ssd - Can I setup two RAID arrays on a single intel z97 controller?

08
2014-07
  • agent154

    Let me preface this by saying that I have never setup a RAID array myself, other than by using software RAID 0 in Windows for a set of storage drives.

    I purchased a new ASUS Maximus VII Hero motherboard, two SSDs, and 3 HDDs. I planned on running the two SSDs in RAID 0 and the 3 HDDs in RAID 5, as the board has two controllers: One with 6 ports (on the intel chipset) and one with 2 ports, on an ASMedia chipset. The intel chipset supports all the standard RAID modes, but I later found out (or at least it seems to be the case) that the ASMedia one doesn't support RAID. Short of buying a PCI-E SATA card that supports RAID 0, can I set up these two arrays on the 6 port supported by the intel chipset, and boot off the SSDs?

    • Answers
  • MattSteelblade

    According to this admittedly rather old document on Intel's site (as well as this and this) you should be able to create a RAID 5 and a RAID 0 in those steps. Intel Matrix RAID used to be a separate technology featured in several southbridge chips, but from what I have researched, is now a part of Intel's Rapid Storage Technology. While the document recommends using a RAID that's actually redundant for your OS, I don't see any physical limitations from doing so.

    To summarize: Setup your RAID 0 first, install the OS and the RST drivers and then setup the RAID 5.


    • Related Question

    ssd - How to install the TRIM RAID update for the Intel storage controller?
  • Mike Pateras

    I just found this article, that says that Intel now supports TRIM for SSDs when the Intel storage controller is in RAID mode. It links to this download page. I'm pretty excited about that, but I'm a little confused. There seem to be two sets of drivers, an executable and something that's bootable. I ran the executable. Is that just to apply the drivers to my system now, and are the bootable drivers so that if I re-format, I won't have to re-run everything? Do I need to do both? And is there a way to check if it worked?

    I'm running an i7 in Windows 7 (ASUS P6T Deluxe Motherboard) with RAID 0, if that's significant.


    • Related Answers
  • coneslayer

    The "F6" drivers are only necessary during the installation of Windows, and they were only necessary for versions of Windows earlier than Win 7. In previous versions of Windows, there was no built-in AHCI or Intel Matrix RAID / RST driver, so you had to hit the F6 key and load suitable drivers from a floppy in order to proceed. So you don't need those.

    The .exe file is the installer for the drivers you want. I assume that if you have RAID 0 set up and your system is working, that your BIOS was set to RAID (not IDE or AHCI) when you installed Windows. If you change that setting after Windows is installed, you either have to reinstall Windows or change some registry settings before changing the BIOS.

    Finally, sblair's comment is correct, the TRIM passthrough only works for SSDs that are not actually part of the RAID. For example, if you had a boot SSD, plus a separate RAID 1 or RAID 0 pair of mechanical hard drives, TRIM would work on the SSD. If it's a pair of SSDs that you have in RAID 0, TRIM still won't work yet.

  • pgs

    Looks like it comes in two parts: The first is the installer for the update, the second contains the update itself.