CPU/Mobo Problem with RAID 0

funti

Disciple
I had bought a system for my friend, around 18 months ago, for his designing work. The main components of the system are:

CPU - Intel C2Q 9550
MoBo - Asus P5Q PRO
RAM - Corsair 2 x 2 GB @ 800MHz
HDD - WD 640GB X 2 (RAID 0)
OS - Win XP Prof.

The system had been working fine till date but then it started giving the message that one of the HDD in RAID has malfunctioned (though the softwares was running fine). Since I had taken the backup of the system I decided to reinstall the drives in RAID 0 and then reinstall the OS. But after doing so I again got the message that one drive has malfunctioned. So I then installed just one drive at a time and checked them individually for any error. Both the drives passed the tests without any error but once I put them in RAID 0 the error came back.

What could be reason for this error? Could it be that the RAID controller (by Intel) on my MoBo is causing the problem? Should I send the MoBo for RMA?

Please advise.
 
Can you give us a screen shot of the error , most likely it is telling you that one of the drives are failing but I cannot say that is the case for certain till I see the exact error message you are getting.
 
where exactly are you getting the error ? is it the intel raid contoller software that you have installed it showing it? or is it the raid bios ?
 
I have got the error message in both - software as well as RAID BIOS. I thought that the failing RAID is due to some defect in the HDD but these HDDs work fine when used independently. Also I tried using WD's Diagnostic Tool (by booting from it) but it failed to identify both the drives. I then used Windows version of this diagnostic tool wherein it shows SMART status of these drives to be OK. Quick Test (under Windows) for these drives fails but Extended Test (under Windows) goes on smoothly to show no error.
 
em that is odd ... there used to be a software issue before that i am aware of which incorrectly reports the error message , but this used to happen only in windows ... Did you check for any updates for your raid controller ?
 
Do I need to check for the update? The controller has been working fine for the past 18 months. Can it be a motherboard issue requiring me to send it for RMA? The software issue mentioned by you used to happen on this computer too but then I just used to mark the defective HDD as "Normal" and my system used to work flawlessly. Only this time the problem is refusing to go.
 
funti said:
Do I need to check for the update? The controller has been working fine for the past 18 months. Can it be a motherboard issue requiring me to send it for RMA? The software issue mentioned by you used to happen on this computer too but then I just used to mark the defective HDD as "Normal" and my system used to work flawlessly. Only this time the problem is refusing to go.
Its certainly worth a check, i would if possible check with second set of HDD's if available just to be on the safer side ( almost neglible amound of possibility that the HDD is the root cause), if in warranty certainly worth a shot at RMA ... else can check for any updates for the raid controller firmware ... i played around only with the simulater of the basic intel raid controller so i am not very comfortable with regards to firware update .... if the spare HDD set is avaialble you can rule out any possibilities of HDD causing problem then RMA with peace of mind.
 
Do we able to connect and partition two SATA HDDS with out RAID on a RAID supported motherboard ?

I want to use total spaces from both HDD.....
 
Revolution said:
Do we able to connect and partition two SATA HDDS with out RAID on a RAID supported motherboard ?

I want to use total spaces from both HDD.....

yes, its possible ... i use a 500 GB and 1 TB HDD ... RAID is not plug and play ... it needs some configuring done before its set.
 
I have a 250GB SATA HDD ATM and I'm planning to buy a 500GB SATA HDD.

So,if I want to connect both HDDs which RAID should I chose ?

Do I have to suffer from DATA loss or any kind of problem if RAID failed or malfunctioned somehow ?

BTW,RAID is better or useful ?
 
In a RAID0, even if one drive fails, there is a data loss on entire volume. Use this ONLY if you need higher performance and the data is not important.
 
dyna said:
In a RAID0, even if one drive fails, there is a data loss on entire volume. Use this ONLY if you need higher performance and the data is not important.

Nope,DATA is most important for me.

So,which RAID ?

Or,without RAID is the only choice for me ?
 
Revolution said:
I have a 250GB SATA HDD ATM and I'm planning to buy a 500GB SATA HDD.
So,if I want to connect both HDDs which RAID should I chose ?
Do I have to suffer from DATA loss or any kind of problem if RAID failed or malfunctioned somehow ?
BTW,RAID is better or useful ?
if u configure RAID 0 or for that matter any other RAID with drives having different drive sizes, u'll loose hdd space.
like in ur case if u set it up using a 250GB & 500GB, u can only use 250GB out of 500GB from the 500GB hdd.
 
hellgate said:
if u configure RAID 0 or for that matter any other RAID with drives having different drive sizes, u'll loose hdd space.

like in ur case if u set it up using a 250GB & 500GB, u can only use 250GB out of 500GB from the 500GB hdd.
So,old school partition using "fdisk" without any RAID is way to go for me ?

I got Gigabyte G31 motherboard which support RAID I think.....
 
^^^ check whether ur SB ends wih a 'R', e.g ICH8R
ICH8R -> means that ur mobo supports RAID, most prolly 0,1,5
ICH8 -> Sorry m8 no RAID support 4 u.

Even if ur mobo does not have support for HW RAID, u can always setup a software RAID from within Windows.
 
So,should I use RAID.

If,yes,which ?

I want total space (250GB+500GB)=750GB.

DATA is important for me and I don't want to suffer from DATA loss or any kind of problem if RAID failed or malfunctioned somehow.....
 
dont use RAID 0 for data storage.
if u want then get some 80GB or 160GB HDDs and then setup RAID 0 using those and use it for OS & apps.
 
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