how to setup RAID 0 at abit IC7 motherboard

[eksf81]

I am setting up a new personal computer, and wish to use the RAID 0 for two SATA harddisk. The abit motherboard (IC7) provide inboard SATA RAID 0, and i would like to install window XP pro,

Can anybody tell me how to setup SATA RAID 0(in hardware RAID and software RAID), step-by-step from beginning until the end. Support i already connect all the hardware in mother board and now just need to push the ON button to start.



abit mb IC7, 1G DDR RAM, 2.6C intel processor, ASUS ATI 9600XT, ASUS CD ROM, Two SATA 80G maxtor harddisk, floppy drive.

[Redfallon]

I will try and do this from memory, as I'm at work and my IC7-MAX3 is at home ;) If you've got the drives hooked up, boot up and press delete to get into BIOS. See if the drives are recognized by the BIOS. On my Abit, I had to choose which config I wanted to use for my SATA drives, but it has 6 SATA ports on two different controllers, yours has 2 ports as far as I can tell. You should have the option to turn RAID support on or off, turn it on, then save and exit changes. When the computer reboots, you'll get a msg to go into the intel RAID configuration, I think you press Ctrl-I, it will say on the screen. As long as you've got RAID support on in the regular BIOS you'll get this option. In the setup, you can build the RAID volume, selecting the stripe size is up to you, default will be fine for normal usage. After building the volume, you reboot to XP CD, and as soon as it says "press F6 if you need to install blah blah..." hit F6, then after a few mins it will tell you to insert your floppy. select the intel RAID drivers. (note: my floppy from ABIT was corrupt, had to download them from the net and make a new floppy...hopefully yours works :) ) Then if windows gets to the option to "select a drive to install to" and it shows your "drive" you're all set. If you have any problems with the BIOS or anything else, lemme know the specifics and I'll see if I can be of more help.

[eksf81]

Really thank for the reply... that mean after i plug in my harddisk 1 into slot 1(SATA) and plug in harddisk 2 into slot 2(SATA), and also finish setting up all the hardware, i will use floppy disk to boot up the computer(this floopy disk is a start up disk created at window 98), then i switch on the power supply and press the ON button, after sometime, the A:/ prompt will come out on black screen. i will format this two harddisk by typing format c: and format d:, after that restart the computer. then when it start i will press DEL to get into bios, and see whether the drive(harddisk) is recognized by the bios. IF THE BOIS DO NOT RECOGNIZED, WHAT SHOULD I DO? assumed that is recognized by bios, and i will turn it on, and restart, then message come out for intel RAID configuration, then i press Ctrl-I, NOW IS TO BUILT THE RAID VOLUME RIGHT? IF I WANT SET IN DEFAULT, JUST FOLLOW THE INTRUCTION AND NON NEED CHANGE ANY SETTING RIGHT? AFTER THIS DID I NEED TO RESTART COMPUTER OR HOW I REBOOT TO XP CD? then now promt out " press F6 to install ...." after i hit F6, it tell me insert my floopy, THIS FLOPPY IS COME FROM ABIT MOTHER BOARD DRIVER RIGHT? BUT MY MOTHERBOARD JUST COME WITH ONE CD ONLY, SO I NEED TO COPY THE DRIVER FILE(intel RAID drive) INTO FLOPPY? after that it will ask me want select the drive, NOW THE DRIVE IS IN 1 DRIVE OR 2 DRIVE? i mean C or D? or just C only? after selected i just simply install the window XP.

did the instruction above right? and can you please reply my question, cause it is very very important for me... and once agian thank for ur reply.

[glc]

Nope. You do not use a floppy disk to boot with. You boot into the BIOS and set everything up as already indicated, then boot to the XP CD. You start setup and press F6 when prompted. This is where you need a floppy with the RAID drivers. After loading these, the XP setup will allow you to partition and format the drives - and the array will be seen as only ONE drive with the capacity of BOTH drives, you don't have a C and a D yet, and you will only have a C unless you decide to partition the array.

[eksf81]

no.. i just want to make sure did i need to format the harddisk first before doing any thing? because these two harddisk is new, for my information the new harddisk come out from factory is only low level format, and the user need to format it (high level format) before using these harddisk.

since you said that after loading of RAID driver from floppy, the xp setup will allow me to partition or format the drives, can you tell me more clearly how xp setup will do the partition or format? bacause for my information when i press F6 that is for install window XP into my computer.

is that performance still the same if with partition and no partition?

thank for reply.

[glc]

1. Boot into the BIOS.

2. Set up your RAID array.

3. Boot to the XP CD.

4. Go into Setup.

5. Press F6 when prompted to install 3rd party drivers.

6. Insert the floppy with the RAID drivers.

7. Install the RAID drivers when prompted.

8. XP will ask you where to install XP, it will show one drive with unallocated space equal to the capacity of BOTH drives, choose there, and it will partition and format the array for you and continue with Setup. You can choose to make the install partition any size you want - up to 100% of the capacity. Do this however you want - choose 100% if you just want one big partition, or choose less if you want to create more partitions after Windows is installed. If you choose to leave space for more partitions, you will use Disk Management in XP after the install is complete to finish the job.

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No, you do not have to do ANYTHING with the 2 drives, XP will take care of them the way they came from the factory.