create raid without floppy drive?

[exitnow]

i am looking to buy 2 drives for storage in raid 1, but won't i need a floppy drive to set it up. i tried 2 floppy drives by 2 manufactures, both brand new, but neither were recognised. i used a boot cd last week to flash my bios, can i do the same here?


chaintech vnf4 ultra
3000+ winchester
gig corsair 3200

 

[jackschmittusa]

Floppy disabled in the bios?

 

[corkyg]

Most new mobos now offer you better alternatives to floppy disks. Examples - flash memory drives and CDRs. Check your BIOS to see what is on or off, and also your boot sequence.

 

[Jexx]

To my knowledge XP and prior won't scan a CD for RAID drivers on install (F6 on CD boot), if your adding the RAID as extra storage then you should have no problems loading the drivers off the CD from in windows.

 

[exitnow]

i don't have my floppy disabled in my bios. so i should be able to set up the raid from in windows if it is not the drive i am setting up for windows, just as storage?

 

[corkyg]

Everything I needed to set up my SATA/RAID drive was contained on the CD that came with my mobo. I would imagine that independent RAID PCI cards would come with a CD. If floppy - then copy the floppy to a CD on a friend's computer, or add an external USB floppy drive.

 

[nweaver]

Slipstream the drivers into the CD. Google for this if needed (many many sites tell you how). Putting the drivers on a CD will NOT WORK. Windows Setup will ONLY look on the (real) floppy for the drivers (pain in the neck).

 

[exitnow]

i will look on my mobo cd, thanks

 

[Woody419]

It can be done. I found directions for an Abit board, you will need to modify them to work with your board and RAID controller.
Install RAID without Floppy

Getting a floppy to work would be easiest. Try plugging the floppy cable into the drive both ways if the drive is not recognized. Some drives plugs are still backwords.

 

[jackschmittusa]

It is easy to see if the floppy data cable is reversed; the access light stays on constantly if it is.

 

[exitnow]

thank you everyone. i will try the floppy one last time, but if not thank you woody for the link