AMD A85X RAID setup?

[matthelm]

All,
Anyone know of a good "how to" for setting up the following on a AMD A85X chipset?

OS - Windows 7
Boot drive - SSD
RAID array - 3 WD RED 2TB in RAID 5.

All drives hooked to the A85X.

I have it working, but I just kept changing the settings for the SSD in the RAID BIOS, until Windows ran off it. (I think the SSD is set to "RAID READY") I like this setup so far, and for what I'm doing, throughput is fine, but I want to make sure I have it right.

 

[00Roush]

Fairly sure it would work the same as the older 890GX/SB850 setups.

When doing raid you would first need to change the BIOS settings to RAID instead of ACHI or IDE. Make sure you have the RAID drivers downloaded to USB drive or something. Then during the Windows 7 setup process you select that you have RAID drivers and go through the process of adding those drivers from the USB drive. Then continue with the Windows 7 install normally. Once you have Windows up and running you can create the RAID array either from the RAID BIOS or by downloading the AMD RAIDXpert utility in Windows.

At least that is the processed I used when setting up my server.

Hope it helps.

00Roush

 

[matthelm]

Thanks.

I guess what I really wanted to know is what the SSD should be set to in the RAID BIOS. I have it set to "RAID READY", but to me, it should be set to something like "Not part of RAID set" to say it should always be a single drive.

Windows install went fine with the setting I have, just want to make sure that was correct/best for an AMD RAID controller and that drive.

New question. If I add a new drive, and want it to be part of the RAID 5 array, I just add it, and use the AMD RAIDXpert utility in Windows and just rebuild?


BTW, I used an A4-5300. It's OK, but I wished I'd got the slowest A8. I like to multitask too much.

 

[matthelm]

All,
I'm having a small issue with the above system. I make the array, all fine. I put data on it all fine. I put more than 2TB of data on it, and reset, and I loose the partition info. I can use a recovery tool, and add it back, but as long as I have more than 2TB of data, a reboot looses the partition.

This is Windows 7 64bit, so it should work. Any help out there?

(so far, all the data has been backups of backups, but I would like to get this working correctly!)

 

[matthelm]

Update. Updated to the AMD 13.1 MB/Raid driver, and all is working great.