New Build GA-EP45-DS3 + Q9550

[Psycho101]

The ICH10R does indeed control all 6 ports. However you'll notice in Device Manager that there are two entries for the ICH, one for 4 oprts and one for the remaining two. I'm not 100% sure why, but you'll also notice that ports 0-3 can be set to "Native Mode" in the bios, where as the last two can not. Not saying this will solve your problem, but it hopefully might.

The JMicron is inferior to the ICH for RAID and maybe also for single hard drives, but for a DVD ROM it will be fine.

If using RAID 1 (mirrored) then you're correct, there is no stripe size as it's writing two copies of a whole file rather than spliting one file across two drives. I do still think that you need to create the mirror in the RAID BIOS though before installing, and also ofc have the RAID/AHCI drivers ready.

The reason Vista and 7 take little time formating is because they quick format the partition, so rather than formating each cluster individually and erasing files, it just erases the file systems record of how to find those files, giving the illusion of a blank disk. You could definately format with an XP version of the format program, but I'd also recommend you format with Windows 7 too. This is just in case 7 uses a later revision of NTFS as was the case with NT --> 2K and 2K -->XP. It may not have changed or indeed it may not care about the NTF|S revision it sits on, but better safe than sorry.

Edit: It's better to do what you're doing and find out how to sort everything now than to search around when you have the stuff. I get excited and tend to skip stuff if I'm installing new hardware, eg don't read the manual etc, but as I research first it doesn't matter. Work ahead of time means you can install your new kit ASAP, mistake free.

[Chike]

Originally Posted by NimrodAUS

As for the formatting side, how are your thoughs of formatting it NTFS with the Windows XP setup and then installing Windows 7. I just dont get how it can "format" a 1TB drive from a new Partition in like 5 seconds.

Which one of them does it in 5 seconds?

For a file system "format" simply means writing the meta-data of the file system. This would usually be a free-blocks list/bitmap and the meta-data for the root directory, not more than few megabytes.

For RAIDs with redundancy, formating would be making sure the integrity of the data before they let you accessing it, writing data and prity/check sums for thos who use them.

Depending on the RAID controller implementation, it may or not let you start using the RAID before the "format" process is complete.

[NimrodAUS]

LOL. Everything you have said is correct and I agree with everything also. Except the X48-DS5 has the ICH9R Northbridge chipset not 10. Buts its ok. As for you last comment, That is 99% the reason im try to "Get all my ducks in a line" before I get the gear so I can just jump straight in and bam. That and also I wont have a working computer at all untill I get the builds completed because Im striping parts from all. lol. Well the TR2 and 8800GT are in the Dell that I use everyday and the MB is in the gaming system so theres just gunna be bits everywere. I cant wait.

And yeah If i could have been bothered to do a full format in windows XP I would have also done it in the Windows 7 setup cause of that very reason.

Thanks for taking the time to help me through this difficult waiting period.

[NimrodAUS]

Originally Posted by Chike

Which one of them does it in 5 seconds?

For a file system "format" simply means writing the meta-data of the file system. This would usually be a free-blocks list/bitmap and the meta-data for the root directory, not more than few megabytes.

For RAIDs with redundancy, formating would be making sure the integrity of the data before they let you accessing it, writing data and prity/check sums for thos who use them.

Depending on the RAID controller implementation, it may or not let you start using the RAID before the "format" process is complete.

Just saying that in Vista and Windows 7 when you create a new partition on a drive it formats it very quick. I have yet to setup any RAID yet so yeah. But from what I researched on the net for the X48 board you create the RAID Array in the intel RAID thingy and it will format it there. But I would also do the thing in Windows 7 Setup just to make me feel better.

[NimrodAUS]

Got my New HDD this morning however its put a spin on things. Its not the model I ordered. Its better (i think) its a ST31000528AS 7200.12 so IDK. So it looks like ill have to copy 500gb from my current working drive to this new one so I can create the raid with my two existing drives. I hope the rest of this build goes a little more to plan. FFS.

[Psycho101]

Hmm, that's unfortunate. You wont encounter any difficulties with your two current drives though.

If the new HDD is indeed better in spec, that's cool, even if it's not what you expected. Who knows, if you make a fuss they might give you some money off.

[NimrodAUS]

Originally Posted by Psycho101

Hmm, that's unfortunate. You wont encounter any difficulties with your two current drives though.

If the new HDD is indeed better in spec, that's cool, even if it's not what you expected. Who knows, if you make a fuss they might give you some money off.

I have already sent them an Email to atleast advise them that there website is up to shi.t. I doubt Ill get any money back. Just a pain now that i have to copy 500+gb's of stuff more then once. Oh well. Seagate sent me an email back about the two different firmware versions of my current 1tb 7200.11 drives but basically said SFA. so I may just put the SD1B firmware on both of them and be done with it.

[NimrodAUS]

FFS Now I have **** on backorder from the other joint. Even though there website shows 5+ instock there are none.

[NimrodAUS]

OK So I got bored and just had play with my new HDD. I put the ST31000333AS & ST31000528AS in RAID 0 And OMFG. The performance in HD Tune has like Doubled. Crazy. Still hasnt improved the Windows experience level above 5.9 but oh well. now what can I do to test this.

[Lsdmeasap]

Wow, not sure what you should do now. Those two drives (ST31000333AS & ST31000528AS) I know you should not use in a RAID though as one is two platter and the other is 3 platters.

Sure it will work, but not properly nor as fast as would be if you used matched drives. Not sure if you were aware of this or not, so I thought I better toss it out there