XP Install RAID 0 with nvRaid

Does anyone know if it's at all possible to install XP on a RAID 0 setup?

I've built the array and it shows in the BIOS and nvRaid controller as a 467GB drive (2x250GB), but when I go to the XP install, it shows as two seperate drives.

I was under the impression that it would be showing as a large drive.

(Yes I have a floppy with the drivers on, pressed F6 at the appropriate time and installed both drivers (tried it by loading the top one first then the bottom and vice versa))

Here's a comprehensive article:
http://www.duxcw.com/digest/Howto/mb/abit/kx7-333/raid1.htm
They cover RAID 0 (striping) and RAID 1 (mirroring)...

Here's another focussed on using nvRAID:
http://www.aoaforums.com/frontpage/content/view/292/25/
Very good step-by-step article.


Cheers!

yup, already found them :)

I have been searching for the past hour or so, nothing so far has provided a solution.

Hmm, it shouldn't until you've created a logical drive with an assigned drive letter... You can try to create a logical drive and formatting it from the ADministrative Tools -> Computer Management dialog...

I'm not intimately familiar with nvRAID, but that's how it usually works in other scenarios...

I think you misunderstand, I only have two drive in, I have set them up as a RAID 0 array and I want to install the OS onto them. The XP install doesn't see them as one drive, but two which makes installing the OS on the RAID array impossible.

Silly me, quite right....

Sorry to ask an obvious question but, are you following step by step the directions from the nvRAID URL I listed above?

I've read through the directions myself and the procedure sounds complete... Are you able to configure your BIOS EXACTLY like that shown in the procedure?

Those ones and many others.



Exactly? No, because I have a different BIOS, but with similar enough settings (which is incidentally, the way the manual says to set it up).

Hmm, I'm running out of ideas...
It might be worthwhile to see if your BIOS version is the latest available. If not, an upgrade BIOS image might do the trick...

The only other thing I can think of is that XP won't see the disk as a single unit because it has not been formatted... When I've installed RAID on LINUX and XP, it's always been a matter of creating the physical drive from the disks and then formatting. The creation of the file system comes last...

A chicken and the egg problem...

I'm in the process of getting the BIOS update sorted now... Problem is an XP DOS boot disk doesn't want to see my SATA HDDs so I'm downloading a win98 one to use the RAM drive.

Good luck! I think it's come down to a BIOS issue...

I did it when I built my last system, but I'll be damned if I can remember how I did it. When I went to reinstall last time I had the same problem you were having and just said screw it and got rid of the raid0 entirely. Truth to tell I never noticed enough difference to care.

Well, the BIOS update did it, it took about 15 minutes to install windows once I'd formatted the disk.

Seems to be running pretty damned well at the moment. :)