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texasguy

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Server 2003 using the onboard raid controller for a 2 drive raid 1 for the OS and a intel SRCS16 hardware controller using raid 5 for data storage

I installed windows server 2003 standard edition to a pair of  80gig SATA drives (raid 1) using the  onboard raid on a Intel 7230NH-1 motherboard. That was no problem. The snag is I have an Intel SRCS16 hardware controller card  I am trying to use for a 4 drive (250gigs each)  raid 5 array for data storage that the O/S cant see. Both arrays show up during POST. Control-G gets me to the hardware raid and it assures me that all the drives are working, added to the array, initialized, and seen as a single logical drive. All the hardware shows up in device manager . I have to have this server up with 9 workstations on a yet to be installed network including a SonicWall TZ-170 by 10:00am CST Monday morning. Before this morning I had until June 12th to get er done.
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Jay_Jay70
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Hi texasguy,

i am struggling to understand why you want to hide this from windows?    is that all the issue is here at the moment?
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texasguy

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i am not trying to hide it. I can boot the O/S using the software raid 1 but the raid 5 array on the seperate Intel controller card is invisible, but not by choice. It cannot be seen as a logical drive in windows explorer. All I get is C:( the raid 1 drives) and D:( the DVD-RW). No E:( the logical raid 5 drive) .  It cannot be seen in the Computer management console in the Admin Tools. The RAID 5 drives are visible only to the raid software that that came with the Intel controller and during POST.
ah i c   the exact oppositte to what i was sayin ha!
I originally was going to use the hardware controller setup for RAID 5 for the O/S and the data storage on 1 array. Pressing F6 to load the drivers for the controller let me into a endless loop. i would select (s) to load the driver , windows 2003 would read the floppy and tell me the files I was trying to load was older that the built in Intel Raid drivers included in server 2003 and recommended not using the drivers on the floppy. Then i would load windows, and when the 1st reboot happened windows could no longer find the drives and started setup from the beginning.


I gave up on that because A) I couldnt get it to work and
                                      B) I found out on EE that loading the O/S on a Raid 5 would degrade the O/S performance and if a drive failed
                                          the O/S wouldnt be available until the array rebuilt.

SO ... I put 2 SATA drives on the motherboard and used those to install Windows 2003 Server.

And now face the RAID that refuses to cooperate.


mystery solved... left for a while, got something to eat, watched a little Tv. Came back and it set up like I knew it should from the start. Chalk this one up to too many hours this week combined with the frustration of getting the project moved up a week.
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Jay_Jay70
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Avatar of Jeffrey Kane - TechSoEasy
food is always a good answer!

:-)

Jeff
TechSoEasy