Hello All,I am trying to set up a computer for a co-worker. Their last computer suffered a total hard drive failure with a complete loss of data so they would like the new computer to have a hardware Raid 1 configuration for a little more security of data. The stats are as follows...Motherboard M4A785TD-V EVOCPU Phenom II X4 955 AMDMemory 4 GB Mushkin 1600 MhZHard Drives 2- WD 500 GB SataVideo Asus 5750 ATiOS Windows 7 64 Bit Pro OEMBios Version 0410At first when I installed everything, I thought all was well. I gave them the computer and a few days later, they complained that it started to freeze on them. I got it back, updated the Bios and reformatted and reinstalled. I started to see problems with it locking up. I became concerned about hardware issues and took it to a shop where it was determined that the motherboard was faulty.I went out and purchased a replacement board, same board and tried to reinstall. Need to get this box up and running and can't wait weeks for an RMA right now. Still having issues.Took out one hard drive and one stick of memory, installed as single drive and tested for a day with no problems or lockups. Switched memory sticks, tested for a day with no issues. Installed second memory stick and tested for a day with no problems either.Switched hard drives and repeated above procedure with memory, again, no problems evident.Tried to set it up with Raid one by first selecting Sata Configuration, Raid in the Bios.Control-F to set up the disks as a Raid 1 array.Disks recognized as one drive in Windows setup, put the Asus cd in and browsed to the Drivers/Raid/x64 folder and loaded the inf file.Setup hangs during install. Phoned Asus Support and got a different number to call, made the international long distance call once and got routed to notebook support. Called back and went through the first level support, was transferred to the next level and told that all staff were busy and they would call me back within the hour....never got a call back.Has anyone had this problem? Or better yet, can someone point me in the right direction?ChuckCYXU

Don't waste your time with RAID, it just adds complexity and possible points of failure. What your co-worker needs is a good backup strategy. I recommend having 2 or more backups. Set the drives up as individual drives and use the second for backup storage. Once you've got Windows loaded you can install a backup utility such as Cobian. Setup a backup schedule to copy the contents of the 1st drive to the 2nd drive. Then set your friend up with an online backup such as Carbonite or Mozy Home. Voila.

Don't waste your time with RAID, it just adds complexity and possible points of failure. What your co-worker needs is a good backup strategy. I recommend having 2 or more backups. Set the drives up as individual drives and use the second for backup storage. Once you've got Windows loaded you can install a backup utility such as Cobian. Setup a backup schedule to copy the contents of the 1st drive to the 2nd drive. Then set your friend up with an online backup such as Carbonite or Mozy Home. Voila.

Yeah,...I've read a lot of your posts....Going with Raid 1, anybody else have any ideas?ChuckCYXU

Nevermind.

laugh.gif K. Sorry for trying to help. I won't bother next time.

I am not debating the value of your comments and for a power user that knows best how to look after their equipment, what you laid out is a wise course of action. But we are talking about someone who thinks NTFS is a version of Need for Speed. Raid 1 was chosen to make the backups automatically without any extra fuss on the user's end.Cheers,ChuckCYXU

RAID 1 is not a good backup strategy, as it does not create backups. After seeing countless array failures, and unrecoverable drives, I do not recommend using RAID, certainly not of the software variety as you intend upon doing (motherboard integrated RAID is not hardware).

RAID 1 is not a good backup strategy, as it does not create backups. After seeing countless array failures, and unrecoverable drives, I do not recommend using RAID, certainly not of the software variety as you intend upon doing (motherboard integrated RAID is not hardware).

Pardon my poor choice of words. I meant redundancy, not backup. I am less concerned with human actions deleting a file as I am with hardware failure.If you have no solutions to the Raid 1 situation that I originally posted then thank you for your input but it does not address the current situation. :( ChuckCYXU

The purpose of a backup is to prevent a worst case scenario of data loss, regardless of its cause. RAID 1 only helps with hardware failure. As to your problem, you likely have a piece of hardware that is faulty, as your installation method and configuration sound just fine. I'd suggest running a memory and hard drive test. If you have the time, Google and download "Hiren's boot CD". Burn a copy of that, boot from it and use the HD testing tool "MHDD", best HD test on the planet. Memtest can also be found on the disk.

Is the raid driver on your Asus CD the latest version? Other than that I can't see that your doing anything wrong in trying to set up your raid array.

Success!!It turns out that one of the apps that comes with the motherboard is not compatible with Raid. The Asus boards have an app called Express Gate which allows you to start your computer and browse the internet without booting to the OS. This is a two part app. You enable it in the bios and then install the app in the OS. Since I had it enabled during my previous testing, it caused grief trying to install the OS.I did manage to get the OS installed with it enabled but had freezes and lockups afterwards. I found an obscure post is one far reaching forum about it not being compatible with Raid. There is nothing regarding this limitation in the manual though. I uninstalled the app and disabled it in the bios and gave the computer to my 11 year old son telling his to make it sweat to see if he could cause it to break.If it can survive a full day with an 11 year old without a hitch, I'd say we have to sorted out.Thanks to all who replied.ChuckCYXU

Interesting, thanks for letting us know what the cause of the problem was. I'll be sure not to install that software on any machine I come across with that feature.