Vaio VPC-Z1 (HDD option): Custom RAID Thoughts

Sure i will

No need to copy/hack BIOS.

 

Hmm it's rather strange.

After I saw the RAID Config screen and setup a RAID 0 array, the screen never appears again after each reboot. I suspect it's configurated as "Hide" in the BIOS. Need to hack the BIOS to reveal the option.

 

You're not screwing with me are you?

Did the second drive appear as one of the 4 drives on the main BIOS? What's your BIOS version?

 

Do the HDD optioned Z's not have ANY internal SSD's at all? Sorry for my ignorance, they don't offer those here. So the HDD version Z the bay for the SSD's is just empty??

 

Yup they don't come with any SSDs, just one HDD. Yes the bay is empty, one observation I made recently was that the SSD caddy can be taken out, so there's some space to run cables around there if the need arises...

 

Ahhhhh ok, I guess if I had read your OP I wouldn't be so confused

 

Pics





Intel X25-M G2 160GB in RAID 0 - write back cache DISABLED



Intel X25-M G2 160GB in RAID 0 - write back cache ENABLED

 

Ahh, I could have saved so much typing

Same BIOS and first BIOS menu, the second drive doesn't show up. So the first time you connected the drive you can set the RAID options, after that they disappeared? What size are your disk stripes?

Looks like the 4K read / writes are pretty similar to a single X25-M...

 

Yes, the RAID options didn't show up afterwards.

Strip size 128KB.

Single X25-M benchmark. 4k read/write speeds decrease in RAID 0.



Sony Quad SSD RAID (256GB) benchmark.

 

Edit: It doesn't make sense that the RAID setup options disappear after using it the first time. Something's fishy...

 

I think I have an explanation:

One of the X25-M was previously used in a RAID 0 setup in my SSD Z. I paired it with a brand new X25-M when I installed them into my HDD Z. I think the Intel RAID Config noticed the discrepancy (One RAID drive, one non-RAID drive) and showed the setup screen to ask me what to do with them. This happened just once because the RAID 0 array was properly setup after the first time and the default "SHOW RAID Config" hidden option in the BIOS is set to "Hide".

 

That's strange, I don't have the "Show RAID config" option, even in the advanced menu (see pics).

I'll try to duplicate all this this weekend. As long as the RAID0 volume can be built, I can replace one RAID drive with a non-RAID one. Let's see if the option shows up then.

 

I don't think the Hide/Show RAID Config option is available in BIOS. The Intel RAID Configuration setup screen should show up if there's an incorrect RAID setup.

FYI one of the X25-M was part of a RAID 0 array on the SSD Z.

 

That's the other thing I'm wondering about. From the point of view of the BIOS (i.e. pre-OS), I'm not sure it recognizes, based on the contents of the disk, whether it belongs to the same RAID volume. It could be that there's -data written by the controller. In any case, once the RAID volume is built, I can try and duplicate the scenario. I'm also not understanding why the RAID options will show up just once .

 

I can confirm that RAID menu appears IF and ONLY IF Sony's own Dual/Tripple/Quad SSD is connected.

If any other drive is connected (to either SATA port 0 or SATA port 1) it will not show up.

I assume Sony did modify the Intel Option ROM (and something is telling me that their fiddling with it is the source of those ACPI bugs) - they removed anything other than RAID0 and they probably added some detection routine so BIOS shows RAID option only if it can detect Sony's SSD.

 

Sounds like you have a tool to alter the real drive serial number?

 

Judging by his previous posts I think psyq has a sony quad ssd.

 

I'm trying to figure out how psyq321 confirmed what he did. We can't replace a Sony SSD with a non-Sony one because of the proprietary connector, and since he doesn't have a HDD-optioned Z, I'm thinking a possibility is that he changed the hard drive serial number.

There could be other reasons explaining why the RAID options don't show up, e.g. the second drive doesn't appear on the main boot menu. This wouldn't be a problem with the Sony SSDs because they all do. But psyq321 sounded sure... and besides I'm interested in something that changes serial numbers

 

he added a fifth drive to the dvd-bay. You could probably just unplug all but one of the connectors from the raid SSD and leave the dvd bay hdd plugged in to confirm what he is stating.

 

Nope, if you unplug all but one, then the drive in the DVD drive won't show up as one of the four in the main menu.

Btw, I think it may be Bad To Change Drive Serial, so I'm going to stop talking about it

 

The hard disks shown on the main menu are those attached to SATA-0,2,3,4. SATA-1 is the slimSATA one that is either not used (HDD version) or connected to the DVD/BR drive (SSD version).

psyq321 mentioned that "If any other drive is connected (to either SATA port 0 or SATA port 1) it will not show up.". Interestingly mine has no such problem - Sony Quad SSD to SATA-0,2,3,4 and Intel X25-M to SATA-1 and the Intel Option ROM shows up fine.

I am really keen to try tranplanting the SSD BIOS to the HDD one

 

That would be interesting, please try. Do they both have the same version?

 

Okay so I messed up and burnt up everything

Kidding...

After backing up the drive, I set up the cable. I spliced another power cable onto a SATA extension cable, so the setup looks like this:



The same BIOS screens as before, no RAID options:





Booting into Windows, Intel Storage suggests I do something about the new drive:


And the new drive shows up as a separate drive:


Intel Rapid Storage screens, where the RAID0 volume is setup:


Default stripe size is 16KB, I get to keep data on the first disk:


Volume creation confirmed, with data migration taking place:


After migration completed (about 30mins), status of drive:


Not very impressive stats, I may change the stripe size next:


Intel's SSD toolkit no longer does its magic :


I then replaced the first drive with a HDD, and booted up. I see:


So, OzBimmer is right, the controller detects that a drive was previously part of a RAID volume, and provides the user the chance to fix a broken volume. The RAID BIOS options otherwise do not appear.

Now I'm going to experiment with an electric saw and acrylic sheet, as well as some foam...

I'm writing this on my old MBP, I miss my Z It's currently open with its guts spilled all over the place...

 

This is normal for software RAID. They write a raid marker to the disk (usually near the end of the drive), and when you boot, the post-BIOS firmware checks each drive for the drive markers, and tries to assemble the RAIDs based on what they are.
If you want a drive to not appear as a RAID drive, you have to clear that RAID marker.


Given that this is the case, it might be possible to create a RAID 1, 01 or 5 despite Sony having dumbed down the setup screen, by doing it from a OS that gives you easier control (like Linux).
If anyone adventurous wants to try, e.g. by booting from a liveCD with dmraid support, here are the commands (you'll lose what's on the drives, of course):

Raid 1:
dmraid -f isw -C raid1 --type 1 --disk "/dev/sda /dev/sdb"

Raid 01:
dmraid -f isw -C raid01 --type 01 --disk "/dev/sda /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd"

Raid 5:
dmraid -f isw -C raid5 --type 5 --disk "/dev/sda /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd"

 

Thanks, arth1. Very useful indeed. Will try soon

 

Forgot to mention ealier: the default stripe size is 16KB, I think the options start from 4 (?), and end at 128.


Workplace set up:


Initial sizing, originally thought of using strips of plastic to build the caddy...


Then decided there's no point and used one big chunk stuck between two X25-Ms:


The cables are slightly too long: if the top one is shorter by 1 inch, and the bottom by about 4, it wouldn't be so tight. Looks like I need some form of customization for the cables...

Anybody done FPC before? Any good contacts?

 

Ok I got a quote for a custom FPC from one of the suppliers I spammed with a sketch of the cables. It costs


(drum roll)


$1000 for a lot of 5, and $1500 for tooling.

Maybe I need to specify that they should not be made out of platinum...


(later...)

I figured out an alternative: PCB. Much cheaper, still works. Kind of like the Photofast solution.

 

So I found a place (Pad2Pad) that lets people design their own PCBs, then manufacture them. I can pass them the components for assembly, e.g. the SATA plugs and receptacles, so I don't have to do surface-mount soldering Pad2Pad also has a sister company that does metal milling, perhaps that might be useful in the future...

Here's the PCB plot so far, I think for the first iteration I'll just do the board without the connectors. After that iteration the adjustments should become clear. Because of the space shortage along the x-axis, I don't think the drives can be arranged with their lengths along the x-axis...

 

I found a good site that searches for components across multiple suppliers: Octopart - Electronic Parts, Electronic Components, Datasheets

Using that I bought the SATA receptacles (female) and plugs (male), as well as the slimline SATA plug. The remaining components arrived today:



I'll have to change some of the PCB traces, including adding a missing slimline SATA power pad Apparently I can't read datasheets properly no more. Hopefully I can submit the revised version of the PCB for fabrication before the end of the week...

 

Amazing research skill, TofuTurkey

the websites could come in handy.

 

You're too kind

If this proves to be a viable way of building PCBs, I think I'll go back to working on hardware RAID next, using Silicon Image chips on custom boards...

 

Custom PCB arrived today The kind folks at Pad2pad gave me three boards even though I paid for just one, so if you're from Pad2pad and reading this, thanks!

Here's the revised design:



Here's the actual board:



And the underside of the board, which is where the 2nd SSD will be mounted:



Almost all the protrusions from the connectors fit in the PCB holes, all but one. Apparently I assumed that things are symmetrical, when one side's larger than the other Not too bad, I can widen the hole easily.

Anyway, here's the picture of the connectors on the board and one of the SSDs:



Since I still need to use the laptop, I'll have to wait till this long weekend to check if it fits well within the laptop. Hopefully no further adjustments are needed

 

Hmm, looks like a bit more adjustments are necessary...

Here's the side view of the PCB+1SSD on the left, and the HDD on the right. The left's about half the size of the right, so two bare SSDs can indeed fit:



To accommodate the SSD on the bottom, the apparently useless 'screw-hole' circled in red will have to be removed:



A shot of the PCB + 1SSD, together with the connectors. The top connector's position needs to be shifted to the left a little, together with other minor adjustments to the PCB boundaries.

 

looks great

 

Thanks

I'm wondering if I should add a duplicate headphone jack on the right side. I'm going to be making that cover on the right side (preventing dust etc. from making its way into the laptop innards), so I can probably drill a hole in that to accommodate the jack. But I'll most likely have to solder the wires onto the board hosting the current jack, and that does not sound very appealing to me...

I'm also thinking about getting SandForce SSDs. However, my X-25M is staring at me as I'm typing this so I'm feeling kind of guilty... Perhaps closer to the end of the year (e.g. Thanksgiving) when I'll Amazon/eBay the Intels.

 

haha... actually, having the headphone jack on the side would be great but having them on the front isn't too bad.
I also own X-25m 160gb in my drawer that lived inside of VGNZ690 for a while.. now with Z1290x, I don't really need it but since I paid the premium I want to use it in somewhere....

 

You don't use your laptop on your lap, I take it?

 

always on desk

although, I am using DARKFIELD based Mouse..

 

Alright, after a break (had to refinance home, which means I have to clean up , and had to get a new car ), I got the next version of the PCB soldered:



Even though I checked for possible shorts using a multimeter, I tested using my desktop and an old G1 X-25M 80G:



And it works, both connectors



So the next step is to put my G2 drives on it, and install. Thinking of using putty / plasticine to hold it in place, or maybe foam