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Threads_Of_Fate · ‎12-31-2012

Hello all - and I apologize for the novel that I'm about to write.

I'm fairly new to the build your own PC market (in the past i have bought PCs from Frys or Best Buy and called it a day), but i decided to go big and buy all the parts to build my own PC. I bought the Crosshair V Formula-Z mobo (this thing is a monster [SO MANY BUTTONS AND FEATURES]) and I originally had a 1TB Seagate Barracuda with Win8 x64 installed on it. I recently went out and bought a Samsung 840 SSD and 2 more 1TB HDDs and an trying to figure out this whole RAID 5 business.. My intention was to have the SSD as a boot disk and have the RAID 5 for data storage.

I hooked up the SSD to SATA port 7 and the HDDs to ports 1-3 and changed to SB SATA to RAID, made the RAID array and installed the OS with the RAID drivers from ASUS's website. Everything was fine until I restarted my computer 1 day and it booted to a black screen with the words "A disk read error occurred. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to reboot." I did the BOOT LED came on but the system booted to windows fine. It continues to stay on and I can use the system. However, if i reboot the machine from this state, the light goes away.

Sometimes while browsing FF or Chrome, the system freezes and the SSD in task manager has an active time of 100%. Don't really know what is causing the issue. I thought I might have put the SSD in the wrong SATA port to I moved it to port 5 but then it BSOD'd on me. I repaired it and It still has the same red led issue.

I was thinking that It might be a registry setting wrong or i had set it up weird in the BIOS and that caused some files to be in the wrong place (saw some other threads on the forums but it made me more confused).. I was considering unplugging the RAID Drives and re imaging the SSD and re-installing the RAID drivers. Will the data that's on my RAID array still be there if i do that or will I lose all that information if I reimage?

Here is some info about my system

Crosshair V Formula-Z BIOS v1101
1000W PSU
16GB G.Skill 1600MHz RAM
2 Nvidia GTX 660TI
1 250GB Samsung 840 Series SSD
3 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM HDD
Windows 8 x64

northern_sun · ‎12-31-2012

u need 4 disks for raid 5 and i wouldnt mix ssd and hdd in such case, im pretty sure u can do 2 hdd in raid 1 and use ssd for bootup

- Asus Maximus, 2.4 4core - 3.6ghz(o.c), raid5_6hdd, 3gb Crucial, HD 3870(o.c), Air Cooled, PSU-750w; Nzxt Apollo, 5-5-5-12-2-45-6-3 | 8-3-5-4-6-4-6 Republic of gamers !!!

- Asus Crosshair Formula Z, 4.0 8core - 4.4stable ; FX-8350 8core , g-SKILL PC19200 cl9 16gb, HD 6950x2, H100 Hydro+Air Cooled, Cm Storm Trooper, PSU1000w FATAL1TY, OCZ Vertex3x3

Myk_SilentShado · ‎12-31-2012

^ RAID 5 requires a minimum of 3 drives to use it.

Ok, you should remove your SSD from SATA 7 and use it on the block of 6 that is on the board, that ASMedia port is primarily for either Data Drives, or Optical Drives...you're killing your boot times with an SSD by using a second rate SATA controller 😛

Wipe the SSD and start again...but this time, hook up only your SSD and install Windows and then go about re-initialising your RAID array. I've sent a PM to our resident RAID guru Nodens, hopefully he will swing by and be able to help you out a lot more than I can right now lol

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Threads_Of_Fate · ‎12-31-2012

thx guys ill try this and get back to you... thank you for the help

Myk_SilentShado · ‎12-31-2012

Threads_Of_Fate wrote:
thx guys ill try this and get back to you... thank you for the help

Hold out just a little longer, at least until Nodens replies in here. I've messaged him, hopefully he swings by and offers more help 🙂

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Nodens · ‎12-31-2012

Use only the native SATA ports since you have 4 drives. SSD on Port 1 and the 3 RAID 5 members on the 3 ports next. Do not use the Asmedia controller unless you absolutely have to as it is much slower. Ideally disable it from the UEFI.
Also make sure you are not using any case "drive hotbays" as those are a lot of times problematic.

RAMPAGE Windows 8/7 UEFI Installation Guide - Patched OROM for TRIM in RAID - Patched UEFI GOP Updater Tool - ASUS OEM License Restorer
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Threads_Of_Fate · ‎12-31-2012

quick question about when i reformat my ssd should I do it with the BIOS settings still in RAID and install the raid drivers in OS setup or change them to AHCI and then install the raid drivers in OS setup?

Also, to make sure i understand, i thought that if i enable RAID and want a boot disk separate from the raid array i have to put the SSD in SATA ports 5 or 6 in IDE mode since the mobo assigns SATA ports 1-4 for the raid and only the IDE option for SATA ports 5-6.

But I can leave the SSD on port 1 and not have it part of the array?

Nodens · ‎12-31-2012

While I don't have the specific board to verify it is my understanding that when in RAID mode any disk can be operated as a JBOD drive (with that controller).
Connect the first 4 ports, put the SSD on the first. On the RAID configuration utility (where you create the array) only select the 3 HDD drives for the RAID 5. The SSD will be a JBOD drive as expected.

RAMPAGE Windows 8/7 UEFI Installation Guide - Patched OROM for TRIM in RAID - Patched UEFI GOP Updater Tool - ASUS OEM License Restorer
There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who don't!

RealBench Developer.

Threads_Of_Fate · ‎12-31-2012

Noob question incoming - what is JBOD? Also, if the RAID 5 array has data stored on it previously that i want to keep, when i enter in the RAID utility can i just make the SSD a JBOD and leave the RAID 5 as is or do i have to format it again?

Myk_SilentShado · ‎12-31-2012

JBOD = Just a Bunch Of Disks.

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Help with RAID 5 Setup [BOOT LED Red Issues]