Do I Have Raid 0

[Carl2]

I've built a few computers in the past, and I'm expericing the same thing now, I can't see a difference. I'd just purchased a gateway FX6400 gamer, since I couldn't build one for that price never mind putting in the 950 CPU. I decided to try raid again and did some research on hard drives at tomshardware.com and came up with Samsung spinpoints 500G. I created a partitioned volume on the 2 samsung drives, and moved the image to the largest partition.
I'm using Win 7 and come up with a 5.9 for the hard drives in the raid volume, I get a 5.9 using a standard hard drive, in another computer I get a 5.9 for the hard drive.
I'm not familar with software to measure hard drive performance and would't know where to get it. I thought of using a raid controller card (lower priced) but worried about compatability problems. In the past I remember using floppy's to install the raid drivers now there are no floppy's.
Any help or suggestions appreciated.
Carl2

 

[jimmyz]

Did you set up the Bios for Raid, Did you select Raid 0? if not then no. You should read the Owners manual for information regarding how to configure your array.

 

[Goodman]

I've built a few computers in the past, and I'm expericing the same thing now, I can't see a difference. I'd just purchased a gateway FX6400 gamer, since I couldn't build one for that price never mind putting in the 950 CPU. I decided to try raid again and did some research on hard drives at tomshardware.com and came up with Samsung spinpoints 500G. I created a partitioned volume on the 2 samsung drives, and moved the image to the largest partition.
I'm using Win 7 and come up with a 5.9 for the hard drives in the raid volume, I get a 5.9 using a standard hard drive, in another computer I get a 5.9 for the hard drive.
I'm not familar with software to measure hard drive performance and would't know where to get it. I thought of using a raid controller card (lower priced) but worried about compatability problems. In the past I remember using floppy's to install the raid drivers now there are no floppy's.
Any help or suggestions appreciated.
Carl2

Maybe you could write this in a better way...?

First you said you built few computers in the past then you said you bought a gateway because you couldn't built one..

What do you got right now Ram ,mobo , HD ,etc..?
What do you want to do with raid exactly?

 

[A Cheese Danish]

I've built a few computers in the past, and I'm expericing the same thing now, I can't see a difference. I'd just purchased a gateway FX6400 gamer, since I couldn't build one for that price never mind putting in the 950 CPU. I decided to try raid again and did some research on hard drives at tomshardware.com and came up with Samsung spinpoints 500G. I created a partitioned volume on the 2 samsung drives, and moved the image to the largest partition.
I'm using Win 7 and come up with a 5.9 for the hard drives in the raid volume, I get a 5.9 using a standard hard drive, in another computer I get a 5.9 for the hard drive.
I'm not familar with software to measure hard drive performance and would't know where to get it. I thought of using a raid controller card (lower priced) but worried about compatability problems. In the past I remember using floppy's to install the raid drivers now there are no floppy's.
Any help or suggestions appreciated.
Carl2

So do you have raid already configured or are you trying to figure that out?
And like Goodman said, what are your specs currently?

 

[Carl2]

I just put performance test 7 in the computer to get some info, the computer is a gateway FX6801, operating sys Win 7 64bit, Motherboard TBGM01, Bios AMI, CPU intel Core i7 950 at 3.07 GHz, Six slots of memory 9 Gb, Disk info, Drive C 548 Gb, drive D 372 Gb, Drive E Hitachi 916 gb,
Video Adaptor Nvidia Gforce GTX 285. Drive C and D are a partitioned Raid 0 volume using the Intel Matrix Storage Manager which can be used after setting the Bios to the raid mode. Drive E is the original Hatachi hard drive and the Volume is 2 Samsung sata 500Gb 16 mb hard drives.
Using the performance test I get reads of 274 Mb/s and writes of 244 Mb/sec.
I'd read info on the Intel Matrix at microsoft and I should have a driver for the Raid Controller listed in other devices in Device manager. At this time I think it's iaStor.sys, have to check again, but it will not load when I try to put it in as a driver. The Intel Matrix appears to work as it shows the volumes, at this time the reads and writes mean nothing, I'd have to try it on another standard hard drive. Thanks for the input.
Carl2

 

[Carl2]

I just tried the performance test in another computer, I'm getting reads of 97.3 Mb and writes of 92.1. Since I'm getting reads much higher, almost times 3, it seems the samsung drives are quick and the raid volumes are working. The other computer mentioned above is an Asus, motherboard CM5570, CPU intel Core2 Quad 2.33 Ghz, OS Win7, 6Gb ram, Hard disk ST375028AS 500 Gb partitioned, vga Nvidia Gforce G100. Used mostly for the internet.
Although The gateway computer seems to be snappy (for lack of a better word) I should think I would see a faster load up compared to the Asus.
Carl2

 

[1BadMoJoe]

Which Intel Maxtrix Storage Manager version do you have???Is it the one flashed into bios with your updated chipset at the same time, or is it the one you loaded into windows after win install.
As far as the samsung drives> go to their website and list here the specs. from them like sustained read and write you might need to dig into specification data sheets. Yes reads and writes in excess of 150/300 with disk plater types show you've learned to set up a raid drive. There is also a trick to gain space not used after the partioning of the drive for raid... you may be able to reclame it within windows7. You say you partioned the drives? how many partions on each drive? Where the drives formated after the dos boot up partioning? Is there a 100MB System partion windows setup during the install?

Intel maxtrix/rapid technology should be working directly with the onboard ICH10 chipset, no need at this moment to get into something complicated by getting a raid card. Lets start small, then get the feel of it first.So I understand you have 3 hardrives?
I hope your not useing matrix 8.9.xxxx on a raid 5 or 10 mucho problemos. Looks like you lost your TRIM commands by installing an antiqidated matrix raid controler stomping all over newer Win7 TRIM controls. To bad its thrashed now, I don't think we can get that back. Look into information about trim commands, wipe, garbage and useing defrag on raid drives and SSD drives. The fix for you is to forget everything about Intel Matrix Storage System there has been no serious devolpments on it unless "Intel Rapid Storage Technology" flops...which it is not going to and Matrix can't service trim funtions and raid5 10 are droping like flys left and right.

 

[Dbiggs9]

I get 5.9 in windows 7 with raid 0

 

[Wile E]

If you set up raid in Intel's storage manager after installing Windows, you don't have Windows on a RAID array.

EDIT: Nix that, just read your posts better. With the read/write performance you are getting, your RAID0 is fine. In fact, those numbers are quite good. To get higher than 5.9, you likely need lower random access times. Only Higher rpm drives or SSDs can liekly get higher scores in Win 7's test.

As far as boot times, the complexity of the BIOS and the number of features the board has can add to boot time. It's not always related to drive speed.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

I'm using 2 WD 500 Blacks in RAID0 and I get a score of 5.9 from Win7 as well
It takes longer to boot because you start the array first then boot

 

[Carl2]

Some additional info:
Intel Matrix Storage 8.5
Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500G 7200RPM Sata
Cache 16 MB, AV seek 8.9 ms
Av Latency 4.17 ms

From tomshardware.com charts for the Samsung HD502HJ sata 500g 16Mb
Avg write 110.4 Mb/s
Avg read 110.4 Mb/s
Read access Time 13.5 ms
Write access time 6.8 ms
The Hatachi 1Tb which is the original drive has a partition on it, I think this is shown as PQService in diskdefragmenter. I nistalled the 2 Samsung drives in the computer and installed Win Vista on one of the drives, At that time I formated both samsung drives.
I frist tried using the Intel Matrix while in the Hatachi OS, it didn't do much of anything. The Intel Matrix must have been supplied with the OS. In the bios I changed the setting to raid, rebooted and the Intel Matrix worked. I reformated the samsung drive and created a volume,
I entered a lower number for the volume and the remainder was shown for the second volume.
I copied an image of the Hatachi OS to the the smaller partition, then used the image to put the OS to the larger Partition which I've been using.
Think I'll look at the reviews at newegg on SSD's to see what thay get for numbers in Win 7.
Carl2

 

[1BadMoJoe]

Good news Carl, you're not using Matrix 8.9.1023 don't use it. First lets see if all the space is available on your drives. Left click start button > Left click Control Pane l> Left click System and security > lower right of screen Left click on Create and format hard partitions > If a new windows prompt screen appears > click "yes" to the prompt to enter program...no changes are done to look >Stop and look after this point<

Red oval description and look for unused space on your drives. If you find any you can, continue not using the available space or ask a trusted friend about any discovery that you may have found. Due to the fact you are using an antiquated Matrix storage controller I'm not certain if reclaiming space is possible due to limitations.
So I suggest holding off for now if a black unallocated area is found, you can go back later and reclaim it after some updates to your computer is performed first.
1.) Windows has a good set of updated drivers during the install now lets see if your motherboard has newer updates. Seeing that you are using old Matrix 8.5.xxxx suggests driver updates may be in order.
It is safe to use Matrix version 8.​8.​0.​1009 It is unsafe to use Matrix 8.​9.​0.​1023 don't use it...

http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/dlcenter.asp?cmpid=topnav ....direct link to questionnaire, remember your chip-set, video, sound, utilities.

http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support?iid=gg_work+home_support_downloads ....direct link to Intel Questionnaire if you need to hunt down Intel related material

 

[Carl2]

I've got win 7, I went into control panel, Admin tools, computer management, and got the setup you had shown. I've got 3 disks, disk 0, disk 1 and disk 3. Disk 0 is the Hatachi 931 gb, contains the recovery partition, Disk 1 is the largest Samsung raid volume, 560 Gb with a recovery partition, and Disk 2 is the smaller raid volume 372 gb no recovery partition. If I right click More actions I have a choice of Refresh, Rescan, Create VHD, Attach VHD, All Tasks, View and Help.
Everything is blue on all drives so I thing the partitioning is ok.
I purchased Drive Whiz mainly because of the missing raid controler in device manager, it acted the same as windows, it can not find a driver, Intel says a driver, somthing.sys should be there but if I try to load it it refuses. Driver whiz tried to update some chipset drivers that didn't work.
The computer seems stable without problems, I'll probably check out the links latter in the day.
I did find that people with win 7 are getting performance scores of 7.1 and 7.4 from reading the reviews at newegg. Aside from the numbers (only 2) the majority seemed to feel there was a big improvement in performance.
Carl2

 

[1BadMoJoe]

using the Intel Matrix Storage Manager which can be used after setting the Bios to the raid mode. Drive E is the original Hatachi hard drive and the Volume is 2 Samsung sata 500Gb 16 mb hard drives.
Using the performance test I get reads of 274 Mb/s and writes of 244 Mb/sec.
I'd read info on the Intel Matrix at microsoft and I should have a driver for the Raid Controller listed in other devices in Device manager. At this time I think it's iaStor.sys, have to check again, but it will not load when I try to put it in as a driver. The Intel Matrix appears to work as it shows the volumes
Carl2

I am quite sure that your Raid0 is set up due to the speeds above. We will do some more looking to double check, Left click on windows Start button > Left click on Control Panel > Left click on Hardware and Sound > Find Device Manager and Left click on it, this will bring forth Device Manager as in the picture I submitted. Expand the tabs where I have the red arrows, this brings the information to confirm windows see and uses the Raid array as long as the underlined also mentions that your ICHx controller is in RAID not IDE.
Windows7 properly allows raid functions directly on the mother boards chip-set(ie. Intel ICH10R and Intel Matrix) without any other 3rd party raid controller cards or software through the bios steps you taken earlier.

Your Intel Matrix Controller may/or not be found on your task bar 3rd arrow on very bottom of picture, I am using a different version and your Intel Matrix Controller 8.5.xxxx needs to be updated. It is safe to use Matrix version 8.​8.​0.​1009, It is unsafe to use Matrix 8.​9.​0.​1023 don't use it. If you can not find Matrix on your task bar it is on your hard drive in an Intel folder. Clicking on the task bar icon will bring forth a similar windows box as the one in upper portion of picture I submitted. Yours should be like the one below and raid confirmation, your raid configuration may differ slightly.

Now if these items are in order and you now confirmed Raid0 , lets do some testing using a benchmarking test of some brand or another, I used HD Tune http://www.hdtune.com/
You may also want to try SiSoftware Sandra 2010 http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/

SiSoftware is also packed with a lot of features, it should prove useful in exploring your system.

 

[Carl2]

In device manager I have: Intel(R)ICH8R through 10R/DO/PCH SataRaid Controller, This has the iaStor.sys Intel mentioned
In Other devices I have: Raid Controller which has no driver
HD Tune Pro:
Min 164 Mb
Max 261 Mb
Avg 235 MB
Acc 11.8 ms
Burst 226 Mb/s
CPU Usage -1.0%

I'm wondering if the Raid Controller without a driver is on the motherboard?
I'm also wondering if the SSD's sold as raid compatable have problems with the trim functions.
I checked the Gateway site for new drivers, found some for Realtech but not concerned about that at this time.
Using SiSoftware at this time, since the volume is partitioned it can not do write tests, the volume OS (C @A31BHatachi HDT7210101SLA360 (600.1GB, ATA16, 3.5", 7200RPM, 9MB Cache)
Not sure what the above is saying, possibly it was copied in the image of the Hatchi drive.
The motherboard seems to have 2 disk controllers one is for ICH8R Sata Raid Controller and there is 4 ports in use and the other is PCIE to Sata11/IDE Raid controler.
Carl2