A rather unique question about Motherboard RAID vs Software RAID

[AntVenom]

Heyo, first post here. So ello!

I scoured Google high and low for an answer to this question, but I only found one result after hours of searching, and it ultimately didn't have an answer.

I currently run 2 512GB SSD's & 2 3TB WD Red's in a Windows 7 Software RAID on a Sabertooth x79 Motherboard. I have become overly frustrated with how often it resyncs due to unexpected shut-downs. This isn't really news, or anything I didn't expect.

My issue is, if the system hangs on shutdown, and will not fully shut-down, and I have to hold the power button to shut it down, this will still trigger a resync across both software raid-1's.

If I were to migrate all of my data off these drives, format them, put them into Raid-1 with the motherboard, migrate the data back... would this kind of shut-down still trigger a resync (but obviously now through the bios)?

I'm just really tired of being forced to deal with 6 hours of incredibly sluggish performance of a raid that is performing a resync. It's time consuming, and it prevents me from doing my work, which requires around 50MBps write speeds while capturing videos.

If this issue would still arise, I may get a battery backup'ed RAID card...even though my system runs a UPS as it is. But a UPS just doesn't help for the issues I'm having (the forced shutdown resync issue)

Anyone have any insight?


EDIT: I tackled this issue from a different angle, and looked around to see if holding the power button is the same as cutting the power, which it is. So a better question is, is there any way to get a hung-shutdown to shut down, rather than having to hold the power button?

EDIT2: After thinking about the new way of tackling the issue, I looked for ways to prevent the hung shutdown, and found this nifty little registry edit
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-taking-forever-shut-try/
Which allows you to see what process is shutting down...so if it hangs, you'll know what it hangs on. May not be a perfect solution, but I REALLY don't want to buy a $400+ battery backed up raid controller just to fix this issue, especially when I'm fine with the speeds of my current RAID setup.

I guess actually, I don't need any help . I know I can't prevent Blue-Screen shutdowns that don't dump their data from causing a resync, but I'm not looking for a solution to that But I'll leave the thread here in case anyone winds up googling for the same issue, and gets no answers as I did . Hope I didn't waste anyone's time
 

[Thebman712]

Im really just wondering how no one has used that name yet, and avatar, i mean the real antvenom has like 2 mill subs dont he

[Flyguygamer]

Well hi @AntVenom

Looks like you go your issues solved.

Welcome to the forum!

[AntVenom]

Im really just wondering how no one has used that name yet, and avatar, i mean the real antvenom has like 2 mill subs dont he

Yes, I do. And I'll prove it. Check my channel description about 1 minute or so after this post

Edit: https://www.youtube.com/user/AntVenom/about

[Flyguygamer]

Yes, I do. And I'll prove it. Check my channel description about 1 minute or so after this post

Edit: https://www.youtube.com/user/AntVenom/about

 

Im really just wondering how no one has used that name yet, and avatar, i mean the real antvenom has like 2 mill subs dont he

He's legit. Kinda figured.

[AntVenom]

He's legit. Kinda figured.

Yeah I've seen you on twitter and whatnot, and I've seen your name in the credits of a few of the big LTT videos =D

[Flyguygamer]

Yeah I've seen you on twitter and whatnot, and I've seen your name in the credits of a few of the big LTT videos =D

Thanks. I was actually referring to you using my mc account for survival games back in the day.

[IdeaStormer]

@ArtVenom, which ports are you using for both RAID arrays? I know from experience the Non-Intel ports can cause issues (bluescreens, RAID resyncs, crashes).

 

The drivers for the second SATA controller (forget the name at the moment) usually is the cause of the issue, and I've yet to see a fix, not sure if its the mixed RAID levels or particular drives but it does exist, I disabled the second SATA controller and no more RAID resyncs or crashes.

[Flyguygamer]

@ArtVenom, which ports are you using for both RAID arrays? I know from experience the Non-Intel ports can cause issues (bluescreens, RAID resyncs, crashes).

 

The drivers for the second SATA controller (forget the name at the moment) usually is the cause of the issue, and I've yet to see a fix, not sure if its the mixed RAID levels or particular drives but it does exist, I disabled the second SATA controller and no more RAID resyncs or crashes.

Intel® X79 chipset : 

2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), brown

4 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s), black

Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10

Marvell® PCIe 9128 controller : 

2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), gray

ASMedia® ASM1061 controller : 

1 x Power eSATA 6Gb/s port(s), green

1 x eSATA 6Gb/s port(s), red

 

@AntVenom are you using the intel or marvell ports?

 

*edit* only the intel ports support raid so he is using the intel ports.

[Thebman712]

Yeah I've seen you on twitter and whatnot, and I've seen your name in the credits of a few of the big LTT videos =D

shit bruh, i remember a while back that you had a setup with raid arrays, but i didnt think that you would come here for help, but you seem to have fixed your issues so that works then

[AntVenom]

@ArtVenom, which ports are you using for both RAID arrays? I know from experience the Non-Intel ports can cause issues (bluescreens, RAID resyncs, crashes).

 

The drivers for the second SATA controller (forget the name at the moment) usually is the cause of the issue, and I've yet to see a fix, not sure if its the mixed RAID levels or particular drives but it does exist, I disabled the second SATA controller and no more RAID resyncs or crashes.

SSD's plugged into the top, brown 6Gbps ports, and Mechanical drives plugged into the black slots right below it. Not using the Marvell controller.

[AntVenom]

shit bruh, i remember a while back that you had a setup with raid arrays, but i didnt think that you would come here for help, but you seem to have fixed your issues so that works then

It's not so much fixed, but if it breaks again, the system shutdown registry edit will tell me exactly what it hung on, so I can further seek a resolution.

 

 

 

Intel® X79 chipset : 

2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), brown

4 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s), black

Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10

Marvell® PCIe 9128 controller : 

2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), gray

ASMedia® ASM1061 controller : 

1 x Power eSATA 6Gb/s port(s), green

1 x eSATA 6Gb/s port(s), red

 

@AntVenom are you using the intel or marvell ports?

 

*edit* only the intel ports support raid so he is using the intel ports.

 

As stated in the post, I am using a SOFTWARE Windows 7 raid, not a hardware raid. I'm doing this because when I initially picked up a second drive, I HATED the idea of reinstalling windows w/ everything that I had, which is something that I now, sort of regret. But oh well. It'd take a battery backed up raid controller to be worth the effort for me.

[lutewan]

ure legit huh ? nice B)

[Flyguygamer]

It's not so much fixed, but if it breaks again, the system shutdown registry edit will tell me exactly what it hung on, so I can further seek a resolution.

 

 

 

As stated in the post, I am using a SOFTWARE Windows 7 raid, not a hardware raid.

Off topic, but do you plan to hang out here often?

[AntVenom]

Off topic, but do you plan to hang out here often?

Probably from time to time. I used to hang out on the Pure Pwnage forum WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY back in the day for their hardware / software section, but it died YEARS ago. This seems like a great community, so why not.

But I might rename myself or something if people only ask antvenom related questions, rather than treating me like just another person on the forum (which I'd rather be treated as )

[IdeaStormer]

SSD's plugged into the top, brown 6Gbps ports, and Mechanical drives plugged into the black slots right below it. Not using the Marvell controller.

 

Then try disabling the Marvel controller and removing those drivers.

[Flyguygamer]

Probably from time to time. I used to hang out on the Pure Pwnage forum WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY back in the day for their hardware / software section, but it died YEARS ago. This seems like a great community, so why not.

But I might rename myself or something if people only ask antvenom related questions, rather than treating me like just another person on the forum (which I'd rather be treated as )

Yeah, I don't think that will happen much. This is a huge hardware and software community and do less of that with people who are big online.

[Thebman712]

It's not so much fixed, but if it breaks again, the system shutdown registry edit will tell me exactly what it hung on, so I can further seek a resolution.

 

 

As stated in the post, I am using a SOFTWARE Windows 7 raid, not a hardware raid. I'm doing this because when I initially picked up a second drive, I HATED the idea of reinstalling windows w/ everything that I had, which is something that I now, sort of regret. But oh well. It'd take a battery backed up raid controller to be worth the effort for me.

have you tried using hardware raid, that will be closer related to cutting power off, and should have faster and better sync.

While i imagine that you do t have time to reinstal eindows just to make it into hardware raid, you could move to a raid setup using an external nas (network attached storage ).

[Flyguygamer]

have you tried using hardware raid, that will be closer related to cutting power off, and should have faster and better sync.

While i imagine that you do t have time to reinstal eindows just to make it into hardware raid, you could move to a raid setup using an external nas (network attached storage ).

Even build one cheap and just re use his current drives and get the full flexibility of a dedicated storage system.

[Thebman712]

Even build one cheap and just re use his current drives and get the full flexibility of a dedicated storage system.

yeah, maybe get a new ssd for his rig, then run everything of a nas, this would also allow for easy expantion in the future

[AntVenom]

Then try disabling the Marvel controller and removing those drivers.

I really fail to see how this has anything to do with anything. The system doesn't always hang (very rarely actually), I'm not in a hardware RAID, and I'm not even using those ports.

 

have you tried using hardware raid, that will be closer related to cutting power off, and should have faster and better sync.

While i imagine that you do t have time to reinstal eindows just to make it into hardware raid, you could move to a raid setup using an external nas (network attached storage ).

I've considered a NAS, but idk, doesn't seem THAT worth it to me. At the end of every year, I back up every rendered video I have onto external storage and let it sit in a safe.

As far as having to re-install, I'm gonna do something that will involve NOT having to re-install, but rather, create an image copy of the drives before wiping them, then putting the image back after raid mode is enabled and the raid is set up.

[Flyguygamer]

yeah, maybe get a new ssd for his rig, then run everything of a nas, this would also allow for easy expantion in the future

I would say a pair of 1tb 850 pro's in raid 1 or a pair of 512gb 850 pro's in raid 0 backed up daily to the nas.

[IdeaStormer]

I really fail to see how this has anything to do with anything. The system doesn't always hang (very rarely actually), I'm not in a hardware RAID, and I'm not even using those ports.

 

Long live your RAID resyncs then.

[AntVenom]

I'm not looking to really change my HD setup, at all. I'm happy with the 400-500ish MBps I get off my SSD's, and the 130ish I get off the HDD's. Performance is not the issue, nor is undergoing a major hardware change.

[Flyguygamer]

Long live your RAID resyncs then.

 

It might be my inexperience with hardware raid but I also fail to see how the issue is caused by sata ports that are not in use,