I know this is annoying (RAID on 7811FX)

hmm... I don't know... would it be possible that there is a difference in the hard drive bays? like 1st being faster? or more like normal and second kinda being retarded(not trying to offend your second stomach my friend... -to 7811fx)

 

I dont know if this helps... My when mine was on RAID. I switched to AHCI than tried to boot and it didnt work, which I already knew. I did this out of curiosity if this would corrupt... what I mean is

RAID0 HARD DRIVES -> IN bios CHANGE TO AHCI and BOOT -> IN bios CHANGE TO RAID and boot -> no harm

 

Hmm.. Ok. Well, hell. Guess I know what I'm doing for the next couple hours. I'm gonna RAID these biatches. *opens owners manual* I got this under control. Recommended stripe size, Dook? I was thinkin 64..

 

I found your laptop E-wrked... lmao

link

 

I recommend 128. It's a perfect balance between performance and file size. 256 is decent(I have my desktop RAID set at 256), but the GW only allows up to 128, which is honestly faster.

 

Can I do 96? I guess I just need to go look eh? I can always try again. And I see you and mista have some type of graphing program..is that a Vista based tool? And do you know of a good source for information on RAID? I feel like a freakin newbie. I prefer the trial and error method..but to save time I may learn from someone elses trial and error this time. Lemme go ahead and get started on this.. I'll bbl. And please, lemme know if you have any useful info. Thank you

 

its called hdtune. google it easy to find, easy to use HDD benchhmarking program ... ok heres the link no need ot buy just use free version..

 

Went into every directory. Nothing of interest unless I don't know what I'm looking at ... always possible.

 

You obviously missed the Homosexual Mexican Nazi Eskimo Scat pr0n directory.

And yes, mista nailed it. HDTune is teh ossim.

 

Wow..not sure what the deal is here. But my computer keeps hanging up a bit here and there. Must be my crappy CPU

I almost forgot I had a beer infront of me! Its getting warm! Alcohol abuse is not cool.

Syn: Just trying to help.. I noticed the 2 BIOSes released today on the website were on the ftp 2 days ago..so maybe there will be advanced notice on the new 7811 BIOS

 

funny you should mention this stuff...because im sitting here getting ready to set mine up for raid as we speak....

to answer the main question on everyones mind...if you start in ide and want to switch to ahci mode under vista..is it possible. answer: yes! i already did it. takes a few steps but yes, it can be done.

they say it can be done with xp, but so far...mine hasn't worked yet... but i haven't given up yet either.

strip sizing...been doing a little checking on that as well...seems the bigger the stipes people used, they would periodically experience sound problems & delays. (only what i heard and read, not proven by me) sitting around 16 "seems" to be a good fit. has the highest average read speed and pretty **** close to the highest average write speed. out performs most of the others in about 85 percent of the test 2/4/8/16/32/64/128/256/512/1024. we only get up to 128 and 128 was not looking to good at all! i use to use 32, but now im going with 16. (personal preference)

 

Ok. Don't say I didn't warn you.

 

Hey, I saw that but thought it was strictly for 6860FX

As to RAID, to which I claim no expertise and consider a black art. I'm always amazed when it works considering how little I know about it. GollyGee.

But I have always used smaller stripes in the 32 ish range and they have worked well. Just saying the smaller stripe does work for us dummies.

Now that I'm smarter (listening to the Dookster) my next one will have a larger stripe. I'm lookin' forward to 128. But if it flops around, trying smaller is not the end of the world. However I doubt the stripe size is causing the problem ... speaking from a position of total ignorance. (thinking of running for Congress)

 

32 and 64 can do well, however the problem lies in the fact that filesizes are steadily climbing. Hell, even dll files are getting larger. A large file (lets say a 600mb movie) being pushed through a 16k stripe size causes the file to have to break up into MANY pieces to split between the drives, which, as you can imagine, causes a nice slowdown. On the other hand too big of a stripe size and the file goes straight to one drive, basically defeating the purpose of the RAID. The idea is to find a good middle ground and my testing over the years has pretty much led me to 128kb. This isnt to say that 64(or possibly even 32) is going to be catastrophic(its not), but I would strongly advise against going much lower. Again, this is just one mans opinion and certainly open for debate.

 

you know me...im going to test both...*LOL*
16 and 128

against what i use to what the "experts" say to what you say to what we all want to know. will my game hangup when im going for that kill!...LMAO!

 

Is there a quick way find the median or average (what ever) size of the files on a system? I can't think of one right now.

 

I couldn't install half life 2 on 128.. told me that I didnt have any space in my hard drive whn i had 300+.... so I had to donload from steam

 

Found this on another site(not sure how much truth there is to it, but it seems to be logical):

"If you go into XP disk defragmenter and click on Analyze for your array, it should return a value of the average file size.

Take this number, and divide it by 2 x # of harddrives in the array, then round DOWN to the nearest available stripe size you can choose.

Let's assume that the average file size on your harddrive is 512Kb.
Divide that by a factor of the above calculated number. In my case, I have 4 harddrives in my array, so I would choose 8.

So, 512Kb divided by 8 = 64K (the optimal stripe size for my average files).

Let's say you had 2 harddrives in the array, then using the above formula, you would choose 128K stripe size.

This is contingent on whether you are just storing data and seldom using it or are actively using the data. If just storing Data, then put the operating system on it's own harddrive, not on the array. OS=small stripe size, data=big stripe size in your case."

 

Ha, I knew I had seen avg file size somewhere. Maybe chkdsk too but can't remember.

Thanks Dook.

Edit: Info saved for future RAID decisions.

 

Anytime, my friend. Anytime.

 

PS: Service Plan Avi has me laughing again.

 

i got 15,492 files in system32 which are under 128kb...dizzzzzzzzam! what is windows thinking...lol! and 286 files above 128kb....

 

say dook, what's a good number to run at on hd tune?

edit: i was looking at mistargill's picture of his run and was wondering what he used for that run.

 

128.......................................

 

I use 8mb block size and accurate for my runs. It takes a bit longer, but provides the most accurate results.

 

Hmm.. Went with 128 for stripe size.. err on the side of caution. Had to clean install vista. The restore cd seemed to take too long.

Now can I partition my RAID? ;P

 

Yeap! I have mine split into Vista 64bit OS/Vista 32bit OS(for work) and a "Data" partition.

 

Yep, it's one HD now for all practical purposes.

 

128 stripe
benchmark was set to accurate?
block size was set to 8MB?

 

Roger that.

 

dook: when you ran your test, what settings did you use for the test?

 

8mb block size and accurate.

 

Ok..think I did it right. I'm not sure what the hell this means. But I did the 8MB and Accurate. Lemme know what the heck this is Dook?

 

john, you got the full version..I'll have to get that. Anyhow.. Nice scores? *shrugs* they're similar..may as well compliment each other seeing as I dont know any better.

EDIT: john, I guess its normal not to have the temp of the hard drives available?

 

yours are looking better! what speed are the drives?

mine are 5400 rpms 320gig's

 

7200rpm 160s.. scorpio blacks

 

yeah, i think so

 

dont know why i didn't think of this sooner, but im pretty sure we can mode the raid file to change the stripe size as well.... just a thought.

 

Likely.. You let me know how that works out for ya. I gotta get some rest. Anyhow, take it ez man.

 

aight, have a good one.

 

It should not be this difficult nor this convoluted to update the BIOS on a computer.

Has anyone found any more stability with this BIOS, completely excepting the RAID support to warrant risking the flash on a 7811?

It would also be very helpful if someone who did this and considered it "easy" could write up a separate "how-to" post complete with a link to download the BIOS image at, the files/type that need to be typed into any boot files, etc., etc. To find all of the requisite information, I had to go from page 40 here back to page 28, scanning every post to finally find a download link to the actual BIOS itself.

 

your going to have to flash your bios at some point to get raid, unless you're one of the lucky ones who returned his or hers and got one of the new bios'd ones

 

John: I know that. I was asking if RAID is the only thing this BIOS provides over the stock one, or if anyone else has noticed any stability changes where there were none before. If there aren't, I'm content to stick with the stock BIOS.

But the thread spelunking required to find "the way" - and there still is no set *one infalliable way* - to do this is probably going to get a lot of laptops bricked, which is why I suggested a new thread with step-by-step directions (and download links) up top and easy to find.

 

that's just it....you cant brick them....seems if you leave your boot device to boot usb hdd, then even it it crashes...pop in a flash bios disk and that's it. (did you read where i found that out?)

as for this bios thing...yep...we are grasping.... apparently we need to have an original bios file first. original meaning....downloaded from gateway more than likely. (speculation of course) and if that we're to happen, then really no need for detailed instructions. they would come in the offical release bios file.

 

hey e-wrecked where did u pick up your Core 2 "Extreme" x9100?

 

Ordered it from an online retailer. And john, lemme know if you have a good way of making a backup BIOS. Should I just use the usb flash and allow it to backup my current BIOS? Does anyone know the correct size of the BIOS? Are we sure its 1MB?

 

the bios is 1028kb if im not mistaken.
you can use winphlash for the backup, but try using it in advanced mode if it's not already there.
we tried in dos mode, but it doesn't seem to want to back up. just sits there doing nothing.
make sure you set you bios boot options to boot usb floppy first, usb hdd second cdrom 3rd and your hdd's last. (explained early in this thread)

 

Going for my third laptop.. wish me luck