SATA raid?

[Jdrichar59]

I need to get a new motherboard that will suport the raid 0 I have set up
I keep seeing this feature called "SATA raid" looking at the motherboard I
see it has only the 2 IDE spots not 4 like my board has.
some one please explain what this is and how it can help me or if it can

I have presently 3 hard drives (a 250 gig and 2-80 gig Western digitals)and
to cd devices a dvdrw and a dvd/cdrw
The two 80 Gig hard drives are making up the Raid 0 which is my primary or
boot drive

I like the set up but I need to get a faster Motherboard and dont want to
lose my operating system...

If this isnt a place to get this information please direct me where I can
learn all I need to know...

[Paul-B]

Jdrichar59 wrote:

> I need to get a new motherboard that will suport the raid 0 I have
> set up I keep seeing this feature called "SATA raid" looking at the
> motherboard I see it has only the 2 IDE spots not 4 like my board has.
> some one please explain what this is and how it can help me or if it
> can
>
> I have presently 3 hard drives (a 250 gig and 2-80 gig Western
> digitals)and to cd devices a dvdrw and a dvd/cdrw
> The two 80 Gig hard drives are making up the Raid 0 which is my
> primary or boot drive
>
> I like the set up but I need to get a faster Motherboard and dont
> want to lose my operating system...
>
> If this isnt a place to get this information please direct me where I
> can learn all I need to know...



http://www20.tomshardware.com/storage/20031114/


--
Paul-B
The original and the best

[BAR]

Often abbreviated SATA or S-ATA, an evolution of the Parallel ATA physical
storage interface. Serial ATA is a serial link -- a single cable with a
minimum of four wires creates a point-to-point connection between devices.
Transfer rates for Serial ATA begin at 150MBps.

One of the main design advantages of Serial ATA is that the thinner serial
cables facilitate more efficient airflow inside a form factor and also allow
for smaller chassis designs. In contrast, IDE cables used in parallel ATA
systems are bulkier than Serial ATA cables and can only extend to 40cm long,
while Serial ATA cables can extend up to one metre.

Your IDE ports have the tin 'flat ribbon cable' - 40 pins or 80 pins.

So most modern Mobos will have 2 X IDE ports to support up to 4 X IDE
[ATA100] hard drives and optcal drives and also two on board SATA ports for 2
x SATA drives: thus allowing for RAID.

"Paul-B" wrote:

> Jdrichar59 wrote:
>
> > I need to get a new motherboard that will suport the raid 0 I have
> > set up I keep seeing this feature called "SATA raid" looking at the
> > motherboard I see it has only the 2 IDE spots not 4 like my board has.
> > some one please explain what this is and how it can help me or if it
> > can
> >
> > I have presently 3 hard drives (a 250 gig and 2-80 gig Western
> > digitals)and to cd devices a dvdrw and a dvd/cdrw
> > The two 80 Gig hard drives are making up the Raid 0 which is my
> > primary or boot drive
> >
> > I like the set up but I need to get a faster Motherboard and dont
> > want to lose my operating system...
> >
> > If this isnt a place to get this information please direct me where I
> > can learn all I need to know...
>
>
>
> http://www20.tomshardware.com/storage/20031114/
>
>
> --
> Paul-B
> The original and the best
>

[[email protected]]

to do what you want (migrate the HD's to new MB w/o doing a wipe-and-
clean-reinstall) you must get a new MB that has the same exact RAID
controller. Only then will you have even a chance of getting it to work.
If your current raid controller is a pci card then you can obviously
migrate that. But rememeber that it's still a PCI solution, newer
motherboards often try to get their raid controllers off the PCI bus to
alleviate bottlenecks. But many use the common Promise controller chips,
and if your current setup has that you may be in luck and find a new MB w/
the same chip (and hopefully compatable firmware). Regardless, backup
everything before you try it, just in case the HDs get wiped
unintentionally! [And rememeber, a clean install often cures a host of
problems, some people actually reccommend it on an annual basis, sort of
like a colon cleansing!]

If not then I'd bite the bullet and resign myself to doing a full wipe and
reinstall; a new MB with "older" tech HD isn't going to give you a
worthwhile boost. Your HD's are pretty good still, so you'll need to stick
w/ IDE based raid, promise or via controllers are common. Leave the SATA
ports for future growth (tho SATA II is just around the corner, so those
ports may become obsolete before you get a chance to use them).