Gagzila Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 (edited) Hey All, Got a bit of a conundrum on my hands...got two SSDs, one 60GB that I run my OS off and one 120GB that I install my main high end games on. I also have four 2TB HDDs that I was just about to setup in RAID 10 for storage and the running of some older games. Just went into the BIOS as according to my mobo manual, the SATA mode needs to be set to RAID. My first question is can I change it to RAID, setup my RAID 10 and then switch back to AHCI for the SSDs? As the setting affects all 6 SATA drives I have connected, both SSDs and HDDs. Otherwise my second question is, can I setup a windows 7 software RAID 10 configuration with the four HDDs while keeping the SATA mode as AHCI in the BIOS? Thanks, Craig Edit FYI, all SSDs and HDDs are fresh so there isn't any data I need to keep at this point. Edited October 24, 2011 by Gagzila Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gagzila Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 (edited) Well I've come across some information that would be great if others could confirm it... Basically I should be able to set the RAID mode and run my RAID 10 configuration and any drives not in the array (so the two SSDs) will still use AHCI as their default setting and use full TRIM support. Another way someone said to do it that sounded like they had done it before is if it's in a situation where the RAID is just for storage, I can set the BIOS back to AHCI after setting the RAID configuration and just make sure to install either the Intel Matrix Storage Manager or the Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers after booting back into Windows. What are other's thoughts on the above...while waiting to see what you all think, might install windows 7 on the SSD, benchmark both of them, then try out the above two methods and re-benchmark afterwards to see if there's any discernible performance difference in the SSDs as I don't want to compromise performance on them where I don't care that much if I end up running the four HDDs as four seperate storage drives with a windows backup. Cheers, Craig Edited October 24, 2011 by Gagzila Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stonerboy779 Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 Have you considered using you 60gb SSD as a cache for your raid 10 drives. I strongly suggest looking into Intel smart response technology on your 60gb SSD with your raid array. Also with the way the cache works your boot times are far quicker than off SSD but only very slightly slower than the SSD. So you could install os apps and programs on the HDDs with the larger SSD purely for games. Just my thoughts on something that should result in all around performance increases. If possible on my new pc I will be looking to set up a 2x 1tb caviar black raid 0 array with 60gb SSD using srt as well as 2x 2tb raid 10th array also with its own SSD using srt. Will really have to research and try and find a mobo I can.make it work on tho :/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waco Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 RAID mode is, for all intents and purposes, AHCI mode on modern controllers. Any "free" drives that aren't in an array will get all the benefits of AHCI including TRIM. This wasn't the case a while back, but even AMD's chipset drivers handle this properly now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
El_Capitan Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 When you set your SATA mode to RAID, any disks not in RAID configuration are in AHCI mode. The best bet since you have a Z68 motherboard is to plug your SSD's in your Intel SATA III ports, and your HDD's in your SATA II ports. You can put your Optical drive in your Marvell SATA III port. Set your 128GB SSD as your OS and application drive. Set your 4 HDD's in RAID 10. Set your 60GB SSD to cache your RAID 10 with Intel's SRT. http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=187926&st=0&p=1963047&hl=+smart%20+response%20+technology&fromsearch=1entry1963047 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waco Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 What Capitan said. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gagzila Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 (edited) Thank you all very much for your quick help, I ended up sorting / figuring it out. I ended up setting RAID mode, configuring the four HDDs into a RAID10 array and then re-enabling AHCI mode. I tried booting with it still in RAID mode since like you guys said, any drives not in the array should still run in AHCI mode but Windows kept stuttering at the Windows 7 loading animation and then rebooting so I set it back to AHCI and it's worked fine since and I was able to setup partitions in Disk Management off the MMC after installing the Intel Rapid Storage Tecnology drivers. It's all working good now, though I ran some SSD benchmarks which I'm not sure about, if you guys don't mind please head over here and checking them out? http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=187870&pid=1965581&st=48entry1965581 LOL El_Capitan, that's exactly how I have all the drives plugged in, even with the DVD drive plugged into one of the Marvel ports So basically my setup is still the same: 60gb SSD - OS and Apps 120GB SSD - High End Game Installs 8TB RAID 10 (so 4TB of actual usable space) - Old Game installs, game install files, patches, music, documents, etc...general storage with data and HDD redundancy Cheers, Craig Edit Oh and Michael, thanks for your suggestion but I have it working now how I wanted to make it work and I'm sick of stuffing around and not gaming...if I get a chance in the future I'll try it out but the performance of this setup should be enough anyway I'm thinking...plus I've heard about the downside of using an SSD to cache...if you forget once and switch of your PSU before the PC finishes shutting down / SSD writes to the HDD....good bye cached data ...I also don't think I'll be in and out of anything that much in a session for the caching to be useful anyway, I generally turn on the PC, go into a game once, play, exit, shut down or play a different game Edited October 24, 2011 by Gagzila Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fogel Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 Also with the way the cache works your boot times are far quicker than off SSD but only very slightly slower than the SSD. HUH?!? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waco Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 HUH?!? He meant HDD for the first one. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fogel Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 He meant HDD for the first one. ahhh, duh lol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stonerboy779 Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 ahhh, duh lol Haha typo whoops. And capi has the same thought as me, set is intended to give "SSD like speeds to HDDs" and it actually does a good job of it. It will work with either a single HDD or a single RAID array. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhenKittensATK Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 (edited) Mine are setup on AHCI with Intel Rapid Storage Technology installed. IRST automatically detected my RAID 0 drives that I setup on my old build (didn't have to touch anything). SSD #1 OS/Apps SSD #2 Games HDD #1 Storage HDD #2 Raid 0 - Big Games/Big Apps (it was always a games drive, when using a SSD as OS/Apps) Edited October 24, 2011 by Krazyxazn Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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