Install/Boot Windows From Promise RAID 0

[hifi]

Hi all,

So as it goes I have just recently decided to give raid a shot. I am setting up my Asus A7v266e w/2 seagate barracuda 40gig's in a raid 0 array. Much to my demise, I just found out that windows does not like to be installed on a raid 0 array. My quick and to the point question is, is it possible (and if so how, I am most certain that there must be a way) to install windows on this array? Thank you in advance. (BTW I am using the onboard promise raid chip. thx) *Note that I am getting a "no hard disks were detected on your system error" in the setup win2k menu...

hifi

[Martoch]

Hello hifi! It IS possible to set up Windows on a RAID port...of course when Windows is setting up you have to select F6 to install the specified RAID drivers.
However, I recommend installing Windows while your HD is on IDE 1 or 2. Enable your RAID ports in the BIOS, install the RAID controller drivers, move your HD over to the RAID port, enter BIOS and select 1st boot item to SCSI, and it should detect your HD on as a SCSI device and boot from it.
If it does not, you may have to set up a 0+1 (or 1 + 0, something like that) array (auto config should take care of that) to enable Windows to boot from it.

At least that's how it goes with Soyo K7V Dragon + motherboards.

Clear as mud right?


Here's a link that should help you install it straight to the RAID port.
This small guide is for those who want to install Windows 2000 on a hard disk that uses the Promise IDE connectors

http://www.kattanweb.com/computech/g...ndows_2000.asp

[hifi]

Thanks Martoch I truely appreciate the reply. The main thing that confused me here was the fact that I did install the promis drivers as requested by setup and still no disk recognition. The promis bios does recognise the array though and says that it is "functional". I will review the link you have provided. Once again thanks!

hifi

[hifi]

Hey Martoch, are you using 2 h/d's by the way? Forgive me, but you made it sound like you are only using 1....if you are using 2...how is it possible to move both drives to the raid controller if the o/s is only installed on one of the drives?

thanks, hifi

[hifi]

Hey! If any of you bright Techimoin's has some input on this please don't hesitate to add any comments! I apparently need all the help I can gather in this matter.

thx

hifi

[hifi]

/\BUMP/\

[Thud]

Well, since it looks like you're getting desperate....

I have never used a RAID array. I have use the Promise add on cards in the past. Therefore I'm doubtful that this will help, but who knows?

Using the Promise card with my boot disk installed, I always had to set the BIOS to boot from SCSI, rather than any IDE device.

Again, as that applies to their add-on cards, I doubt it will do you much good. But, it won't hurt anything to try.

Best of luck.

[hifi]

Originally posted by Thud
Well, since it looks like you're getting desperate....

LOL Well that removed the frown from my face for a few minutes at any rate.....let me give it a shot....but the only issue here is, I have to set the CD ROM or the Floppy first in the boot order for it to install the o/s (this case win2k pro) from the cd rom..... I don't know....damnit! There, I went and did it....I had to swear ) So come on guys....someone in our vast bunch has had to have set up a Raid 0 array on an ASUS board !!!!!! come on guys!!! I AM desperate!!!!!


come on and help me! so far google hasn't gotten me too far.

hifi

[JayMan]

You might wanna PM Kuasimodem, i'm pretty sure he know about setup up RAID arrays n stuff....

JayMan

[hifi]

Thx man!!!! Will give it a go!

[hifi]

Just pm'd quasimodem....thx very much for your assistane Seriously, when you get yourself involved in a "spot" such as this, you are extremely thankful for those around you.

hifi

[JayMan]

No problems at all, good luck with getting it working!

Keep us informed!

JayMan

[hifi]

No go yet.......as always anyones opinion is welcome

[hifi]

YEAH!!! so I did it....no I didn't get any response from quasi or anyone on this one, just good 'ol fashioned brain power (end brag rant). Okay, so I should have thought of this from the beginning, but I was looking for a simpler way to do it.

1) Hitting F6 to install promise/raid drivers at the setup menu to install windows 2000 pro did not work (and according to Microsofts support page) will not work IF the only h/d you are installing to is the raid drives. (Windows does not like raid 0 configurations for good reason...ie hardrive failure)

2) So to the point here for those of you wanting to install raid, (in a raid 0 configuration) I will list my steps here one by one for anyone intrested to follow. Granted, in my eyes it is not the most efficient method, BUT the main point here is I am currently running a 2+0 Promise Raid configuration on my Asus A7V266E m/b with it listed as the C: drive and with a clean O/S install.

a) First of all and most importantly you will need 3 hard drives. 2 minimum for your raid 0 configuration (follow your m/b's manual for drive type/size limitations if any...most raid 0 configurations work best with 2 drives of the same size and manufacturer. I used/am using 2 seagate barracuda IV's at 40 gig a piece) The single hard drive will then be used to mirror the o/s onto the new raid 0 array. yes I said "mirrored" (for this drive I have an 80 g/b Western Digital Special Edition). ALSO I did have a second computer on my home network with ample drive storage to copy/backup all the files off my main computer. (I had 60 g/b worth of MPEG2 movies and 5 g/b of mp3's on the W/D h/d that had to go somewhere)

b) get yourself a copy of Norton "Ghost" or a simular drive copy/imaging software.

c) format your single hard drive (the one that is not going to be used in the array) and install the o/s of your choice on it. If you like install some simple drivers etc and any/all of your commonly used programs. **ALSO** make sure that your raid array is configured and set up while performing the install. This will insure that your RAID controller drivers are installed properly in windows. (Trust me on this one , my screw ups are to your benefit here)

d) now be carefull with this step: use a bootable DOS floppy etc with a copy of Norton Ghost on it (all you need is the ghost.exe program) and reboot the computer. Once at the DOS prompt, excecute ghost and use the Disk to Disk copy function (I did not use the mirror option, just the direct copy) Now lucky for us, ghost is intelligent and sees your Raid array as just ONE big hard drive. Then you just copy (Man, I fell in love with ghost during this time frame...it is so damn fast copied everything for me in 2.5 minutes )

e) once completed, ghost will prompt you to restart your system, do this, but DO NOT let the system start the boot process into windows. (Once again please heed my warning, I am writing this book cause I was so damn frustrated I was pulling out my own hair...now you don't have to ) So shut your system down immediately. Now you will have to remove your "single" hard drive that should be located on IDE0 master...(not the raid drives to make my point) you don't have to physically remove it if you plan to keep it in the system for extra storage etc, but you do not want it connected on the intial reboot. Once this has been done, boot up your computer and enter the BIOS. Go to your "Boot" order option (varies bios to bios) and enable the primary boot device to be SCSI/RAID. Then restart the system and YEAH!!! you will now boot into windows with your now SUPERFAST raid 0 array ***Note, this step is just to double check to make certain that your copy went well and that everything is functional.

f) If you are planning to keep the other drive in the system for extra storage, then you will have to shutdown again, reconnect it to any available IDE channel (the master is fine as long as the bios is still set to boot from SCSI/RAID) and boot to your floppy dos disk and Format that sucker. Once completed, you can leave all h/d devices hooked up the way you want em and boot back into windows....from there format/partition the h/d any way you like it.


Hey, a little long, but I am satisfied w/the results.... Very satisfied....this configuration should load up those UT2003 levels quite nicely for me

good luck and if you found this helpful, let me know, any ?'s just PM me....or of course, you happen to know a much superior method, please post it here...I would love to know.


Hifi

[JayMan]

Damn good work there!

Would it matter if the single harddrive wasn't the same size as the RAID 0 array? (e.g. if you used a 20gig HDD for the single drive but the total RAID 0 array was like 40gig?)

JayMan

[hifi]

No, that shouldn't matter, you should in fact be able to use about any h/d you can find. (One large enough for the initial o/s install anyways). It is just a temporary storage location for your o/s until you are able to copy it (w/ghost or whatever prog. you find for h/d imaging) to your Raid array.

[Kuasimodem]

Sorry about that Hifi, I've been away from my 'puters for a day or so letting them run on autopilot, I just found an email alert for your PM about 15 minutes ago.

I'm trying to figure out why you were having so much trouble and had to go thru the hassle of doing a mirror to get Windoze installed on a RAID 0 array. The only difference that I see between your setup and mine is the brand of controller (you Promise, me Highpoint).

This system is a KT7-RAID board with a HPT370 controller and 2 WD 300BB drives in RAID 0, and I just used the normal install proceedures for installing Win98se/Win2K Pro in a dual boot.

I'm glad to see that you got it all sorted out and running I'm also going to bookmark this thread for when I work with Promise controllers and RAID arrays.

74 emails and only 2 of them were spam

[hifi]

LOL Thanks for the effort anyway Kuasi....boy did I EVER have a time with this one....yeah, I just spoke w/a friend that said he had no issues with his Raid 0 setup either....just puts in the windows setup disk and goes.....(doesn't even load drivers at setup or anything)...but then again, he is using a Epox board also w/ a Highpoint controller....must be something w/promise raid setups....

So do you have to load drivers (hit F6 to load SCSI/Raid controller drivers) at windows setup? Just curious. **edit**(This sounds a bit misleading judging by the post below....what I should say is with your High Point controller do you have to load up your drivers or will windows see the raid config/drives?) With my Promise raid/ata100 controler on my asus a7v266e...this would not work.**end edit**

Thanks again for the response.

Hifi

[TM12]

I'm using the Promise controller, newer, ATA133 RAID, and I never had any problems. I connected the two drives, changed the bios to boot from the SCSI controller, set up the array in the bios, then fdisked and installed the drivers using F6 during the install. No problemo. However, as you or someone else stated, you MUST install the RAID drivers using F6 during EVERY install or re-install. Even if you're re-installing from within Windows. Windows is somehow very stupid about that. Have fun and enjoy the speed.

[Kuasimodem]

Win98se had no problems installing to the RAID array, but I did have to use the F6 option and install the drivers for Win2K Pro. I think that it has something to do with how the Highpoint controller lets Windows see the drives. When you enter the controller setup screen (control H during boot) and look at he list of drives, the first drive in the array is listed as master, and the second drive is listed as hidden.

To test my theory, I checked the drive information in Sandra 2002 and I'm pretty sure that I'm right. The exact model of the drive that Sandra returns is for the primary drive (WD300BB-AUA1), and it doesn't list the second drive (WD307BB-AUA1). My second drive is actually a 30.7Gb Caviar, the primary is a 30Gb Caviar, I bought them about 3 months apart.

Now, if I could only get Mandrake 8.2 to install to the RAID array, it will only see the drives seperately