Ultra 100 RAID0 versus Ultra66 RAID0

[Sciascia]

Should I notice a considerable difference between these two. I just bought a couple of new Ultra100 HD and want to mod one of the FT100 cards to make a new RAID. I have a FT66 and was just wondering if there is anything I should look out for. I can capture full rez Huff...sometimes, I figure that this should help some. Any tips? What is the best way to install this? I heard that using the supllied install disc (with the HD's) is a no-no, but that was the only way I could get them recognized last time. Also will Win98SE recognize a 80G HD (2 40G)?

Thanks

[Dr Mordrid]

A large drive may not be recognized on the systems controller due to int13h issues in that mainboards BIOS, but the Promise BIOS is used for drives attached to their cards. The lastest versions of the FT BIOS supports drives up to 128 gigs.

The way to do it is to set the first two drives as MASTER's and mount them one on the end of each of the controllers cables. Any extra drives should be set as SLAVE's and mounted to the inboard connector on the cable.

Next you enter the FT BIOS and define the array. Reboot to DOS, FDISK to a single partition, reboot to DOS again and format the array.

DO NOT BE FOOLED by FDISK misreporting the size of the array. This is a cosmetic problem ONLY. Windows will recognize the full array if you FDISK'ed and formatted it properly.

Dr. Mordrid



[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 30 April 2001).]

[Sciascia]

God! I wish I would have read your post before now. I just got them up about an hour ago. I remember what you said months ago about using FDISK and formatting. So I guess that you did help in a way.... The only problem I had was the jumper settings, the book and the paper leaflet had two different diagrams. I also couldn't remember if they were both master or what. I looked at my FT66 setup and I don't know how the thing worked. The jumpers were something that wasn't even in the book. Oh well.

As for the Ultra100 to FT100 mod, it went without a hitch. If it is done in the right sequence than there are no problems. So ofor less than $350 USD I got myself a 80G FT100 RAID0 array. I was able to capture full rez HUFF for the first time without a drop! Those files are HUGE.

What is the best configuration for the array, ie. PCI utilization, cache?

The only problem I have is when restarting it doesn't always find the array. Any ideas? If I do a power down there isn't a problem.