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February 8, 2005
OK figured out the RAID driver
Well the Silicon Image RAID controller GUI software didn't have any help files, but ASUS helpfully put the PDF manual on the CD. So I actually had to RTFM. So I figure out that I don't want to format the drives just yet I just want to create the RAID group. I can do this with the GUI or with the BIOS by pressing F4 quickly. I reboot and press F4 quickly. I am not offered in the BIOS configuratin RAID 5 as an option which the manual clearly says I should have. So I go back to the manual. There is a confusing section in the beginning about what your options are if you have an different combinations of old/new BIOS and old/new RAID5 driver. I guess I have an old something, so I use the handy dandy ASUS BIOS update program to check the version. Lo and Behold I have an old BIOS. Three clicks later, I have updated the BIOS from the Internet. I reinstall the SATA RAID5 software driver for good measure and reboot. Skipping the BIOS, I go to the GUI. Select Partiy RAID as the option in a new RAID group (couldn't they just keep terms the same and call it RAID5?), select all four logical 300gig drives, choose "max" size and click create. Done in 2 seconds. ANOTHER reboot and I go int Windows Computer Management, Disk MAnagement. A new, unformatted disk 1 shows up with size 838.44GB (the difference from 1.2TB is the Parity striping). Wow, my 1.62TB RAID system is shrinking VERY fast. With RAID5 the real win is to GO BIG. Then the One Drive you dedicate to Parity will be a smaller percentage of the total. So I am down to about half my usable space. Same as Raid1 (although not an option with two different raid controllers). Somehow a 1GB and a 233 GB partition were created. I delete those two and it leaves one big 838.44 GB space that I create one primary partition on and call it Drive G. Quick format later and Bob's your uncle, Windows recognizes a BIG DISK.
So now the fun begins, moving over stuff. I unplug the two USB 2.0 (oh, gotta install a new USB 2.0 driver on Windows or it will think the ports are 1.1) 250 ATA external drives I have been using on the other PC to store stuff and plug them into the new RAID box. Plug and play plays nice and everything is roses. I do one huge Drag and drop and am off to bed. Will tell you in the morning if it worked....
Posted by Martin at February 8, 2005 12:54 AM
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Comments
Martin,
have you considered getting a Raid System like Abit's Thecus (http://www.thecus.com) or fastora (err http://www.fastora.com), Buffalo Terastation (http://www.buffalotech.com/products/product-detail.php?productid=97&categoryid=19) or something like Lacie's Biggest disk (http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10326)?
All of them come as raid configurations and except the Lacie one, all act as Gigabit-capable NAS systems...
I know it's a bit late since you already have all that hw... but maybe you are interested in the products above :-) (I'm gonna get one of those soon to replace my custom-built nas server)
Best regards & greetings from Erlangen / Germany,
--
Joerg Battermann
jb@justBE.com
http://www.justBE.com – blog: http://blog.justBE.com
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Posted by: Joerg Battermann 
at February 8, 2005 10:40 AM
Joerg,
thanks for the pointers. I had seen the LACIE but not the others. There are ALOT of people building NAS devices on Linux or Windows Storage server. In part, my attempt to build something myself was just so I could say that I did it. Also it was to get the latest technology and most flexibility. In general the problem I have with most of the existing consumer/SOHO NAS include:
- Based on older IDE drives. Slow, cheap yea, but very slow with small cache.
- May be Ultra ATA based but that too is slow, parallel interface with small cache.
- The SCSI ones are still too expensive.
- If they use Linux, many of the cheaper boxes have SAMBA compabibility problems.
- The SOHO models tend to top out at 4 maybe 6 drive bays. With my PC chassis I have the option to put in 5 more drives myself with a RAID card and I can expand for a much lower per gig cost since I am sharing the chassis, motherboard, CPU, memory, powersupply, etc. You have to buy this all over again to expand typical NAS.
- The cost per gig of these systems is still in the $3-$4 per gig range. With my configuration, I am down around $1.31 per gig all in. I haven't found ANY NAS anywhere near that.
Thanks for reading!
Posted by: ministeroforder at February 8, 2005 3:17 PM
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