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Thread: Question for you Krupski or other puter guys knowlegable with raids

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    Guns Network Lifetime Member #2

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    Question for you Krupski or other puter guys knowlegable with raids

    I have 3 SATA HD's in one of my systems, one is a solid state C: on controller0 port0.
    Intel rapid storage technology enteprise program shows it Negotiated link rate at 6 GB/s

    I have two other drives NON SSD set up as a raid1 E: Exact same drives on the raid1 except for serial numbers of course, One of them on controller 0 port1 shows negotiated speed of also 6GB/s The second one on Controller 0 port3 shows only negotiated speed as 3 GB/s What's up with that? Shouldn't both drives on the raid1 be showing the same negotiated speed? I've never encountered this before or been aware of it with any of my raids, but I usually use raid0 until I wised up.

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    Senior Member Oswald Bastable's Avatar

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    Check your motherboard specs. It could be that some sata ports on the board have a max 6GB/s speed, others a max 3GB/s speed...it's not unusual. The fact that one is on port 1, the other on port 3 leads me to believe ports 0 - 2 are 6GB/s, later ports slower.

    Additionally, if you're using the intel software to manage your Raid, you have no raid. You need a dedicated raid daughter card for true raid. Software raid is dead if your OS dies, cannot be effectively recovered. A daughter board saves the raid info to an eeprom, meaning you can move the board and drives from computer to computer, install the drivers and the raid is recognized just as it was in its original setup. Plus, I would highly recommend a board that can accommodate enough drives for a decent sized raid 6 array, but certainly at least a raid 5...and having another same sized drive or two on hand for if one fails.

    Edited to add: I you wish to change that raid 1 port 3 drive to port 2, and you have no backup of the entire raid on another drive (say a portable) and that raid is software only, I would highly recommend you back up all info on that 2 drive raid 1 before changing that 2nd drive to port 2. Just a precaution I'd take, YMMV.
    Last edited by Oswald Bastable; 06-22-2021 at 08:14 PM.
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    Guns Network Lifetime Member #2

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    Quote Originally Posted by Oswald Bastable View Post
    Check your motherboard specs. It could be that some sata ports on the board have a max 6GB/s speed, others a max 3GB/s speed...it's not unusual. The fact that one is on port 1, the other on port 3 leads me to believe ports 0 - 2 are 6GB/s, later ports slower.

    Additionally, if you're using the intel software to manage your Raid, you have no raid. You need a dedicated raid daughter card for true raid. Software raid is dead if your OS dies, cannot be effectively recovered. A daughter board saves the raid info to an eeprom, meaning you can move the board and drives from computer to computer, install the drivers and the raid is recognized just as it was in its original setup. Plus, I would highly recommend a board that can accommodate enough drives for a decent sized raid 6 array, but certainly at least a raid 5...and having another same sized drive or two on hand for if one fails.

    Edited to add: I you wish to change that raid 1 port 3 drive to port 2, and you have no backup of the entire raid on another drive (say a portable) and that raid is software only, I would highly recommend you back up all info on that 2 drive raid 1 before changing that 2nd drive to port 2. Just a precaution I'd take, YMMV.
    Thanks Oswald! Nope not software raid, just the monitoring program in 7pro64 I think. Raid is hardware on a HP Z620 motherboard. I'll have to look at the tech specs, you might be right on just being the sata slot, but another question, are all SATA cables 6GB capable? I think I just grabbed one laying around in my massive collection of computer junk when I installed these drives quite a while ago. Shouldn't the raid just rebuild if I switched the one drive to another sata connection? I suppose It would be smarter to back it all up though.
    Last edited by 1 Patriot-of-many; 06-23-2021 at 07:43 AM.

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    Senior Member Oswald Bastable's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by 1 Patriot-of-many View Post
    Thanks Oswald! Nope not software raid, just the monitoring program in 7pro64. Raid is hardware on a HP Z620 motherboard. I'll have to look at the tech specs, you might be right on just being the sata slot, but another question, are all SATA cables 6GB capable? I think I just grabbed one laying around in my massive collection of computer junk when I installed these drives quite a while ago. Shouldn't the raid just rebuild if I switched the one drive to another sata connection? I suppose It would be smarter to back it all up though.
    Nope, a sata cable is a sata cable...it's either the sata channel or the drive itself that determines the speed, and you've already ruled out the drive.

    It might just rebuild, but my personal preference is to not take the chance, particularly given how cheap portable drives are these days...

    Edited to add...likely, being a mirrored setup, your raid 1 will probably just rebuild if you move the 2nd drive. But if you decide to do a backup first, and if you want quicker access to the data on that array, consider reconfiguring it as a raid 10 array. You will lose a bit of real estate due to the data being both mirrored and striped across the two drives, but it will speed up access to the data if you're using those drives in a way that better read speed will enhance whatever it is you are doing.

    It will not be more or less susceptible to drive failure than a raid 1 is...lose 1 drive, replace it and rebuild, but as with all raids lower than 6 with the required number of drives, if both fail simultaneously (or the 2nd before you can complete a rebuild with new drive)...the array is toast.
    Last edited by Oswald Bastable; 06-23-2021 at 11:24 AM.
    If we refuse to rule ourselves with reason, then we shall be ruled by our passions.

    He, Who Will Not Reason, Is a Bigot; He, Who Cannot, Is a Fool; and He, Who Dares Not, Is a Slave. -Sir William Drummond

    There are some things I will not abide within my sight!

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    Swap cables and see if anything changes. Also you might goggle for issues with that particular mobo and drive to see if anyone else has found the same issue. Also also 3gb a sec might not make any performance diff because the drive can't saturate a channel once the initial burst is over.
    "And how we burned in the camps later thinking, what would things have been like, if every security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain, whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family?"

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