Setting up a Raid Array on Intel Controllers

Posted by Lvcoyote on March 10th, 2010

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Introduction

So you’re ready to dive in to the world of Raid Arrays but are unsure or intimidated by the process? Although this might be a new endeavor for you, fear not, the process is actually rather simple. This guide will take you step by step through the process of setting up a Raid Array on your Intel based controller. Luckily the GUI Intel uses to set up Raid Arrays has not changed much over the years, so this guide should be useful for both current production systems and older ones as well.

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Before Getting Started

There are some important things you should consider before setting up a Raid Array for the first time. If you currently have your operating system loaded to a single hard drive chances are your Intel controller is set to IDE mode in BIOS. Unfortunately you cannot simply change that setting to Raid mode and boot to Windows, you will blue screen out because no raid drivers are present on your current Windows install. With that said, it’s important to back up important data before beginning. You are going to have to reload Windows once your array is set up. If you absolutely cannot lose your current install of Windows, there is a work around but your motherboard must have more than one brand of controller (i.e. Intel & JMicron). I won’t go in to all the details of the work around here, but if you desire more information send me an e-mail and time willing I will explain it to you.

The next thing to consider is the actual hard drives you will use in your array. It takes two or more drives to set up an array. The drives should be identical for best performance, although it is possible to use non matching drives. I highly recommend using two drives that are identical as to ward off performance issues as well as the possibility of rendering some hard drive space unusable.

Finally the choice of operating system is important as well. In most cases using Vista or Windows 7 will make the process of actually loading the operating system much easier as the needed raid drivers are included in the install package. If you’re still using XP then be aware that you will need to have a floppy drive installed on the system because raid drivers will be needed, and XP only accepts these drivers via a floppy drive. Many newer motherboards have dropped support completely for floppy drives and do not even have a floppy port to hook one up to. If you must use XP and have no floppy drive then you need to slipstream the drivers in to your copy of XP and burn a new disk. There are many free programs that will help you do this, just Google for “Slipstream Drivers” and you will find the information you need to complete that process.

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What is Raid anyway?

You might be wondering just what the heck is a Raid Array anyway, and what will it do for me? For the purpose of this guide I will explain the difference between a Raid 0 and Raid 1 array. These two raid options are the most common for home users and enthusiasts alike, but there are several other Raid levels too. Keep in mind that if you want to explore raid levels beyond Raid 0 and Raid 1, make sure your Intel controller can support the raid level you may be interested in. Raid 0 and Raid 1 are supported on every Intel controller I have come across, so there will not be any problems using one of those two raid levels. For more information on the many different Raid levels you can visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID.

A Raid 0 Array (Stripped) combines the total disk space of all the drives used in the array, thus allowing the operating system to see the array as one large drive. The advantage to this is drive performance, as all reading and writing functions are shared between all drives. There is a catch though, should any of the drives included in a Raid 0 Array fail, all data is lost. Should you decide on a Raid 0 array a good backup regiment is highly recommended, you will need it one day! Remember, it is not a matter of “if” a drive will fail, but rather “when” it will fail.

A Raid 1 Array (Mirrored) writes the same information to all drives included in the array. This provides protection for your data as if one drive should fail, you can simply replace it and rebuild the array. Think of a Raid 1 as a constant “real time” back up. The caveat with a Raid 1 is that you only have the space available equal to one of the drives included in the array. For example, if you set up a Raid 1 using two 80 GB hard drives, your operating system will report the array as 80 GB. This is because the second 80GB drive is being used to “Mirror” the first drive. As you can guess, the drive performance will suffer as everything has to be written twice.

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Configuration

Obviously you need to have the hard drives you intend to use connected the motherboard. I recommend populating your SATA ports from port 0 forward. For example if you are going to use a two drive Raid Array, use SATA ports 0 and 1.

There are two other areas we need to concern ourselves with when configuration begins. The first area is your motherboard’s BIOS. Consult your motherboard manual to find the BIOS location where your Intel controller settings are. Once located you need to set the Intel controller to Raid mode.

Once the Intel controller is set to Raid mode in your motherboard’s BIOS, rebooting the system should present you with an option to hit “Crtl I” to enter the Intel controller utility. This option will flash by pretty quickly so be ready! You will notice in the image below that you now see the “Crtl I” option as well as the drives hooked to the Intel controller, you will see this as the system goes through the boot sequence.

Once you press “Crtl I” you will enter the Intel controller utility, or sub bios as some like to call it. Here is what that should look like upon initial entry. You should see all the hard drives you have attached to your Intel controller’s SATA ports. Something to keep in mind here is that having more than two drives attached to an Intel controller that is set to Raid mode, does NOT mean that all the attached drives have to be included in an array. It’s perfectly fine to use only the drives you want in a raid array. For example, let’s say you have four drives attached to your Intel controller but only want to use two in an array and leave two to operate as standalone single drives; this is perfectly acceptable and easily doable.

Ok, now that we are inside the Intel controller utility, let’s get your desired array set up and ready to install Windows to. Make sure “Create Raid Volume” is highlighted and press enter. Once you do this a new screen will pop up that looks like the below image. Follow the navigation options provided at the bottom of the screen as you work your way through the different settings.

You can name the array anything you like, but I usually just leave the default name here. Next you want to highlight the “Raid Level” line which gives you the ability to select the type of Raid Array you prefer.

After choosing your desired raid level, we now need to add the desired hard drives to the array, so go ahead and highlight the “Disks” line. See image below.

Then press the enter key to get to the screen that allows you to choose the drives you want to assign to the array. See Image below.

Highlight a hard drive you want included in your array and hit the space bar, then do the same for the next drive you want in the array. Remember at least two drives are needed for a Raid 0 or Raid 1 array.

Once you have added the drives you want included in your Raid Array, hit the enter key. The next line is the “Stripe Size” selection. I usually just leave this to the default 128kb. Depending on what your system is going to be used for you may want to research if a different stripe size may suit your needs better. I find that leaving it at 128kb stripe size works very well for most users.

The next line has to do with the capacity of your volume; I normally just use the entire available space. You can however choose a smaller size, but a second volume will need to be created to utilize the remaining space.

After leaving the “Capacity” area you need to highlight the “Create Volume” line and hit enter. Once you do that, the following will appear on your screen asking you to verify your selections.