Crosshair V raid set ups

[watermoccasin]

I'm getting ready to put some new hard drives in my rig & I wanted to go with RAID 0 for the extra speed. I have a few system builds under my belt, but I have not yet done a RAID set up, so it is new to me.

My idea was -
2x Samsung 830 Series SSD (64 GB) - for booting
2x Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB 10000 RPM - for programs & storage

(Both are SATA III)

I read through the motherboard manual , but I could not find anything about if it can support multiple RAID arrays or not.
Does anyone know if the Crosshair V supports multiple RAID arrays? I'm open to suggestions/feedback on my idea also

Thanks

[Roadking]

Yes. See my specs

[stock12to32]

I use the Samsung 830 drives in a raid and the work very good. Reliable and fast. I also have a 2nd raid-0 set up for storage and everything works great.

[HiVizMan]

The Samsungs get my vote for reliability and durability too. We use them exclusively in all our Enterprise builds.

[watermoccasin]

Thanks for the replies.
awesome, good to know I can work with that idea. Again I am new to RAID setups, I am not entirely sure about setting one up. from reading the manual, a single RAID seems fairly straight forward, i believe i just need to make the driver disc to use upon formatting? But, in setting up a second Raid array, I am not sure exactly how I should do it. Any tips or advice on this setup would be much appreciated.

Thanks again

[HiVizMan]

If you are using SSD all you really need is

Win7 with SP1 (I like the USB install for OS)
Your two SSD connected to the same SATA controller
Enable the RAID option for your SATA ports
When prompted select the type of RAID you wish to create.
Install OS, let the OS do all the formatting do not do so yourself it is not needed.
With the OS Win7 with SP1 you need to do nothing but install OS

[watermoccasin]

thanks,
sounds easy enough. though only my boot drives would be ssd, the other 2 drives for the second RAID set up would be hdd's, probably 10k rpm. would those instructions be the same for setting up both RAID arrays? or rather, would it set them both up at the same time like that?

i thought there was something about a driver disk , because in the motherboard manual, it said something about making a RAID driver disc from the motherboard driver cd. but that may not be necessary in all applications i suppose

[stock12to32]

Details for RAID setup with crosshair V

I would make sure your BIOS is up to date. 1503 is current version.

This part you will need a working computer, USB drive and your Crosshair V CD.
Start your Crosshair V CD in a working Windows computer with your USB drive plugged in to it.
Select the "Make Disk" Tab
Select AMD AHCI / RAID Driver Disk
Make sure your USB drive is selected and select the AMD RAID drivers to be put on the USB drive.
Save your USB drive. you will need it when installing Windows.
You can get updated RAID drivers from web but ones from CD work just fine.

Enter into BIOS by pressing the "Del" key.
Go to the Advance tab and select SATA Configuration
Select SB SATA Configuration
Make sure OnChip SATA is Enabled
SATA Port1 - Port 4 set to RAID
I have SATA Port5 - Port6 set to RAID as well. I run Blue-Ray Drive and a single OCZ Agility 3 SSD off ports 5 and 6 with it set to RAID with no problems.

Press F10 to save and exit BIOS

If you are installing Windows after RAID set up, it has been advised to only have the disk plugged in that you are going to use for your OS at this time and plug other drives in after Windows has been installed.

When booting you will see the RAID configuration screen come up and it will tell you to hit "Ctrl +F to enter in to set up. Make sure you are hitting Ctrl +F to enter.

In the RAID set up screen you will see 4 options. Option 2 is the one that will let you set up your RAID. Follow the Key commands at the bottom to set up your RAID.

When installing Windows you will come to the part where you select what drive you want to install windows on but nothing will be listed. You will see a option to install drivers on this screen as well. Make sure your USB with the RAID drivers on it is plugged in to a USB slot and install the drivers from it. After drivers have been installed your RAID will be displayed in the screen for you to select and start the Windows install process.

After Windows is installed and you are ready to set up your other RAID. Plug your other drives into remaining SATA slots and enter in to the RAID set up again by using the Ctrl +F key and in option 2 again you will see your RAID you set up and your other 2 drives. repeat the setup selecting your other 2 drives save and exit.
Boot in to Window and go to Control Panel and you will need to go in to your "Administrative Tools"
"Computer Management"
"Storage"
"Disk Manager"
there you will see you 2nd RAID and you can Partition it and format.
Both RAIDs should be set up now.

[HiVizMan]

Nice detailed write up 12to23 sorry can not rep you again - too soon after the last time 🙂

[watermoccasin]

thanks so much for the very detailed instructions! I very much appreciate it. :cool:

I just had one question...
with the separation of ports 1-4 & 5-6, are they on separate controllers within the motherboard? Should I be putting one RAID array on 1-4 & the other on 5-6? or by following your steps, can they both go in the 1-4 ports?