SATA RAID O plus third SATA HD

[2newbee4]

Is it possible to add a third SATA hard drive to my present configuration: SATA RAID O on the Intel ICH5R chipset using 2 Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 120GB Serial ATA hard drives....Is it ok to place a third SATA HD on the onboard Promise PDC20378 RAID controller or do I have to [or can I?] set up the Promise as a second RAID array with a pair SATA hard drives? By the way, to answer a question I saw in a previous post it is possible to have a third ATA hard drive [with no OS, of course] hooked up as a master on the primary IDE with the SATA RAID O on the Intel chipset.

 

[2newbee4]

Thank you very much for your reply. I need to figure out a way to hook it up without rebuilding my array. I know I could hook up a third hard drive via ATA but I really want to stick with SATA. I guess I did not clarify how my present array is configured. I am not using an independent controller card. I am using the Intel ICH5R chipset on my mainboard. The mainboard also has a Promise PDC20378 raid controller which i disabled in the BIOS. My questions are: can I hook up just one SATA hard drive to the Promise controller or do I have to hook up two hard drives and do some sort of raid configuration? can the promise controller work independently from the Intel controller and can they both be functional? there are only two SATA connections on each controller. How would one hook up the third hard drive to either controller? after all is said and done, do I still have to rebuild my original array even if I use the Promise controller which is currently disabled in my BIOS? If that is so, I will probably just opt for a good old fashioned ATA hard drive...

 

[2newbee4]

Excellent reply...thank you very much. Obviously I am not using the correct language and I admit I am a "nubie" so please have patience. Both the intel ICH5R and Promise PDC20376 RAID controllers are on the ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe mainboard. I do not have a seperate controller card plugged into a PCI slot. I currently have a RAID 0 array on the Intel ICH5R, with nothing on the Promise PDC20376. In the past, I had a third hard drive hooked up to the primary IDE slot. It worked quite well. What I want to do is hook up a single SATA hard drive to function as a seperate hard drive. The only open SATA ports I have left are on the PDC20376. Can I hook up a single SATA there? [or will the Promise only support another RAID array?]. I have tried contacting ASUS. They do not and never have responded to my E mails and their web support is absolutely horrible. [the directions they supply for updating the BIOS WILL NOT work with Windows XP, but that is another question for another forum]... I have learned everything I know from people like yourself. Thank you again and keep up the fantastic work...,

 

[2newbee4]

Once again thank you for your excellent reply. You hit the nail on the head. I will be using the third hard drive for storage and transfer of large video/dvd files. I wanted to use SATA rather than PATA not only for speed, but for state of the art....Interesting concern which controller loads first on the bios...i guess the boot sequence is overridden somewhere? Again, my incredible lack of knowledge is quite apparent...my latest research indicates the promise allows only RAID 0; RAID 1 and RAID 0+1. The intel on the otherhand looks as if it has a non RAID setting...I guess I could get 2 more SATA hard drives instead of just one and hook them up as a RAID 1 on the promise......drat my case only is set up for three hard drives. I would have to mount the fourth in a 3.5 bay.... good excuse for another case i guess....thanks again for your help...