Need help with win2k install + 2hd RAID

Charles1986Charles1986
edited April 2006 in Hardware
Good morning Short Media,

I came accross this board as my last hope :( sadly!

Let me give you a quick backgrournd of what i am trying to accomplish to put you guys in Scene.

I started this new job for a company , the boss would like me to install Win2k on this new machine he got built. Simple so far. But the thing is he has this set up as a Raid with 2 hard drives. Im guessing from what i have read that it is Either Raid 0 or 1... no way to tell for sure... OK. So I start the installation says it cant find a Drive installed. So i start wondering probably i need a boot disk, fine, i get a Floppy ( a: ) pop in the Motherboard cd in another computer and use the Make disk selection, Motherboard= P5LD2 ASUS. I have many options but since its Win2k I basically only have 2 options:

Make Intel ICH7 32 bit RAID Driver Disk
Make Silicon Image 32 bit RAID Driver Disk.

I have tried both and failed. I called up the person who made the comp he said he will e-mail me the boot disk as a zip. Hurray!! I get the e-mail extract to a Floppy now when i press F6 for installation of Raid drivers , i get this option

ITE IT8211 ATA ATAPI Controller Win2k

Still no luck. Comes out with Nothing found.

Now. When i made the disk of ICH7 I was able to get past the installation and actually install windows, the only backdraw with that was that i was stuck with a blue screen saying I had an Innaccessible Boot Device, once I rebooted after doing the regional Settings.

Im really fresh out of ideas and maybe i just need a different perspective on this RAID installation.

Sorry i wrote so much, but there was no other way to explain hehe.

Thanks for your time, and help.
Sincerly
Charles.


Edit: Aswell if i am approaching this raid installation all wrong please tell me, i have never done this before. How exactly do i install Win2k on a harddrive that is raided?

Edit2:
Processor = Pentium D Processor 830+
3Ghz, 800 MHz FSB 2MB L2 Cache... dunno if it helps its that new dual core (hyper threading i believe)

Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    Charles1986 wrote:
    Im guessing from what i have read that it is Either Raid 0 or 1... no way to tell for sure...

    Not true. First thing, you need to figure out what you're working with before you can start installing stuff. Go into the RAID BIOS and see what kind of array it is.
  • Charles1986Charles1986
    edited April 2006
    RAID 0 is what i see in the bios

    Is it possible to install windows on the HD and then once windows is installed to do the RAID... because this thing is really really pissing me off, i was able to install windows ... do the updates rebooted and then it wouldnt load anything once you logged in with Admin...

    Im seriously fresh out of ideas ive been working on this computer for 2 days now.... my god im going crazy
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    Okay, with only two drives, you cannot install windows on one of them and then raid them later. You must install windows on the array.

    On a side note - putting the operating system on a raid 0 is just dumb. raid 0 = 0 redundancy, 100% increased chance of failure (now instead of worrying about one drive failing, if EITHER drive fails you lose everything). The benefit ratio is way off because the performance increase you get from putting your OS on a raid 0 array is negligible.

    Let's re-evaluate: WHY Raid 0? The only specific case where I would recommend RAID 0 is on a video editing or music editing workstation where huge file sustained write performance is critical. In that scenario, I would demand three drives: one for the OS/Apps and two in a raid 0 for the scratch space / working drive.

    There is no other good reason to use RAID 0, especially with a piece of **** on-board motherboard raid controller.

    What I would do in your case, without knowing anything more than I already know, is to scrap the raid 0 idea, install windows on one drive, and format the other as more space.
  • Charles1986Charles1986
    edited April 2006
    Wow thanks a lot man that really help me understand.

    What my boss has is files and databases on his computer that 5 other computer leech off of it, he asked the comp manufacturer to create him a "bomb" so he got like a dual core process and 2 hard drives in a RAID 0 to increase speed.

    The ideal solution for this would be a server and the computer connect to it but, instead he uses his computer. Sorry im hogging your time but you seam to know mucho about this stuff. Would scraping the Raid 0 be worth it, what it seams is he has 2 36 gig Western Digi hard drives at 10 000 RPM.

    So to recap , you say scrap the RAID 0 array and because if EITHER fail he loses everything? So basically its not doubling the chance of security but doubling the chances of failure?
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    What my boss has is files and databases on his computer that 5 other computer leech off of it, he asked the comp manufacturer to create him a "bomb" so he got like a dual core process and 2 hard drives in a RAID 0 to increase speed.
    Create a "bomb" is correct. RAID 0 DOUBLES the odds of losing data - losing EVERYTHING. RAID 0 is for play, '1' and up are for work.

    The advice given above is sound. Don't put anything valuable on a RAID 0 array unless you back up everything daily.
  • Charles1986Charles1986
    edited April 2006
    So if i understand correctly RAID 0 is for "gamers" and "video editing personel" due to the fact that it has fast read / write speeds, and if 1 drive fails you lose everything on both drives. RAID 1 is a bit slower or maybe a lot slower then RAID 0 but it duplicates the data written on lets say Drive A to Drive B thus leaving you with a copy?

    So my next question is can i switch to RAID 1 without Re-Formating and starting from scratch? And if Yes how do i set up RAID 1?
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    Yes, RAID 0 is the worst choice for your situation. BOMB is the right word for it :p

    RAID 1 is the best choice. It is a bit slower than RAID 0, at least on the controller you're using.

    You cannot switch to any raid without reformatting. You must always create the array first (which always destroys the data) and then install on the array.

    To set up raid 1, get the manual for your raid controller. It will tell you. It's different for every controller. Usually it's as simple as selecting both drives in the raid config bios, and selecting "raid 1" or "mirroring". Some controllers call it "mirroring, no striping".
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