Raid and Ahci on the same controller?

[skullbringer]

Hey Guys,
i just got my 2 hdds i wanted to setup as a raid 0. When i switch my sata controller in the bios to raid, i can configure the raid 0, but then my system wont load windows from my ahci ssd. When i switch back to ahci in the bios, i can load windows but the raid array is gone. Is it even possible to have a raid array and a ahci boot ssd running on the same controller ?

 

[tinytomlogan]

no mate you can only have one or the other. You should be able to set the single drive as JBOD and boot from it though.

 

[skullbringer]

I have Win8 and WindowsBootManager does not accept JBOD. Thanks for the quick reply anyways.
I have now plugged my boot ssd into the AsMedia controller set to AHCI and my hdds to the Intel controller set to RAID. Boot times are a bit slower (20 sec) but my rig is almost always on anyways.

 

[tinytomlogan]

Is the raid mechanical?

 

[skullbringer]

yes, two Seagate Barracudas.
And the RAID 0 works perfectly fine with almost double the performance of a single drive.

 

[skullbringer]

Results --> http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?p=626598#post626598

 

[S_I_N]

actually you can do it. Hate to step over tom on this. Set bios to ACHI. Boot into windows. Go to control panel / system and security / administrative tools / create and format hard drive partitions. And create your raid there with the 2 mechanical drives thru windows raid. In some testing I did a year or so ago windows raid is a tad bit faster. Plus you dont have the bios raid holding up your boot time.

 

[skullbringer]

In the control panel I could set up the drives as a Raid 0 (Stripe), but the capacity of the volume to select would not have been more then 1.9 TB, so one drive... really curious...

 

[S_I_N]

then short stroke it (better performance anyways) and create 2 partitions on the raid. I didnt see what size drives you had so I didnt know.

Basically short stroking hdds allows for you to use the outer section of the drive (fastest part normally 10% of capicity) first. then use the rest for another partition.

 

[skullbringer]

I am perfectly fine with the way it is now. Speeds of 350 MB/s write and read is perfect for my purposes. The boot time only increased by 2 seconds using the AsMedia controller, that is really not a problem for me. Also I have about 1 TB data on it already anyways. So reformating while maintaining the data would be pretty difficult.

 

[S_I_N]

thats cool then but most would recommend your boot ssd to be on the chipset controller, as some 3rd party controllers dont always play nice with ssd's

 

[skullbringer]

Thanks anyways!