Intel Matrix Storage Manager and fresh Windows 7 Install

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I just did a clean install from DVD of Windows 7 64bit to my new pc. I have 4 hard drives installed.

1 Intel X25M 160gb SSD --> OS
2 Samsung F3 500 ---> RAID 0 volume
1 Samsung F3 1TB ---> Storage

I set my motherboard Gigabyte EX58-UD5 to RAID mode, then I created the RAID 0 of the two Samsung 500Gb disks, then I installed Windows 7 on the Intel X25M (non raid disk).

After I got into windows, I ran the Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility, and then I ran the current Intel Matrix Storage Manager. Everything works, no problems, opening Intel Matrix Storage Manager shows the RAID 0 disks and the two non-raid disks and the storage controller is using the latest IMSM driver.

In the device manager of Windows, it tells me under "Disk Drives" that my drives are using the Microsoft Driver disk.sys. But, under "Storage Controllers", the controller shows that the computer is using the Intel ICH10r Sata RAID driver.

I have three questions:

1. I want to make sure I am using the Intel drivers for the Raid and non-raid disks, right? Should my system tell me under Device Manager in "Disk Drives" that I am using the Microsoft or Intel driver?

2. I still need to format the RAID 0 Samsungs, and the other 1tb Samsung. Using Disk Management, do I just create a simple volume for both of them? As well, for the RAID 0 Samsungs, I set the stripe size in the BIOS at 128K the default, but when I create the NTFS volume, it asks me for the size I think of the clusters, do I just use default?

3. Should I use MBR (master boot record) type of partition for those drives?

Many Thanks,
David
 
I found an answer to my first question about whether my computer is using the microsoft vs. the intel driver, and it is in fact operating correctly in RAID mode using the Intel drivers.

The only thing I am confused about on still is whether to use GUID or MBR type of format for formatting the drives. I actually don't need to partitition them, I just want one big volume on both of them.

Does anyone have any Windows 7 Disk Management help for this?

Many Thanks,
David
 
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