Basically and briefly the System Configuration:
* Intel S775 Core 2 Q6600 Quad-Core CPU
* Gigabyte P35C-DS3R Motherboard
* DDR2 4GB Geil 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 Kit
* three x 320GB Western Digital YS 7200rpm 16M SATA HDDs
* ASUS 8800GTS 512M PCIe Video Card (latest technology I believe)
* 24" Samsung 245B LCD Monitor (BEAUTIFUL)
* Antec P182 Performance One Case
* Thermaltake 750 Watt Toughpower ATX Power Supply
and I have a RAID 5 question because the shop where I purchased (yes they assembled and tested it) is closed on Sunday so I am looking for an answer here the the question.
I have 3 x 320 gb HDDs in Raid 5 configuration and I just ran the 3DMark 06 bench test program scoring 10884 so it can't be too bad a problem, but I have an icon bottom right of screen and if I hover over it it says "A Raid volume is degraded because of missing hard drives"
If I double click and open the Intel Matrix Storage Console all looks OK I see 3 HDDs on ports 0, 1 & 2 (IN ADVANCE MODE) and if I view in basic mode I only see 2 green HDD icons/ pictures. Is that normal?
Here's some pictures. Any thoughts? Help
BTW I am using my old PC to post here, thank goodness I bought a new one and didn't upgrade
It could be an erroneus message. On the other hand it could be a failing drive that hasn't quite died yet.
The best step is probably going to be to take it into the shop and have them ID the drive that is causing the issue, then swap it with another identical drive to see if it clears it up.
It's not uncommon for a new hard drive to die in the first few months of use.... so given it's a new system this seems the most likely source of the problem.
You're right though, you would expect a little more info than 'system functioning normally' from the storage manager
Foo wrote: ..... not uncommon for a new hard drive to die in the first few months of use.... so given it's a new system this seems the most likely source of the problem.
Just reporting back after two trips to the shop and some hours there on both occasions, luckily only 5 minutes away. Guess I was right to shop locally after all.
Staff were most helpful and considerate given it is Christmas Eve here and everyone has better things to do. Yes you could say they should be since they built the rig, but at least I did have someone to blame when it went belly up on me
By the way, to all those that read here Festive Seasons Wishes or Merry Christmas and Happy New Yearfor us oldies
The fix, well they deleted the RAID structure and rebuilt and reinstalled Vista (64). Still don't understand why the error was created. A glitch we will call it.
Just got home and turned off power management (on the new OS install) so it doesn't turn off on me like last time this thing called volume initialization was in progress.
All seems well, importantly looks good on that huge 24" Samsung 245B
Hours of software to install soon. Thanks Foo & creep (and I will stop bolding in replies)
Funny you mention that AmIdYfReAk. You might be a prize winner here
At the shop this morning they realized a couple of things...
One the DVD burner was in the wrong SATA slot!!!
and the young staff that actually built the rig (weren't there today) chose the default drivers Vista offered on all the install, they even forgot to connect power and HDD activity LEDs I wondered why I missed them.
AmIdYfReAk wrote:i know this sounds Stupid, But Can you unplug the SATA-DVD-RW Drive and See if the error pop's up?
I do wonder but not I am game at the moment to try that again.
I suspect the fix was installing the latest MB bios, and the latest Intel Matrix Storage Console software (now version 7.8) the original was 7.5 (don't know date) BEFORE creating the RAID config.
AmIdYfReAk wrote:W00t great to hear mang, enjoy the new Rig
Thanks AmIdYfReAk. I am not doing too bad, probably got back to work on 2 Jan
PC = Grrr, had to take it back to the shop.
Bloody thing always locked up towards the end of the RAID build, got to the stage it wasn't even going to boot...
I was able to load up my UT3 for a lookie while it was building the raid anyway so I got to look at it in all its splendor.
I took it back two days ago and visited the patient this morning. They have tried everything apparently and are now in the process of swapping mother boards ) P35C-DS3R (
They thought it was the (64) Vista doing it, but loaded up XP and it is doing the same thing, locking up XP at 99%.
Luckily I have my original PC here to play with. Might get my newie in a day or two
Hey just to catch up here, said I would... and a question at the end
The shop got 3 new HDDs in and fitted them and all is working OK - HOORAY
I guess one was stuffed although they said they used some sort of software to check 'em out before initial install.
Perhaps it was a batch thing? I don't know.
New rig is great. Lots of time spent installing stuff and 64 bit Vista seems OK (so far). One or two driver issues but no big deal.
Love the monitor. I loaded up TF2 the other day and it has a whole new complexion. The Crysis demo too is something else.
System specs/configuration:
* Intel S775 Core 2 Q6600 Quad-Core CPU
* Gigabyte P35C-DS3R Motherboard
* DDR2 4GB Geil 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 Kit
* 3x 320GB Western Digital YS 7200rpm 16M SATA HDDs
* 1 x 320GB Western Digital YS 7200rpm 16M SATA HDD for data and backups
* ASUS 8800GTS 512M PCIe Video Card
* 24" Samsung 245B LCD Monitor (BEAUTIFUL)
* Antec P182 Performance One Case
* Antec Neo Power 650 Watt ATX Power Supply Ver 2.2 EPS 12V
* Utopia M Multimedia 101 Keyboard PS2 Black
* Utopia Optical Mouse PS2 Black
* Pioneer DVD Multi Rewriter SATA 18 Dual layer Black
* Logitech Speakers and Headset
* MSI Video Webcam
No OC - Don't plan to. 3DMark results - 11643.
Touch wood everything is going nicely.
OK to the question at hand.
Defrag. Anyone have thoughts either way on this?
See I have heard some (even wouldbe computer experts) say it is NOT required anymore. Me, well I've always regularly (weekly/fortnightly) defragged my system.
My question is, is it OK to defrag RAID 5 drives? It is just a software thing isn't it?
Edit had Thermaltake 750 Watt in spec when actually went for the Antec
Last edited by Whiskey 7 on Sat Jan 19, 2008 7:11 am, edited 2 times in total.
NTFS (The filesystem used by Windows NT systems such as XP and Vista) fragments less than the old FAT filesystems. Because of this, it will very rarely get fragmented to the point that the system becomes unstable/sluggish. This is why you'll hear "experts" say it's no longer necessary.
However, all filesystems will fragment to some degree, and an occasional defrag can keep large apps (like games) running smoother. Weekly is way overkill. Once every 6 months is probably overkill, unless you install/uninstall software and create/add/delete large-ish files frequently.
It'll never be a bad idea to delete IE's temp files and defrag just before or just after (un)installing anything major.
In device manager, under DVD/CDROM drives, right-click the drive, go to the details tab. There should be an odd looking string there that has the model number in it.
My Pioneer has it... but it's older so maybe they stopped putting it in at some point.
I wondered why I missed them.
