RAID Confusion

[Kenneth]

I was hoping I could get a quick answer to something that is perplexing me. I am building a system using the Asus A7V133 mb and two 45 gig IBM 75gxp's in a raid array. After auto configuring the array in the RAID bios, I went to partition it. I was surprised to see that Fdisk reported the drive as having only ~22 GB. I understand that I don't get access to the full 90 gigs of my drives, but it was my understanding that the array would be equivalent in size to a 45 gig drive. Is this how it is supposed to work, or am I missing something? If something is wrong, how do I fix it?

Thanx in advance for any help.

 

[Zach]

if you do RAID 0, it will be additive and 45+45=90GB. If you do RAID 1, one drive will effectively not count (as it's a mirrow) and your drive size will be 45GB.

Depending on your RAID controller, it might need a BIOS updateto handle larger drive sizes, I've read about that one.. people that own the same controller will be able to help more though.

 

[Kenneth]

OK, so I should actually have 90 GB available, and the thing is cheating me out of 3/4 of my disk space.

I'll go hunting for a promise RAID bios. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[Stormblade]

Hey there,

Not sure what's going on with ya but I have the same motherboard and drives and I have the full amount due me.

Something to do:

Go to promise's site and download their 1.63 drivers. Put those on a diskette. Install thost drivers for your OS and flash the bios for the controller.

I don't use Fdisk to check on things though. I am using Windows 2000 so it's a bit different for me. So not sure what fdisk might be showing ya.

 

[Kenneth]

Would the drivers make any difference at this point? I have'nt installed any operating system at all yet. (I don't want to do any work that I would just have to wipe out and repeat.)

 

[Technonut]

Go Here, and follow the instructions to overwrite the FDISK on the bootdisk that you are using, to the updated version that will support over 64GB.

FDISK the array, then format. The amount formatted will appear to be incorrect, but will show the full drive space amount after it is finished.

EDIT: I would delete and create the array again before you use the updated FDISK.

 

[Kenneth]

Thanks! That is exactly the info I needed!

 

[BIGGDOG]

Ok go HERE and download the fdisk program. Put the program on a floppy disk "you do not need the docs or the program ligo" boot to a bootable floppy once at the a prompt put in the fdisk disk and type set ffd_version=w98 then hit enter when the a prompt comes back up you type fdisk. You will now be able to see all of your 90 gigs. I have two 45 gig 75gxp drives and a promis controller and it is great.

PM me if you need further assistance. As my email is going soon. but if needed to get me during the day bills@omniprint.net

 

[hovenas]

Do you notice any clearly noticable speed increase doing RAID? I'm thinking whether I should go for it or just by one big and spend the money on something else...