linux w/ via SATA Raid 0?

M

Myrandex

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 4, 2002
Messages
439
I am running the Abit KV7 (and contrary to the [H] review, mine is beautiful in all aspects in relation to stability etc.) and I run 2 Maxtor 60GB 7200RPM hard drives in raid off the southbridge SATA Raid interface (using 2 Serillel convertors). I was wondering how to install linux to the Raid 0 array, as I want to try to learn linux, and I have tried to install linux before to a Raid 0 array, and I ended up erasing all data on my computer (and I am trying to give it another shot now). Whoever writes anything must remember I am a total n00b when it comes to linux, tell me to compile a driver into the kernal and make my own CD with that and it prolly won't happen by my hands. Thanks a lot for anything though,
Jason
 
I'm in the exact same boat as you. Trying to install Red Hat 9... I tried making a driver cd using a download from Via Arena (www.viaarena.com) which has VIA drivers for the 8237 Southbridge for Red Hat 7.2. I have no idea it i'll even work with 9, and I don't know if I made it right. It's a *.img file, and I burned it in raw data mode to a cd.

Anyone help?
 
Where did you find that on there? I saw the driver (the .tar.gz file; which I would have no idea how to install), but I coudln't find the .img or .iso. I would try it out on my new setup, but I would at least want to make sure that it *should* work as I just finished formatting and installing last night (and I forgot to make the partition size smaller than the total array capacity, so I will have to resize it, bleh).
Jason
 
Im having the same problem with the system in my sig. The problem is, no linux distros that I have tried come with my RAID driver (Fast Track 378). I've tried Mandrake, Redhat, Gentoo and SUSE. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
It didn't work with a CD... haven't tried it with a floppy. The .gz is just a compressed file... look inside for the .img file, as well as a PDF with instructions. But it's designed for 7.2 and probably doesn't work with 9...
 
Alright I figured that .gz thing out and opened up the adobe doc. I am considering trying it out on 9. I am upgrading to an Athlon64 3200+ w/ MSI FSR motherboard (same raid setup) so this project shall continue, Athlon64 style. As for satumine, isn't the fasttrack a promise chipset? I hear good things about Raid 0 in linux with promise cards, I bet there is a solution out there. Maybe email promise and see what they think, because according to everyone I ahve talked to, they have said to use promise because they are supposedly supported really well.
Jason
p.s. I'm gonna go try to find a Via email address to email about this.
 
Some words of advice. Don't attempt to dual boot off of your raid array. Windows and Linux don't exactly see eye to eye when it comes to raid (especially with promise controllers). If you just install one or the other, it should all work. I would highly suggest a distro that has a 2.6 kernel as there are native promose sata drivers (as well as many other sata drivers)
 
Thanks for the info ZeroX! I downloaded Mandrake 10 RC2, and it is working perfectly! I have a dual boot setup on the system in my sig, and have not had any problems yet. I'll post here if anything happens.
 
Saturnine, where did you download the Mandrake 10RC2? Was that an AMD64 version? I downloaded 9.2, and I will work with installing it soon.
Jason
 
Mandrake 10 is available for almost every platform. 9.2 would not work for me, as my SATA drivers were not included. You can find 10 beta at: http://www.mandrakelinux.com/ I had to use a old 300 something mb hard drive to use as the /boot partition to store the drivers to boot off the SATA RAID array. Otherwise, everything would install right, but it would not boot. There are a few bugs in Mandrake 10, so use it at your own risk. So far everything is still up and running.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top