if you still get into difficulties, and perhaps it would be wise to post specs of the rest of your hardware so we can be more specific with help ing you.

Cheers
Si
 
Off topic: Can I just say Faceplantsi you rock my friend. Another nice & helpful post!

The downside....now you got me thinking of raiding SSDs darn you!!!
 
Thank your for your excellent guide FaceplantSi. I am now a lot more confident in setting this up. Tomorrow is the night that I will start putting together the new machine. I will get back to you and tell you how I am getting on. (will probably be back on one of the forums looking for advice on my new setup as well)

Thank you once again.
 
Thanks for the kind words guys, it's nice to know my efforts are appreciated!

If considering SSD's for your own rig is a 'downside' then hey, it's a damn good one! ;)

Hope the build goes well Mantona, it'll be good to hear how you get on.:)
 
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