Re: [newbie] SATA Raid
C. Tresenriter wrote: I'm trying to set up RAID 1 array with two 160G WD Caviar disks. Both disks are new and blank POST shows the RAID PCI card but shows one disk as 0 MB. Switching cables, positions on the PCI card and the PCI slots themselves makes no difference. When I go into the SATA setup and choose RAID 1 the program freezes whether I choose automatic or manual setup. Occasionally when I choose RAID 1 (or 0) it tells me there are not enough drives to set up an array, If anyone experienced with setting up a RAID array might have an educated guess as to whether the PCI card or the mobo may be a cause for this behavior or any other ideas, it would be much appreciated. If your SATA bios already has troubles with both drives i would suggest the following: First check your master/slave jumpers on the harddrives (are they correctly set?) Then check which drive the SATA card does see (on which connector) Then switch the drives and see if there is any change. .If not:the drives are both good, either your cable or card id defective, try another cable to exclude one or the other. .If there is a change (the position of the good drive changes or no drives are seen at all), check the drive which wasn't found in both cases if it is being detected as the only device on the cable. -If it is being detected:keep fiddling with your Master/slave jumper settings on both drives. -If it is not detected, the drive's probably defective. For RAID functionality within any OS, you do require specific drivers to run. About Mandrake 10.0 is stated it has a couple of drivers you can select. Let's just hope your's is amongst them: http://www.linuxmafia.com/faq/Hardware/sata.html Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com Join the Club : http://www.mandrakeclub.com
Re: [newbie] SATA Raid
On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 08:58:17 +0200 Vincent Voois [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: If your SATA bios already has troubles with both drives i would suggest the following: First check your master/slave jumpers on the harddrives (are they correctly set?) One of the drive's labels states; Master/slave jumper not required for SATA Jumpered pins 1 and 2 disable SSC (Spread Spectrum Clocking) Jumpered pins 3 and 4 enable PM2 (Power up in Standby) No mention of pins 5 and 6 or 7 and 8. Default is 1 and 2 jumpered The other drive simply says 3 and 4 enable PM2 Then check which drive the SATA card does see (on which connector) Then switch the drives and see if there is any change. I wasn't clear on this point... when I said no change when switching cables. etc., I meant only one drive lists all info - like so: 1 WDC WD1600JD-00FYB0 152627 MB The second drive shows as: 2 0 MB with pins 3 and 4 jumpered, and: 2 WDC WD1600 0 MB with pins 1 and 2 jumpered It's the same using data connectors 1 and 2 - or 2 and 3 or 1 and 3. That is, it's always the same physical disk that shows all info wherever it's placed and whichever cable is used to connect it. The thing is, this drive that isn't working properly is a replacement. When going into the SATA setup utility with the returned unit, I'd hear 10 rather loud clicks - so the it went back to the store. Now I'm hearing a single click (not so loud) when starting the setup utility, I see the info above and about 10 seconds later the drive spins down, while the other one just keeps on spinning. Guess it must be the drive again - but that strikes me as not likely - or at least odd. Both this troubled one and the one I returned had black cases, the one that works is in a silver case. Both were manufactured in 2004 in March and May. On top of that, the guy I've been dealing with tells me he's had WD drives (exclusively) running in 6 machines some for as long a seven years and never had a problem with them. ah well... .If not:the drives are both good, either your cable or card id defective, snip It seems the card itself is ok then - so I guess it's back to the store. For RAID functionality within any OS, you do require specific drivers to run. About Mandrake 10.0 is stated it has a couple of drivers you can select. Let's just hope your's is amongst them: http://www.linuxmafia.com/faq/Hardware/sata.html It is... SI says that the driver is included in the 2.6 kernel - it's the SIL3114 IIRC. Thanks for the input. Curt Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com Join the Club : http://www.mandrakeclub.com
Re: [newbie] SATA Raid
On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 00:18:48 -0400 Greg Meyer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm really not trying to be rude, just practical, but since this question actually has nothing to do with Linux, the support site for your card or motherboard might be a better place to ask about this. Yeah... I meant to adjust the topic before I sent it, just that there's so much knowledge/experience in the folks on this list, it's the first place I think to try. Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com Join the Club : http://www.mandrakeclub.com
Re: [newbie] SATA Raid
C. Tresenriter wrote: The thing is, this drive that isn't working properly is a replacement. When going into the SATA setup utility with the returned unit, I'd hear 10 rather loud clicks - so the it went back to the store. Now I'm hearing a single click (not so loud) when starting the setup utility, I see the info above and about 10 seconds later the drive spins down, while the other one just keeps on spinning. Guess it must be the drive again - but that strikes me as not likely - or at least odd. Both this troubled one and the one I returned had black cases, the one that works is in a silver case. Both were manufactured in 2004 in March and May. On top of that, the guy I've been dealing with tells me he's had WD drives (exclusively) running in 6 machines some for as long a seven years and never had a problem with them. ah well... If the drive is ticking / clicking when operating, this sounds not good, but you know for sure if you attach the drive to a single-bus IDE connector. They're both 160GB (which probably means 100Mhz busspeed max for those drives). Western Digital drives works pretty nice but they have two large disadvantages: Temperature and poison air. Too warm or too cold is something that kills a WD easily. By poison air i mean:WD had the lame method of vacuum-sealing the drive with one large label enclosing the whole drive. One little punch hole and the drive died quickly. Also the seals do not tempt to stick very long when temperatures rises up to above 40 degrees celcius which also caused poluted air to get into the drive. If you buy a drive watch out for such vacuum-sealing methods, they're not properly designed to last long. Another tip:avoid placing drives directly above or below cooling fans:they disrupt the drive and make it crash and even break it down. Also never EVER buy fan-racks for harddrives, it's not nesessary and your harddrive will die within three months if you nail those racks under your HD. There is a Compaq desktop type machine (DP/EP800 series) which have the harddrives mounted directly above the coolingfan of the CPU. These drives burn out constantly. (Fujitsu's in this case) May take a year or little longer, but they won't last three years. Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com Join the Club : http://www.mandrakeclub.com
Re: [newbie] SATA Raid
On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 18:42:36 +0200 Vincent Voois [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: If the drive is ticking / clicking when operating, this sounds not good, but you know for sure if you attach the drive to a single-bus IDE connector. Unfortunately, the drive has no IDE connector. If you buy a drive watch out for such vacuum-sealing methods, they're not properly designed to last long. Hmmm... I'm assuming you're talking about the label covering the top of the drive? Both the working and not-working drives have holes on the top besides the ones under the label.. so maybe I've dodged a bullet here? Another tip:avoid placing drives directly above or below cooling fans:they disrupt the drive and make it crash and even break it down. Also never EVER buy fan-racks for harddrives, it's not nesessary and your harddrive will die within three months if you nail those racks under your HD. There is a Compaq desktop type machine (DP/EP800 series) which have the harddrives mounted directly above the coolingfan of the CPU. These drives burn out constantly. (Fujitsu's in this case) May take a year or little longer, but they won't last three years. Thanks good to know! Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com Join the Club : http://www.mandrakeclub.com
Re: [newbie] SATA Raid
C. Tresenriter wrote: On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 18:42:36 +0200 Vincent Voois [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: If the drive is ticking / clicking when operating, this sounds not good, but you know for sure if you attach the drive to a single-bus IDE connector. Unfortunately, the drive has no IDE connector. Hmmz, i've been awake too long last night. If you buy a drive watch out for such vacuum-sealing methods, they're not properly designed to last long. Hmmm... I'm assuming you're talking about the label covering the top of the drive? Both the working and not-working drives have holes on the top besides the ones under the label.. so maybe I've dodged a bullet here? Well, there is always a hole to be covered as there is no real other way to vacumise the drive, but not a complete crack between the top and the bottom case as was the case with many WD drives. The strip was glued around the whole side of the drive so if you accidently ripped it by scraping it against a pop-nail pit during installtion of the drive, you could say your drive goodbye as well as the warranty. http://www.info.univ-angers.fr/pub/richer/ens/deug2/ud44/img/dd4.jpg - the dark-grey strip covers a very large space. The newer techniques pasting the top plates onto the bottom-case. It is much better, but i still run into the older type of drives occasionally. Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com Join the Club : http://www.mandrakeclub.com
Re: [newbie] SATA Raid
On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 19:52:28 +0200 Vincent Voois [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: http://www.info.univ-angers.fr/pub/richer/ens/deug2/ud44/img/dd4.jpg - the dark-grey strip covers a very large space. The newer techniques pasting the top plates onto the bottom-case. It is much better, but i still run into the older type of drives occasionally. I see yes I have an older model like the one pictured... I'll handle it much more carefully now. The only seal I can see on the newer drives are small foil oblongs on the side of the cases. This could be an expensive lesson to learn the hard way. Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com Join the Club : http://www.mandrakeclub.com
Re: [newbie] SATA Raid
On Sunday 22 August 2004 10:57 pm, C. Tresenriter wrote: I'm trying to set up RAID 1 array with two 160G WD Caviar disks. Both disks are new and blank POST shows the RAID PCI card but shows one disk as 0 MB. Switching cables, positions on the PCI card and the PCI slots themselves makes no difference. When I go into the SATA setup and choose RAID 1 the program freezes whether I choose automatic or manual setup. Occasionally when I choose RAID 1 (or 0) it tells me there are not enough drives to set up an array, If anyone experienced with setting up a RAID array might have an educated guess as to whether the PCI card or the mobo may be a cause for this behavior or any other ideas, it would be much appreciated. I'm really not trying to be rude, just practical, but since this question actually has nothing to do with Linux, the support site for your card or motherboard might be a better place to ask about this. Also, I think you will find that SATA RAID support is somewhat lacking in the linux kernel, so even if you could set up a RAID 1, I think you will have trouble installing Mandrake on it (assuming that is what you are trying to do). I am sure there are other s out there with more experience though. You might want to try the expert list on this one. -- /g Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com Join the Club : http://www.mandrakeclub.com
