EX38-DS4 SATA HDD installation question

[JVM]

Re: EX38-DS4 SATA HDD installation question

The description in the download of iaStor.inf is Setup Information.
The description in the download of iaStor.sys is System file.
There is also iaAHCI.inf that is Setup Information.

I know you guys say to use iaStor.inf and that is supposed to be the RAID driver, but I just wanted to make sure.

I am not doing anything until I get Windows 7, and then will setup RAID 0.

I did a search and found this for iaStor.inf

Windows* INF File for Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager Driver</pre>

[JVM]

Re: EX38-DS4 SATA HDD installation question

One last question on that x64 floppy download, do I extract all the files to a floppy and then select that iaStor.inf when Load Driver appears in Windows 7?

[Acebmxer]

Re: EX38-DS4 SATA HDD installation question

correct.

Good luck. Make sure after you install drivers and get everything setup run some hdd benchmarks like HD Tune to see how well it works. If your 3 hdds are identical drives 1 stand alone and 2 in raid 0 you will be able to see the difference in speed you will be getting or do a bench test on them before you set the raid. Cant wait to see your results.

[JVM]

Re: EX38-DS4 SATA HDD installation question

correct.

Good luck. Make sure after you install drivers and get everything setup run some hdd benchmarks like HD Tune to see how well it works. If your 3 hdds are identical drives 1 stand alone and 2 in raid 0 you will be able to see the difference in speed you will be getting or do a bench test on them before you set the raid. Cant wait to see your results.

Interesting you said that when I just downloaded HD Tune Pro yesterday! It is just the trial version for 15 days but I like it and will eventually buy it. Yes, I will eventually post benchmarks. Since the drives are 500GB platter and manufacturer is Samsung, my main concern is reliability! 500GB platter is new technology, and Samsung is...well...Samsung is Samsung.

[JVM]

Re: EX38-DS4 SATA HDD installation question

Since I read so many reports of RAID 0 not being fault tolerant and not being very useful for "standard" desktop usage as well as needing a hardware controller, I am not sure I want to go with RAID 0. And that brings me to the following questions:

1. If I decided to just go with AHCI (no RAID) would I install that iaAHCI.inf driver during OS installation?

2. Intel suggests installing RAID driver even if not initially going with RAID so you can do RAID in the future. If I did go that route without initially doing RAID but wanting AHCI, would that iaStor.inf driver be all I need? In other words, would that driver still allow me to enable AHCI even though not doing RAID?

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: EX38-DS4 SATA HDD installation question

RAID 0 is great for desktop's, provided you have a backup plan. Failures are rare actually, and normally only caused by poor overclock attempts. Of course disk failures are all defendant on your disks though. I have used it for years, and never killed an array anyway except major overclock attempts/

Yes, if you decide to go AHCI choose the iaAHCI instead while you are installing.

I am not sure about your last question, if it would even work to install the RAID Driver let alone the rest of your question. Can you please link me to where you see Intel suggests that?

[JVM]

Re: EX38-DS4 SATA HDD installation question

RAID 0 is great for desktop's, provided you have a backup plan. Failures are rare actually, and normally only caused by poor overclock attempts. Of course disk failures are all defendant on your disks though. I have used it for years, and never killed an array anyway except major overclock attempts/

Yes, if you decide to go AHCI choose the iaAHCI instead while you are installing.

I am not sure about your last question, if it would even work to install the RAID Driver let alone the rest of your question. Can you please link me to where you see Intel suggests that?

I am not concerned about a backup plan as I would have one. I would have to find that Intel page again, but believe me, I did read that from Intel. I also read this from Intel:

"This technique, known as "striping", is the fastest of all of the RAID levels, especially for reading and writing large sequential files. Real world tasks where RAID 0 can be of particular benefit include loading large files into image editing applications, saving large movie files in a video editing application, or creating CD or DVD images with a CD/DVD authoring package."

Those are not of real interest to me, the ones Intel says would benefit from RAID 0.

Are you using a hardware controller for RAID or the onboard MB controller? The hardware controller, a good one, is supposed to be a real improvement over what is in the MB.

Some people report no speed difference with RAID 0 and some say it has made a difference. Storage Review and AnandTech have written articles claiming RAID 0 is of no real benefit for "standard" desktop users. Most articles I read state pretty much what Intel does above--specifically mentioning those tasks as what RAID 0 would be used for.

There is an improvement in F5 BIOS that I believe is for ICH9R but F5 BIOS does something wacky to my fan headers. Now, I could probably get by with the wacky fan headers, but the question is if I should.

[JVM]

Re: EX38-DS4 SATA HDD installation question

Here is another interesting tidbit I found from Intel:

Loading RAID Driver at OS Installation

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: EX38-DS4 SATA HDD installation question

Yes hardware RAID Card is much faster, but cost MUCH more than onboard RAID

That last statement applies to XP only, and they do mean load the AHCI Driver if using AHCI

[JVM]

Re: EX38-DS4 SATA HDD installation question

AHCI can be enabled if you like, it will allow Safe removal of hard drives but other than that not much to gain really. NCQ will be used anyway in your OS.

The yellow set is the Intel controller (Top of the Integrated Peripherals Sections of the BIOS) and should have your OS on port SATA2_0 and your CD/DVD Drives on the last port/ports SATA2_4/5

The Purple ports are Gigabyte/J.Micon controller (Middle of the Integrated Peripherals Sections of the BIOS) and can be used for additional storage, CD/DVD Devices, or additional RAID Array if you like. I do not suggest you run your OS From those ports.

I do suggest you update your BIOS to F6c >>

http://europe.giga-byte.com/FileList/BIOS/motherboard_bios_ga-ex38-ds4_f6c.exe

Here is a guide on the suggested method of updating, Qflash, please do not use @BIOS >>

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/bios-flashing-how-qflash-guide-27576/

If you do want to use AHCI, windows 7 and vista come with a default AHCI driver so no driver cd is needed for the install. But you can install the latest Intel AHCI Driver during the install if you like >>>
*64-bit Floppy Configuration Utility

Be sure you choose the"iaAHCI.inf" when you are loading your driver.


You load this at the "Choose Drive" Screen, you should see a load driver button. It may tell you to load a driver if you do not see your disk, but you will anyway due to the default driver. Just go ahead and load the new driver then. You can load this driver direct from USB Ports if you like

Are you sure it's that iaAHCI.inf driver for non-RAID but only AHCI? I read this from Intel:

6.1b Systems Configured for AHCI Mode:

1. On the Start menu:
1a. For Windows* XP or later operating systems,
select Control Panel.
2. Open the 'System' applet (you may first
have to select 'Switch to Classic View').
3. Select the 'Hardware' tab in Windows* XP or Windows*
Server 2003.
4. Select the 'Device Manager' button.
5. Expand the 'IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers' entry.
6. Right-click on Intel(R) SATA AHCI Controller.
7. Select 'Properties'.
8. Select the 'Driver' tab.
9. Select the 'Driver Details' button.
10. If the 'iaStor.sys' file is displayed, the installation
was successful.

http://downloadmirror.intel.com/17882/eng/readme.txt

For your link to the driver you suggested it says for RAID:

[JVM]

Re: EX38-DS4 SATA HDD installation question

Can I get an answer to the above? When installing Windows 7 and wanting the latest driver for AHCI, not RAID, which driver do I install during OS installation for AHCI: the iaStor.sys as shown above? Your iaAHCI.inf seems to be for RAID. On the other hand, perhaps installing after OS installation to update driver is another option in Windows 7 since Microsoft installs an AHCI driver by default (if BIOS set to AHCI), but my question is about updating that driver to the latest version either during or after OS installation.