Create Striped Array on Windows 7 Install

snedie

snedie

snedie

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Just got a Sata 6Gb/s SAS controller which does not have build in RAID functionality. Although I am happy having just steam load from a windows configured Striped array, I was wondering if Windows 7 had the ability during the initial install phase to create a striped array to install Windows onto?

Any info appreciated.
 
It's an Adaptec 7805H SAS Controller. I'm having massive issues with it actually and will likely make a thread about it on here.

I can only get 20MB/s read from an SSD on the controller, and yet a regular HDD will get it's normal 75MB/s read. Writes are fine at 495MB/s, any ideas?
 
Hmm, ok a lot to take on and don't really have the time but a few things...

It looks like that is just a HBA and doesn't do RAID.
Never looked into it before but it seems there is no way to get Win7 to do s/w RAID during install. It has to be done after but that is just a quick google, so could be wrong.
As for the card and speed issues...
Can you ctrl-A on boot and get into it's firmware/bios setup? You may need to check/change your mobo's BIOS to allow this.
Once in it you should have options to format the disks, test etc.
Check you have the latest firmware and driver, here.
Check disk compatibility here. Though don't panic if yours aren't on the list, this can just mean that they'll be fine, just haven't been officially tested and signed off as supported. But with a lot of these a google and a post on their forums might find others using those disks just fine.
Same for the cables, here.

Sorry if any of that is teaching you to suck eggs but hopefully it gives you something to go on. But it does sound like you have an issue somewhere if reads are so low, especially compared to writes ! Does it do any kind of data encryption?
 
chaosophy said:
Hmm, ok a lot to take on and don't really have the time but a few things...

It looks like that is just a HBA and doesn't do RAID.
Never looked into it before but it seems there is no way to get Win7 to do s/w RAID during install. It has to be done after but that is just a quick google, so could be wrong.
As for the card and speed issues...
Can you ctrl-A on boot and get into it's firmware/bios setup? You may need to check/change your mobo's BIOS to allow this.
Once in it you should have options to format the disks, test etc.
Check you have the latest firmware and driver, here.
Check disk compatibility here. Though don't panic if yours aren't on the list, this can just mean that they'll be fine, just haven't been officially tested and signed off as supported. But with a lot of these a google and a post on their forums might find others using those disks just fine.
Same for the cables, here.

Sorry if any of that is teaching you to suck eggs but hopefully it gives you something to go on. But it does sound like you have an issue somewhere if reads are so low, especially compared to writes ! Does it do any kind of data encryption?
Click to expand...

I did wonder if Encryption was playing a part as the Crucial M500 240GB drives that I am using do tout that Encryption is one of their strong points (did not purchase for this). However when I connect the drives directly to my mainboard I receive full Sata 3Gb/s (yes I know drives are 6Gb/s :)) as expected, and when placed into a striped array under Windows I easily hit the 1GB/s cap of the ICH10 chipset.

The drives are not on the compatibility list, but as you say it often just indicates a lack of testing. I will have a gander around on the BIOS of the card and see if there are any settings I can alter or find that will help identify or alleviate the issues.

The odd part is that under ATTO Disk Bench if I disable Direct IO I see the full speeds I would expect from this array, however every other benchmark I use and even transferring files directly to it still tell me I have massive write performance issues:

SSDRAID0_zpscd52d91c.png
 
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You're controllers sync pipe might not be matched to the mobo's sync speed. I had a similar issue (albeit with a RAID version) whereby the disks were crawling. The controller was set to 100mb (old system) but the board was syncing at 60mb. Changed the syncs to match, job done :)
 
Django x2 said:
You're controllers sync pipe might not be matched to the mobo's sync speed. I had a similar issue (albeit with a RAID version) whereby the disks were crawling. The controller was set to 100mb (old system) but the board was syncing at 60mb. Changed the syncs to match, job done :)
Click to expand...

I don't have any options in either the MB (P6T-SE) BIOS or the controller BIOS to alter any PCI-E Speeds :(
 
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