Mobo LGA 775 with IDE Raid function

[laxma]

I saw MSI 915 Combo, it has 3 IDE slots. 1 is the normal IDE, the other two is RAID. The thing is, say if the raid function is disabled via bios, can the two IDE Raid slots function as a normal IDE (non-raid). Can I plug optical drive in that slot or another Hard drive without RAID function? So can I have up to 6 IDE devices installed?....

 

[4W4K3]

I imagine so, as my computer (when i disable SATA/RAID one IDE channels) will still run regular IDE devices just fine.

6 HD's is alot, it physically could be done, but i don't know if your board will run 6HD's. i'd check. that's alot of freaking power lol.

 

[Praetor]

1 is the normal IDE, the other two is RAID

Are you sure its not the other way (which is more conventional)

The thing is, say if the raid function is disabled via bios, can the two IDE Raid slots function as a normal IDE (non-raid). Can I plug optical drive in that slot or another Hard drive without RAID function? So can I have up to 6 IDE devices installed?....

I think you've got the IDE and RAID IDE controllers mixed up. Its normal to have two IDE controllers and then an additional one or two RAID IDE controllers. As for using the RAID contollers as simple IDE controllers, yes you can

6 HD's is alot

Come to SCSI land

 

[laxma]

If you see the 2 yellow slots on the bottom right. it reads IDE2 and IDE3 (not readable in this pics). so they're IDE Raid slots right?
I know I'm not familiar with the RAID concept, well, I just wanna use it for adding more drives.

By the way, maybe not 6 harddrives but more like DVD and CD burner

 

[Praetor]

Yeah that board is a bit unconventional but not unheard of Just treat it as you would a normal IDE connector You only have to mess with the RAID BIOS if you dont want to use it as JBOD (just a bunch of drives) but rather to take advantage of RAID features

 

[Cromewell]

actually that board design is pretty standard for 915P chipsets, all of the ASUS boards do the same because the 915/925 only as 1 ide channel, and 4-8 sata, so many manufacturers put a raid controller on as to not force someone to use sata

 

[Praetor]

Ah i see... shows how much i pay attention to the 9X5s ... does this mean that boards with the ICH5R/ICH6R have two independent RAID controllers?

 

[Cromewell]

on my board I think I have 2 raid options (haven't actually tried to setup a raid on it so I'm not entirely sure yet), 1 is in the bios the other I have to load Intels 8212 raid controller software in windows then reboot to configure

 

[Praetor]

1 is in the bios the other I have to load Intels 8212 raid controller software in windows then reboot to configure

Ah ok that makes sense The Intel softRAID is that Matrix RAID thing aint it?

 

[Cromewell]

loading the intel 'softraid' enables an another bios step for the 8212 controller which then lets you configure your raid options for it during its post steps...or that is my understanding of it anyway