John D. Jegla wrote:
I think you'd be better off if you:
- turn off all RAID options in BIOS and set the Sil3114 to be ATA-only (or the equivalent) - in fact, I would just plug your drives into the normal IDE controller(s) on the motherboard and ignore the Sil controller (unless you need the extra connectors)
- use Linux Software RAID (easy to create RAID volumes during SUSE partition setup in Yast)
Doesn't it seem like a waste to have a "fancy" RAID-enabled motherboard and then not use the RAID features? Yes, but these features are not much more than marketing hype. As I understand it, the Linux software RAID will probably be faster as well!
On Friday 13 May 2005 10:24 am, zio budda wrote:
Hi, I have a Gygabite MotherBoard with Sil3114 Raid Chipset and 2 HD. <SNIP>
[BEGIN MILD RANT] Though you are right, that the cheap raid on motherboards is "fake" - for Windows users it seems really great and works pretty close to real hardware RAID. You simply: - You use the bios utility to create your RAID volume, and - Install the correct RAID driver. You end up with a nice, simple RAID1 or RAID 0 (who values their data that little, I do not know) setup. Yes, I know that Linux software raid can be faster, but no matter how you slice it its hard to get a a true "mirrored" disk drive setup using RAID. With a lot of configuration you can mirror ALMOST all of your partitions. Some has said they can even figure out how to mirror the boot and "/" partitions - but it's a lot of work. I've also ended up with unbootable MD RAID partitions a number of times - can they be fixed, yes, but it's a pain. I've been fighting this for over a year and a half with Highpoint PATA controllers. Put plainly, the Linux support sux compared to the Windows support. I should not be surprised - and am not about to switch all of my computers to Windows (I run one XP workstation, though). But its still irritating. I do hear that support for some of the other brands of controllers may be better. [END MILD RANT] Anybody have any different experience? Thanks - Richard