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    99 Problems with External RAID 5 on V1S...

    Discussion in 'Asus' started by Felonius, Apr 1, 2009.

  1. Felonius

    Felonius Notebook Enthusiast

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    The Setup:
    I've had a V1S for probably about a year and a half. I do everything on it as it's my main computer now. However, I recently saw that I was running out of space on the 160GB HDD; I had to move all my CD rips to an external LaCie because VBR V0 and FLAC rips are massive in the context of the drive. I do a lot of Photoshop and Flash and RAW files take up a lot of space but working off an external (via USB) is laggy so I keep them on the internal drive. But it's come to the point where I'm looking to either get a larger HDD, or an external array that connects via eSATA. I opted for the latter.

    The Deal:
    In searching for an external eSATA DAS, I spotted the Cavalry CADA SA4. It was a great price for the amount of storage, so without doing much research, I ordered it.

    The Fumble:
    So the array comes in yesterday. It came with a PCI-e eSATA card, which obviously isn't usable on a laptop. But I figured that since the V1S has an eSATA port, it should obviously have a controller. In Device Manager, under storage Devices, the JMicron JMB36X driver is present. I didn't know what the was for a long time, but upon doing some research, I found that it's the eSATA and RAID controller. So I thought I was set.

    The Rub:
    So I find out that my array isn't recognizable to my system. Disk Management sees 3 of the 4 drives but they need to be initialized. I tried installing the JMicron RAID configurer, but it doesn't look like it even installs (the registry values point to a path that doesn't exist). Though the eSATA port does infact work, so the JMB36X driver is working atleast, just not the RAID.

    The Follow: I've searched online and info on hardware assisted RAID arrays via eSATA are scant to say the least. It seems like a very specific scenario that never comes up. As a parallel, I've been reading up on Desktop systems with the same JMicron controller and they all start with enabling it in the BIOS and some mention of the JMicron RAID BIOS. I swear I've been through the BIOS a dozen times and have not seen any options to enable RAID. Is it me? Should it be there? Maybe I have an old version of the BIOS.

    The End (?):At this point, I'm at a loss. If I can't enable it in the BIOS, where do I go from there? And what are my other options? Someone mentioned something about IMSM, which I know zero about. I'm guessing it's a Intel's solution that should work with the JMicron chip? Or am I just boned? [As an aside: I did install the eSATA card that came with the kit on my roommate's Mac Pro and the array worked flawlessly, so atleast I know I didn't get a dud.]

    If anyone would know, it'd be someone here; So if you have any insight into this, please post, otherwise my roommate just got a new RAID array...
     
    Felonius, Apr 1, 2009
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  2. Felonius

    Felonius Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hate to bump my own thread so soon, but I'm really stuck here.

    Can anyone tell me if they even have RAID options in their BIOS? And what versions they are? I just need to somewhere to start from.
     
    Felonius, Apr 1, 2009
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