To my R3BE I have connected:
Marvell Controller:
2x SATA3 Vertex 3 SSD's
Intel Controller:
2x optical drives
3x 2TB SATA3 Baracuda XT HDDs (6TB GPT volume)
My motherboard is not overclocked... BIOS 0501 is installed.
The problem I'm having is with the (2) Vertex 3's.
In AHCI, it's very diffcult to get Windows installed... Either the SSD disappears after I load the latest Marvell driver. Or Windows will install to a great degree, then abort due to a missing file, or because it suddenly cannot read the (new) disc. Or, I can get Windows installed, but I'm unable to format the remaining partitons afterwards. Or, I can install Windows, do a good deal of configuring, but after reboot, Windows complains my boot disk has no MBR...
In RAID, (I found a RAID driver that reportedly works
here), I can see the RAID after loading the F6 drivers, but then Windows says it can't find a partition suitable to install Windows onto. Or, because it didn't create a 100MB reserved partition, it says it has no place to store the system files...
For testing purposes, I replaced the Vertex 3's with an 80GB Intel X25M and a 128 GB Crucial C300. Hmmm, no problems installing Windows with AHCI selected in the BIOS. No problem formatting the remaining partitions, etc... So, I'm left thinking there's something about the Vertex 3 the Marvell controller just doesn't like. ???
(BTW, he Vertex 3's have the latest firmware installed and have already been secure erased)
All of my new/target drives (SSD and HDD) are SATA3 drives. If possible, I'd like to remove the Intel/Crucial SSD, then configure the 2 Vertex 3's in a RAID 0 using the Marvell controller.
Questions:
1) Has anyone here successfully striped (2) Vertex 3's together using the Marvell 9182 controller?
2) Does anyone know approximately when ASUS plans to release the next R3BE BIOS revision (greater than 0501)? Do we know if it will include new Marvell controller firmware?
3) I'm using Marvell 91xx driver v1.2.0.1003 from the site referenced above. Does anyone have a newer/better driver? If so, please post a link.
Thanks,
DF