RAID card boot issues

[un4givn85]

Hey guys,

I have been having a problem with my Plex server having some boot issues.
Most of the time when it reboots, for reasons unknown at this point, even to Windows Event Viewer, but that is another problem, it hangs on initializing the RAID card I have in there to run the RAID 1 for the Plex items.

System specs:
i7 2600k stock
GTX 1050ti stock

ASRock z77 extreme6
Samsung 256gb 850 evo for OS
Toshiba 2tb for other storage
2x WD Red 4tb for Plex storage in RAID 1
some random crappy 2.5" 1tb for scratch purposes for video conversions

The RAID card in question is like this one, but has two eSATA ports available out the back as well, I don't know if this is the same brand, I will have to look when I get home today.
https://www.amazon.com/IO-Crest-Controller-Non-Raid-SI-PEX40064/dp/B00AZ9T3OU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1525874662&sr=8-4&keywords=PCIe+raid+card

Any and all help is much appreciated.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Those cheap cards are known for having problems.

 

Id get rid of the card and use software raid in windows. Those raid cards are just bad.

[un4givn85]

Are there any decent hardware raid cards? Is it just the cheapies that suck?

[un4givn85]

Here is the one I've got, I managed to find it.

https://www.amazon.com/Syba-SD-PEX40054-Port-SATA-Hyper/dp/B009LIPHNC/ref=as_li_ss_tl?tag=skrfbestreviews-20&ascsubtag=129578412-151-1256259490.1525876354&SubscriptionId=AKIAJO7E5OLQ67NVPFZA

[Electronics Wizardy]

13 minutes ago, un4givn85 said:

Are there any decent hardware raid cards? Is it just the cheapies that suck?

Yea the cheapies suck.

 

Why do you want hardware raid? id just plug the drives into your motherboard and use windows storage spaces. Its better for this use case and included in windows.

 

 

[un4givn85]

I have never been able to get Storage Spaces to work, only the "raid" options from disk management, and that has been flaky for me in the past.

I chose hardware with an external card, as hardware via the mobo lost my OS once, lol.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, un4givn85 said:

I have never been able to get Storage Spaces to work, only the "raid" options from disk management, and that has been flaky for me in the past.

I chose hardware with an external card, as hardware via the mobo lost my OS once, lol.

Storage spaces should work here, Give it anouther try. and its pretty darn stable and works well. You probably just aren't setting up soemthing right.

 

This isn't a hardware raid card, its using a fake raid solution that needs software support and is just bad in general.

 

 

[un4givn85]

What would you suggest doing to transfer the 2+ tb of data from the current raid 1 to a storage space?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, un4givn85 said:

What would you suggest doing to transfer the 2+ tb of data from the current raid 1 to a storage space?

Id just destroy the array and restore backups onto the storage spaces array. Do you have backups? You want backups.

 

 

[un4givn85]

I don't as of now, I can tho.

That was kind of the point of the raid 1.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, un4givn85 said:

I don't as of now, I can tho.

That was kind of the point of the raid 1.

raid 1 isn't a backup, and Id probably suggest just using a single hdd and they using the second one as a backup. 

 

Raid is for uptime, you can keep working with a disk failure. Backups are for keeping data safe, so if you delete a file, the filesystem gets corrupted, the whole system is destroyed, or something else happens you still have data.

[un4givn85]

Well, being it's a Plex server and I host it for my family of 5 and 10 or so other users, uptime is important, but seeing as how this raid card is causing problems, I may have to consider a different setup.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, un4givn85 said:

Well, being it's a Plex server and I host it for my family of 5 and 10 or so other users, uptime is important, but seeing as how this raid card is causing problems, I may have to consider a different setup.

Here is what id do.

 

Get an external drive for backup. You can find 4tbs for about 80-100 now. Use a backup program to keep all the data on your computer sate

 

Remove the raid card and plug the drives into the board.

 

Setup the drives in storage spaces.

 

Copy the data back.

[un4givn85]

Sounds good, I'll give it a go.

Thanks for the help.