WiLieR[SS]
12-22-2004, 08:15 PM
The idea for RAID assemblies has been around for a while. The first patent for RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) technology was filed back in 1978. Since that time several forms of RAID have emerged. RAID 0, or “striping”, offers high speed with no room for errors. RAID 1, or “mirroring”, offers data redundancy by creating an exact copy of one drive onto another in case of drive failure. RAID 0/1 consists of multiple drives with one array functioning as a RAID 0 assembly for speed and the other array as RAID 1 for data backup. RAID 5 arrays require at least three drives and stripe the data across the three drives while also mirroring data. The best way to explain is by an example. Drive 1 contains data A, drive 2 contains data B and drive 3 contains data C. Drive 1 mirrors data C, drive 2 mirrors data A and drive 3 mirrors data B. If one drive fails it can be restored by another drive offering almost a hot swap option. This is all in theory however. These are the four types of RAID that have existed since 1978. All was well in the RAID world, until an Intel engineer mumbled the words Matrix RAID. Since the first mumble of the two words Intel has developed two chipsets that support Matrix RAID, the 915 and the 925 chipset that include the ICH6R south bridge.
The need for multiple hard drives to create a RAID 1 and a RAID 0 array has now disappeared. In its place is a pair of hard drives instead. While Intel’s newest chipsets allow for the creation of two partitions across a pair of hard drives, the new Matrix RAID feature allows for one partition to be set for RAID 0 and the other partition to be set for RAID 1. This should appeal to those who are interested in maximum data transfer performance from RAID 0, users such as gamers and video editors, but are also interested in the data security of RAID 1. There is no longer a need to spend large amounts of money so one can experience fast load times of games and other high volume data and also feel comfortable knowing your important files are secure on a mirrored assembly.
Are you ready to experience Matrix RAID? If so, your next questions are probably “Wait, won’t it be hard to install windows on such an array?” and “Will windows recognize this new RAID technology?” Follow along as we install a pair of 120GB SATA drives, format them for Matrix RAID, and then install Windows in five easy steps.
Pre-assembly: Build your system as any other system using SATA technology. There is nothing different in the actual build process for a Matrix Raid system. The only difference is the same among all RAID builds, in order to get the best possible performance from the RAID array both drives should be identical in size. While not required I also recommend both drives be of the same manufacturer and model as this will cause the least amount of problems during the install.
Step 1: Creating our RAID 1 partition
The RAID 1 partition will be home to our Windows install as the majority of sensitive data most users want to keep safe will be the Windows install and the data files created by the user that are of importance. The first step is to enter into the RAID Configuration Utility. This is done by pressing a sequence of keys, usually Cntrl+I. This will vary by motherboard manufacturers, so check your motherboard’s manual to be sure. Once the RAID Configuration Utility has been accessed, select RAID 1 and choose the drives to use for the partition build. The RAID 0 partition could be built instead, but the partition that is built first will be recognized as the primary drive. Since the Windows install and other data files of importance will be installed on the C: drive, it is recommended to build the RAID 1 partition first so it becomes C: during the windows install. With the drives selected the size of the drive is to be set. For this example, we will set the RAID 1 partition to 40GB. Remember, RAID 1 is a mirroring partition. This means that the mirrored drive will show as only 40GB, but it is using 40GB of both drives not just one drive. With 40GB of each drive set aside for our mirrored volume, there is now roughly 80GB of space left on each hard drive that will be used for our striped volume.
Step 2: Creating our RAID 0 volume
The RAID 0 volume will be used for our games and high intensity apps such as video editors and photo editors. From the RAID Configuration Utility select RAID 0 and allocate the rest of the drive space, all 80GB from each drive, for the striped volume’s use. We need to set a stripe size at this point. Typically 64KB or 128KB is considered to be best for day to day use. Once all settings are finished select “Create Volume” and our RAID 0 volume is now ready to use.
Step 3: Installing Windows
Installing Windows on a regular RAID assembly is no different from installing onto a Matrix RAID assembly. Simply place the Windows install cd into the cd tray and boot off the cd. When Windows asks for F6 to be pressed to “install third party SCSI or RAID driver”, press F6 and have your motherboard’s driver floppy ready to use. Once the drivers are installed then the Windows install will continue as normal. The hard part of the install is the same as any other RAID install. Since Windows has not been loaded, the mirrored volume shows the amount of space in total for both drives. Our 40GB RAID 1 volume will show as an 80GB partition. The 80GB per drive RAID 0 volume will show as a 160GB partition. Select the 80GB partition to install Windows so it is installed on our mirrored volume. The Windows install will now continue as normal for any drive setup, RAID or non-RAID.
Step 4: Setting up the striped volume
Once the Windows install is finished the striped partition will not show under My Computer. Don’t panic just yet as Windows simply needs to be “told” about this partition. To do this click on Start and then right click My Computer and choose “Manage” from the drop down list. Once in the Computer Management window select “Disk Management” from the list on the left. If everything has been done according to the steps this far then our mirrored partition will show as Drive 0 and our striped partition will show as Drive 1 which will also show as “unallocated”. To correct this and have Windows recognize our striped partition simply right click on the unallocated space and select “Create Partition.” A Windows drive wizard will open and require a series of clicks to complete. Once the wizard is finished our striped partition will now be recognized by Windows and function just like any other hard drive. The only difference is our striped partition is much faster than a single hard drive.
Step 5: Using Intel’s RAID utility (optional step)
Intel has a utility called Intel’s Application Accelerator. This little utility allows the user to keep an eye on their RAID assemblies. One of the best parts of this utility is its ability to detect when a RAID assembly is facing impending doom. The utility can not always give an early warning, but when it does one should not wait at all but immediately make backups of their data on the striped partition that they do not want to loose. Remember, a mirrored assembly takes one hard drive and makes a backup copy of the data onto another hard drive. A striped assembly splits the data between two or more hard drives which means if one drive fails all data is lost on that assembly. This is why I recommend using Intel’s Application Accelerator to help keep tabs on the RAID assemblies, just in case something starts to malfunction.
Now that we have walked through the setup of Matrix RAID and Windows is installed, go have fun and enjoy the extra funds in your pocket due to only having to buy two hard drives instead of three or more. Maybe those extra funds could be used to buy a better processor that can crunch through the striped partition’s data better. Or maybe it can be used to buy a better video card that can chew through the video data from the striped partition so more frames per second can come through in Doom3. Or simply use it to take the spouse out to dinner to tell them “Thank You for allowing me to build my new Matrix RAIDed rig”.
Reference: Maximum PC; November 2004; Volume 9 Number 11; pg 65, 66
The need for multiple hard drives to create a RAID 1 and a RAID 0 array has now disappeared. In its place is a pair of hard drives instead. While Intel’s newest chipsets allow for the creation of two partitions across a pair of hard drives, the new Matrix RAID feature allows for one partition to be set for RAID 0 and the other partition to be set for RAID 1. This should appeal to those who are interested in maximum data transfer performance from RAID 0, users such as gamers and video editors, but are also interested in the data security of RAID 1. There is no longer a need to spend large amounts of money so one can experience fast load times of games and other high volume data and also feel comfortable knowing your important files are secure on a mirrored assembly.
Are you ready to experience Matrix RAID? If so, your next questions are probably “Wait, won’t it be hard to install windows on such an array?” and “Will windows recognize this new RAID technology?” Follow along as we install a pair of 120GB SATA drives, format them for Matrix RAID, and then install Windows in five easy steps.
Pre-assembly: Build your system as any other system using SATA technology. There is nothing different in the actual build process for a Matrix Raid system. The only difference is the same among all RAID builds, in order to get the best possible performance from the RAID array both drives should be identical in size. While not required I also recommend both drives be of the same manufacturer and model as this will cause the least amount of problems during the install.
Step 1: Creating our RAID 1 partition
The RAID 1 partition will be home to our Windows install as the majority of sensitive data most users want to keep safe will be the Windows install and the data files created by the user that are of importance. The first step is to enter into the RAID Configuration Utility. This is done by pressing a sequence of keys, usually Cntrl+I. This will vary by motherboard manufacturers, so check your motherboard’s manual to be sure. Once the RAID Configuration Utility has been accessed, select RAID 1 and choose the drives to use for the partition build. The RAID 0 partition could be built instead, but the partition that is built first will be recognized as the primary drive. Since the Windows install and other data files of importance will be installed on the C: drive, it is recommended to build the RAID 1 partition first so it becomes C: during the windows install. With the drives selected the size of the drive is to be set. For this example, we will set the RAID 1 partition to 40GB. Remember, RAID 1 is a mirroring partition. This means that the mirrored drive will show as only 40GB, but it is using 40GB of both drives not just one drive. With 40GB of each drive set aside for our mirrored volume, there is now roughly 80GB of space left on each hard drive that will be used for our striped volume.
Step 2: Creating our RAID 0 volume
The RAID 0 volume will be used for our games and high intensity apps such as video editors and photo editors. From the RAID Configuration Utility select RAID 0 and allocate the rest of the drive space, all 80GB from each drive, for the striped volume’s use. We need to set a stripe size at this point. Typically 64KB or 128KB is considered to be best for day to day use. Once all settings are finished select “Create Volume” and our RAID 0 volume is now ready to use.
Step 3: Installing Windows
Installing Windows on a regular RAID assembly is no different from installing onto a Matrix RAID assembly. Simply place the Windows install cd into the cd tray and boot off the cd. When Windows asks for F6 to be pressed to “install third party SCSI or RAID driver”, press F6 and have your motherboard’s driver floppy ready to use. Once the drivers are installed then the Windows install will continue as normal. The hard part of the install is the same as any other RAID install. Since Windows has not been loaded, the mirrored volume shows the amount of space in total for both drives. Our 40GB RAID 1 volume will show as an 80GB partition. The 80GB per drive RAID 0 volume will show as a 160GB partition. Select the 80GB partition to install Windows so it is installed on our mirrored volume. The Windows install will now continue as normal for any drive setup, RAID or non-RAID.
Step 4: Setting up the striped volume
Once the Windows install is finished the striped partition will not show under My Computer. Don’t panic just yet as Windows simply needs to be “told” about this partition. To do this click on Start and then right click My Computer and choose “Manage” from the drop down list. Once in the Computer Management window select “Disk Management” from the list on the left. If everything has been done according to the steps this far then our mirrored partition will show as Drive 0 and our striped partition will show as Drive 1 which will also show as “unallocated”. To correct this and have Windows recognize our striped partition simply right click on the unallocated space and select “Create Partition.” A Windows drive wizard will open and require a series of clicks to complete. Once the wizard is finished our striped partition will now be recognized by Windows and function just like any other hard drive. The only difference is our striped partition is much faster than a single hard drive.
Step 5: Using Intel’s RAID utility (optional step)
Intel has a utility called Intel’s Application Accelerator. This little utility allows the user to keep an eye on their RAID assemblies. One of the best parts of this utility is its ability to detect when a RAID assembly is facing impending doom. The utility can not always give an early warning, but when it does one should not wait at all but immediately make backups of their data on the striped partition that they do not want to loose. Remember, a mirrored assembly takes one hard drive and makes a backup copy of the data onto another hard drive. A striped assembly splits the data between two or more hard drives which means if one drive fails all data is lost on that assembly. This is why I recommend using Intel’s Application Accelerator to help keep tabs on the RAID assemblies, just in case something starts to malfunction.
Now that we have walked through the setup of Matrix RAID and Windows is installed, go have fun and enjoy the extra funds in your pocket due to only having to buy two hard drives instead of three or more. Maybe those extra funds could be used to buy a better processor that can crunch through the striped partition’s data better. Or maybe it can be used to buy a better video card that can chew through the video data from the striped partition so more frames per second can come through in Doom3. Or simply use it to take the spouse out to dinner to tell them “Thank You for allowing me to build my new Matrix RAIDed rig”.
Reference: Maximum PC; November 2004; Volume 9 Number 11; pg 65, 66