zenarcher Posted May 4, 2005 Report Share Posted May 4, 2005 I am just learning Linux and have been using Mandrake PowerPack 10.1 for about two months. Now, I am trying to set up a SATA RAID0 with this system and have problems. This is my first attempt with SATA RAID, which is not going well. Here is my system: MSI KT6V Motherboard with VT8236 for SATA RAID (2) Western Digital WD800JD SATA Drives 512M RAM AMD XP3000+ Processor I connected my SATA drives and went into the BIOS. I knew I had to disable APIC. Then, I went into the RAID configuration of the BIOS. Both drives were recognized just fine. I then allowed the system to automatically create a RAID0 array. I rebooted with the first Mandrake Install disk in the CD drive. The first thing I saw was Mandrake installing the VT8237 drivers, which went fine. Mandrake then began installing, normally. Upon completion of the install, I removed the CD, as directed and rebooted the system. The system went through the BIOS and where Mandrake should have begun to boot, I only get half the screen covered with the number 9. Nothing will go further. I then removed the RAID0 array and created a RAID1 array. I again began installing Mandrake 10.1. The VT8237 driver installed and Mandrake installed normally. I removed the CD and rebooted the system. Everything works perfectly...Makdrake comes right up. With the RAID1 configuration, when I look at the Mount Points Partition, sda shows the following: sda 74GB Mount Point Home Device sda6 Type: Journalised FS: ext3 Size 67 GB (90%) Formatted Mounted Moving to the second tab, which is named sdb, there is nothing. Just this: Empty Size 74GB Cylinder 0 to 9728 Therefore, I don't think the second SATA drive is even working as a mirror in RAID1. I really want to run RAID0, as that was my intent for getting the drives. I think this problem with RAID0 probably has something to do with how the partitions are set up and the bootloader when installing Mandrake, but I don't have enough experience to make that call. If someone knows how to resolve this issue and install Mandrake 10.1 with SATA RAID0, using the VT8237 and the MSI KT6V motherboard, I would really be appreciative of a step by step guide. Again, I am not really that proficient with Linux or understanding the partitions and bootloader. I am only running Mandrake Linux on this system...No Windows and no other O/S. Thanks for any assistance, zenarcher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamw Posted May 4, 2005 Report Share Posted May 4, 2005 Start over, and don't use the onboard RAID. Use Linux software RAID. Cheap onboard RAID like that is not actually run on a dedicated hardware controller, it just steals CPU cycles like software RAID would, so it has no real performance benefits and tends to introduce compatibility headaches. Wipe the RAID configuration out, re-install MDK, and use the RAID configuration available in the installer to set up Linux software RAID. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenarcher Posted May 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2005 Thank you for that information. I am guessing that I'll have to go back to the BIOS utility and delete the RAID1 array I currently have set up, then ignore the attempt by the RAID utility in BIOS, when I reboot the machine. During the Mandrake Install, I am guessing that you say I will have an opportunity to set up the RAID0 by Mandrake....is that correct? Do I need to do anything special there...or do I go with whatever Mandrake wants to do? Thanks, zenarcher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamw Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 The installer does have an option to set up RAID at the partitioning stage. I can't really give you more detailed information, though, as I've never used it myself. You now know just about everything _I_ know about using RAID on Linux. Sorry. Anyone more expert than me out there? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenarcher Posted May 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Well, I sincerely appreciate the help! Someone on another forum is also trying to help me and I explained to him what you had said. That was a big help in his being able to give me more information, as well, and correct some of my misunderstanding about it. If anyone else on this forum could help, just to verify my understanding, I'd appreciate it. If I have this correctly, I should be ablle merely to delete the RAID1 array I now have using the BIOS utility....restart the computer with the first Mandrake disk in the CD drive....and using the RAID utility in Mandrake, set up the RAID0 array I want. I am wondering if Mandrake will partition correctly, if I select RAID0....and if there is anything else I need to do, other than let Mandrake install? If anyone else can help out with this question, I'd really appreciatte it! Thanks, zenarcher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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