Hi all,
My workstation (running Win7 Pro x64) uses an Asus board with the X79 chipset (the Asus P9X79 Pro to be specific), and currently has 2x 120GB Intel SSDs in a RAID-0 array (I need the high I/O for simulation work). I am trying to add a RAID-5 array using 3x 2TB WD Red drives to this system, but I'm having some issues.
First, I connected the 3 new drives to the motherboard on the Intel-managed ports (i.e. not to the two ports which use the Marvell controller). Then, I booted Windows and ran extended S.M.A.R.T. diagnostics across all the new drives (took ~4-5 hours each), and all three passed. I then restarted, hit CTRL-I while booting to access the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Option ROM, and created the RAID volume across the 3 disks. Everything went as expected. I then exited the RST OROM, booted Windows, and upon booting the IRST software popped up a warning. I opened RST, and it showed my original RAID-0 array as being just fine (as it always was), but my RAID-5 array was listed as being "incompatible," with a yellow exclamation point (the three drives I selected for the volume were grouped under a RAID-5 array, though).
I opened Disk Management, it popped up a message asking me to initialize a new disk with GPT, so I did that and voila, the 3.6GB RAID-5 drive was listed. I formatted it with NTFS, and it showed up in Windows explorer with the drive letter I chose. However, Intel RST still reported the RAID-5 array as "incompatible," even after a restart. So I rebooted, and it was still listed as incompatible.
I then deleted the volume using RST in windows, hoping to then recreate the RAID-5 volume with the software, but upon clicking the "Create" tab, the only option under "Select Volume Type" is the RAID-0 option. Everything else (including RAID-1, RAID-5, RAID-10, etc.) is completely absent, despite the fact that the three 2TB hard drives are all listed with green checkmarks in the "Storage System View" column of the Status tab.
Below are two pictures showing what I mean regarding drives showing up properly in the Status tab, but the RAID-5 option missing on the "create" tab:
I will now reboot, recreate the RAID-5 array in the RST OROM during POST, and then upload a screenshot showing the "incompatible" message/warning.
Edit: Okay, I have rebooted, created the "RAID-5 (Parity)" volume using the RST OROM, and then booted to Windows. I am getting the "incompatible" message again, as seen below:
I have added an image below of what this volume looks like in Disk Management after it has been formatted and partitioned:
Below are the imgur links to the same images in case you can't view the ones I attached for some reason:
Anyone know how to make RST see this as a functional array? If I can format the RAID-5 volume with Disk Management, will it still function properly as a RAID-5 array? I'm afraid that if it's listed as "incompatible," if one of the drives fail I won't be able to rebuild/manage the array.
Thanks very much in advance, any help is greatly, greatly appreciated!