RAID support (number of drives)

[Cinder]

Hello all,

I have a Rampage V Extreme/u3.1 motherboard and for some reason I can't configure more than 4 drives in a RAID array(s). Ultimately my goal is to have 3 separate RAID0 arrays, each consisting of 2 drives, but I cannot configure more than 2 arrays (4 drives) for the life of me.

According to the documentation of the Rampage V Extreme (http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA2011/RAMPAGE_V_EXTREME_U31/E9550_RAMPAGE_V_EXTREME_UG_for_web...) the board shouldn't support more than 4 drives configured in a RAID array. The Intel controller is on ports 1-4 and 7-10 and the ASMedia controller is on ports 5-6. The ASMedia controller doesn't support RAID and according to the user manual "due to chipset behavior, the SATA6G_78 and SATA6G_910 ports do not support IRST including RAID configuration". This leaves just ports 1-4 available for RAID configuration.

I have two RAID0 arrays setup on ports 1-2 and 3-4 - pair of 120GB Kingston SSDs and 512GB Samsung Evo 850 SSDs. I also have a pair of 1TB Samsung Evo 850 SSDs that I want to set up in RAID0, but if I plug them in ports 7-8 or 9-10, the RAID card doesn't even see the drives. If I plug the 1TB SSDs on the ASMedia controller, the OS sees them, but I have to use a SW RAID0, which is considerably slower.

P.S. I'm fairly sure I had 6 drives in 3 separate RAID0 arrays back when I assembled the machine (had 2x1TB SATA drives before the 1TB Samsung SSDs), but for the life of me I can't get the Intel controller to see the 1TB Samsung drives now, now matter what SATA ports I use.

Do I have a faulty motherboard or?

P.S. I have an EK-FB ASUS R5E Monoblock, although I don't think that's related.

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Hi Cinder 🙂

This answer is a bit off the top of my head...from dusty rememberings...aren't there two sata controlers 1 and 2....you have them both set to RAID in BIOS?

[Cinder]

Yes, there are two RAID controllers - Intel and ASMedia. Only the Intel RAID controller supports RAID configurations. The Intel controller has 8 SATA ports, but according to the manual only 4 of these ports support RAID configurations.

I'm fairly sure I managed to transfer all 3 RAID0 arrays from my Z97 motherboard over to this previously, but now I can't seem to configure a 3rd RAID array no matter what SATA ports I use...

[Arne_Saknussemm]

I have the AS media controller disabled.....I have 6 cables plugged into top 6 SATA ports...in BIOS in PCH Storage Configuration it lists

Sata Controler 1 Mode selection....it lists 4 of my drives there

Scroling a long way down it lists Sata Controler 2 Mode Selection...it lists 2 of my drives there...

So, I was wondering if you have scrolled down to this second controller?



yellow Intel controller 1
green Intel controller 2

or am I confused:confused::o

[Cinder]

I have the Intel controller set to RAID and the 2nd controller to Disabled, same as you. I can see the 2x1TB Samsung SSDs in BIOS and the OS sees them as well.

My problem is the Intel RAID controller doesn't see them, so I can't configure them in a RAID array. I can only configure the drives in ports 1-4. The 1TB SSDs are on the ASMedia controller right now, because when connected to the Intel controller (ports 7-10) the controller doesn't detect them, they're not showing in BIOS or the OS.

[Praz]

Cinder wrote:

According to the documentation of the Rampage V Extreme (http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA2011/RAMPAGE_V_EXTREME_U31/E9550_RAMPAGE_V_EXTREME_UG_for_web...) the board shouldn't support more than 4 drives configured in a RAID array. The Intel controller is on ports 1-4 and 7-10 and the ASMedia controller is on ports 5-6. The ASMedia controller doesn't support RAID and according to the user manual "due to chipset behavior, the SATA6G_78 and SATA6G_910 ports do not support IRST including RAID configuration". This leaves just ports 1-4 available for RAID configuration.

Hello

The manual is correct. The Intel controller supports RAID on ports 1 - 6 only.

Edited for typo.

[Cinder]

I'm pretty sure it can RAID 6 drives, because I had 6 drives previously when transferring my drives from my previous machine. It did take quite a while to figure out which ports to use, so the Intel controller saw all 6 drives, it was basically trial and error.

This stopped working after a BIOS update during a Windows UEFI install.

Also according to this thread, the Rampage V is able to RAID up to 6 drives - https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?54224-X99-chipset-supports-6-raid-drives-but-Rampage-V-onl...

Has this changed with some BIOS update?

[Cinder]

Well, this is weird, but at least it finally worked. I moved the 1TB SSDs to ports 5 and 6, but only the SSD in port 5 was recognized by the Intel RAID controller. I then moved the SSD from port 6 to the two upper ports, where of course it didn't get recognized. I moved it back to port 6 and then it recognized it.

It doesn't make any sense to why it wasn't working the first time and worked after I moved around the other SATA ports and went back to 6....

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Maybe they introduced themselves properly this time...good manners costs nothing...;)

Maybe swap SATA cables?

[danielb]

The Intel Raid Controller Only Supports 6 Drives max. Which is the number I'm using.

My Configuration is

2x SSD Raid 0 (Striped)
4x 1TB SATA Raid 1+0 (aka Raid 10)