Need some help with BIOS RAID 0 settings on this chipset: (specifically the first 2)

- Stripe Block - 64/128/256 = 64

- Sector Size - 512B/1024B/2048B/4096B = 512B ???

- Initialization - fast/none = FAST

- Gigabyte Boundry - off/on = OFF

- Read Policy - na/read cache/read ahead = READ AHEAD

- Write Policy - (READ DEPENDANT) = WRITEBACK

Using 2 160gb WD Blue SATA 3G drives Win7 X64, as stated, general use(photoshop) and some gaming...

First time on Win7 and X64, so I'm not sure what the default cluster size in that O/S is, but I feel "ITEM #2" should match this spec...?

 

Thanks for any help,

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M5A99X EVO R2 - FX 8350 - KHX1866C9D3K4/16GX - Corsair 500R - Corsair H100 - ...

Hmm...Ok, to answer your questions.  The stripe block size that you use is really a matter of preference.  From what I remember if you store a lot of small files then a smaller stripe block will give you better performance....if you store larger files....the opposite.  The sector size....basically the default for windows these days is 4096.  You can find a lot more information on HDD/SDD configurations in the link below:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1227308/storage-essentials-thread/0_30

On a side note; I'm not sure if you are aware or not, but WD has this thing about HDD's and RAID called "time-limited error recovery", or TLER, in that unless the drive is classed by WD as a RAID Edition (RE) or Enterprize class HDD you will most likely run into problems with your RAID array.  Your WD class blue drives do not have TLER, therefore you will most likely experience issues where your RAID array (that you made with these drives) will degrade randomly and will require you to rebuild the array all over again followed by reinstalling anything that you had on there as well.  This happens randomly and you might not have any issues for days/weeks/months but it usually happens when you least want it to.

Just wanted to let you kow as I have seen several folks get real frustrated trying to RAID non-RAID class WD HDD's.

Cheers!

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The opinions expressed above do not represent those of Advanced Micro Devices or any of their affiliates.
Requiescat In Pace AMD Processor Forums | Member since: 1/19/2009 | Post count: 4142
Please don't PM me with questions, instead create a thread so that everyone can assist and benefit from the knowledge provided. Thanks in advance!

   Thanks for the reply Canis-X. I've done more research in regards to your comments and I am probably going to go with AHCI mode and forget the RAID-0 boot drive. This will allow me to plop in an SSD in the future and hopefully migrate L8R on...

   As for the drive(specific issue) in RAID mode, I did look into that as well and it wasn't enough to sway my decision. What did it was AHCI performance + RAID-0 stipe+block settings. I have used RAID-0 on previous builds with impressive results, but for a boot disk, it seems that the trend is moving towards ACHI, SSD+TRIM etc. I will probably return to RAID-0 down the road, but stictly as storage. That will allow me to try and test different RAID settings and benchmark them. Thanks again!

Applications - WD BLUE

Desktop / Consumer RAID Environments - WD Caviar Blue Hard Drives are tested and recommended for use in consumer-type RAID applications (RAID-0 /RAID-1).

Business Critical RAID Environments – WD Caviar Blue Hard Drives are not recommended for and are not warranted for use in RAID environments utilizing Enterprise HBAs and/or expanders and in multi-bay chassis, as they are not designed for, nor tested in, these specific types of RAID applications. For all Business Critical RAID applications, please consider WD’s Enterprise Hard Drives that are specifically designed with RAID-specific, time-limited error recovery (TLER), are tested extensively in 24x7 RAID applications, and include features like enhanced RAFF technology and thermal extended burn-in testing.

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M5A99X EVO R2 - FX 8350 - KHX1866C9D3K4/16GX - Corsair 500R - Corsair H100 - ...

Edited: 12/18/2012 at 10:51 AM by kidknicky

Good idea to drop the RAID idea, way to many headaches. I used to run RAID with two WD Black's and I did run into the TLER issue, not fun. I went to a 3 SSD setup (finally), and have no regrets about it. My 100GB VertexLE is my boot drive, 60gb Vertex Plus R2 is for my temp files and page file (cheap SSD, saves unnecessary wear on other drives), and since I don't keep many video files on my computer, a 512GB Vertex 4 for games and media. But if you do have a large video collection you can always keep in a 1TB+ HDD for those.

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Crosshair IV Formula, Phenom II x4 965 w/ Corsair H60, 8 GiB OCZ Platinum DDR3 1600, XFX HD 7970 Ghz, 512GB Vertex 4, 256GB Vector, 240GB Agility 3, Creative X-Fi Titanium w/ Creative Gigaworks S750, SeaSonic X750, HP ZR2440w, Win 7 Ultimate x64