WOW...I NEED HELP!!

[toyzrs]

I have this and i want to know how to install it.....

i have a 120 WD SE 8mb cache, 120 WD 2mb cache, 50x CD-Rom, 32x12x40x CD burner i need all this in my system and i want to know the best setup like which should be primary master, slave etc......I had a problem with making the WD SE 8mb cache my primary master, the problem was the computer would take about 10-15 mins to boot up in WIN XP from the time i hit the power button to the time the WINXP logo comes up.....i need a way so that this doesnt happen ..... another question.... CAN I RUN RAID with this? How would i do it? i have a giga-byte 7vaxp, 768mb pc2100 ram, athlon 1800xp.

PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!!

Thanks.

 

[trasko]

IIRC your long bootup problem has to do with the system disk being the WD and the jumper settings on the drive itself. They have to be set just right for the thing to work.

As for your IDE setup the best is always 1 device per channel if you can manage it. Also only the first channel may have ATA-100 (or whatever) support so you should be wary of that. If you have built in RAID with seperate controllers (i know nothing of your board and don't feel like looking it up) then spread out your devices between the controllers, but still note the rated speeds of everything (devices, controllers, even cables).

If you put the SE drive as your primary master and set its jumper to "single" that should fix your slow bootup deal. Search in this forum for that and you'll likely find your answer.

btw, don't make a habit of just shutting of your computer like that esp. if you start running RAID.

 

[toyzrs]

okay that makes a lil sense.....i have 4 drives, 2 IDE channels and on board raid.... i need to hook up all 4 devices. and shutting down my computer like what?
still need help on the best way to set up the DRIVES. thanks.


Thanks.

 

[Arcanedeath]

Since you currently want to use 4 devices Here is how I would do it, if you have onboard raid, I would put each HDD on a seperate channel on the raid card, and then each optical drive on it's own channel on the chipsets controlers, if you don't have onboard raid, I'd put both HDD's on the Primary channel both set to cable select and both Cd-rom drives on the 2ndary channel also set to cabble select, just place the drives where you want them in the case and hook up the cables accordingly. Hope this helps...
also FYI the WD drives have a seperate setting for Master (eg drive w/ slave) and for just being by themselves, thats why I'd rec. you use cable select and just select what drive you want to boot from in the bios, gluck...
(Edited for content)

 

[toyzrs]

Do i need to install windows a certain way for RAID? soemthing special i need to do for RAID? is it faster?

The drives are a lil different one has 2mb cache and the other has 8mb cache will i be able to run them as raid.....what will solve my problem of the computer have a slowest ever BOOT UP time from when press the start button?


Thanks.

 

[toyzrs]

I want the fastest possible burning and the fastest possible hard drive reading.....someone sum it all UP!


THanks.

 

[Viper96720]

Having a raid controller is slowing your boot time. Since the board has to detect any drives on the board plus anything on the raid controller.
Raid-0 is fastest. Won't make a noticably difference in burning speed. Put your cd drives on separate channels then you can burn on the fly.

 

[Tarmouth]

Originally posted by: Arcanedeath
Since you currently want to use 4 devices Here is how I would do it, if you have onboard raid, I would put each HDD on a seperate channel on the raid card, and then each optical drive on it's own channel on the chipsets controlers, if you don't have onboard raid, I'd put both HDD's on the Primary channel both set to cable select and both Cd-rom drives on the 2ndary channel also set to cabble select, just place the drives where you want them in the case and hook up the cables accordingly. Hope this helps...
also FYI the WD drives have a seperate setting for Master (eg drive w/ slave) and for just being by themselves, thats why I'd rec. you use cable select and just select what drive you want to boot from in the bios, gluck...
(Edited for content)

Don't know about you, but i've seen some pretty nasty problems from having CDRWs set to cable select. IMHO the CDRW should always be set to master and have it's own channel when possible.

 

[toyzrs]

okay still no result on how to set up my system. I have two hard drives and 1 cdrom and 1 cdrw how should i hook it up? What should i set the jumpers to? They are both WD 120 GB hard drives.....

 

[toyzrs]

i need suggestions on the configurations i have to hook up all drives...

thanks.

 

[Varun]

Ok if you have on board RAID and you say you do, put the hard drives each on their own 80 wire cable on the raid controller. Then put each CD ROM on seperate IDE controllers. This way everything is on it's own channel so you can burn on the fly etc, and you can set the hard drives up on RAID if you want to.

 

[Technonut]

To use your drives set as Master: Be sure to have the jumpers on all drives set as Master. Install the hard drives on the RAID controllers, and the optical drives on the Primary and Secondary ATA IDE controllers.

Your mobo should have included a driver floppy disk for the RAID controller. Have that disk in when you start WinXP setup. You will be prompted to press F6 to install the RAID driver...Press F6. You will be prompted to specify which driver to install...Choose the RAID driver for XP. Go on to finish the WinXP installation.

EDIT: If you want to use the hard drives in a RAID configuration, you must have them installed on the RAID controllers. Your mobo manual should have instructions on setting that up. I would go into it in greater detail if I had time. I personally have my drives all set as Master on their own channel. If you choose to go with a RAID configuration, keep in mind that if the array fails, you will lose all of your data. Make sure that you back up to your burner often.

 

[toyzrs]

sounds good.....any more details? benefits of raid? negatives?
anyone want to comment on how to use it on my board? GIGA-BYTE 7VAXP

Thank

 

[Tarmouth]

Hmm don't know about his board but my 7DXR from gigabyte did not come with raid drivers on floppy.

 

[Technonut]

Here is a RAID configuration guide.