Starting Over

[Wolfeymole]

In the meantime Broken you could look at the recent addition to my sig entitled "Excellent Tutorials" and see the Raid section.

[GaRHaR]

Hi Broken,

What model alienware computer do you have? This will let us figure out what motherboard you have and if it is nvidia or via (most likely nvidia) which means that will hold your motherboard drivers and most likely raid drivers also.

You don't need drivers for your optical drives (cd/dvd), CPU or floppy drive

In regards to your raid issue...I'd probably stay away from creating a raid, and then partitioning it into 2 seperate drives...it kind of defeats the purpose of having a raid0.

If you know the inside of a computer at all, i'd suggest using 1 of your raptor drives as a windows stand alone drive...with just windows on it...then the other 3 drives as a raid 0 - this will give you most accessibiliy, stability and speed as well.

[broken89]

Well i read the RAID tutorial and i think i know what im doing wrong. Well i got the RAID drivers but i dont know which ones to put on a floppy. When i got on a windows PC i will post the Read me and the files. But right now im kinda stuck because i dont know anyone with a floppy drive at the moment.

[broken89]

Here is the read me that comes with the RAID drivers or what ever

Im guessing that i havfe to do stem 1?

Do i just coppy all the files in the ZIP file and then put them on a floppy?

EDIT: I have an X2 7525 DUAL XEON MB Motherboard
(i wish i would of just built my oooown PC "sigh"





__________________________________________
__________________________________________
Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Controller OS Driver Installation
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Table of Contents
-----------------

1) Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000/XP Fresh Installation.

2) Adding the SiI RAID controller to an existing Windows NT installation.

3) Adding the SiI RAID controller to an existing Windows 2000/XP installation.

4) Verifying controller installation under Windows NT, 2000 and XP.

5) Update SiI RAID driver on Windows NT 4.0 with existing Silicon Image driver.

6) Update SiI RAID driver on Windows 2000/XP with existing Silicon Image driver.

7) Windows 98SE and Windows ME Fresh Installation Instructions.

8) First time installing SiI RAID driver with existing Windows 98SE/ME.

9) Update SiI RAID driver on Windows 98SE/ME with existing Silicon Image driver.



--------------------------------------------------------
1) Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000/XP Fresh Installation
--------------------------------------------------------
Follow the instructions in this section if you are performing a new
installation of Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000/XP, and you wish to
boot from a device attached to the SiI 3114 controller.


1. Power off the system. Connect the hard drives to the SiI 3114
controller and insert the controller into a PCI slot. Power up
the system.

2. Put your Windows NT/2000/XP CD into the CD-ROM/DVD drive, or
the NT/2000/XP boot diskette #1 in the floppy drive if your
system cannot boot from the CD.

3. Press F6 for third party SCSI or driver installation at the beginning
of text mode installation. Press 's' when setup asks if you want to
specify an additional device, and insert the diskette labeled
'Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Driver Installation Disk' .

Press 'Enter' and select
'Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Controller'

4. Press 'Enter' to continue on with text mode setup.

5. Follow the setup instructions to select your choice for
partition and file system.

6. After setup examines your disks, it will copy files to
Windows 2000 installation folders and restart the system.
The setup program will continue and finish the installation
after restart.

7. Wait until Windows 2000 finishes installing devices, regional
settings, networking settings, components, and final set of
tasks, reboot the system if it is required.

8. See instructions in section 4 to verify controller was installed
correctly.



---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2) Adding the SiI RAID controller to an existing Windows NT 4.0 installation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow the instructions in this section to install the Silicon Image
SiI 3114 driver on a system already running Windows NT 4.0.


1. Power off the system. Connect the hard drives to the SiI 3114
controller and insert the controller into a PCI slot. Power up
the system.

2. After OS boots up, Click 'Start'

3. Under 'Settings', click 'Control Panel'.

4. Select 'SCSI Adapters' from the Control Panel.

5. Select the 'Drivers' tab and click 'Add'.

6. Click 'Have Disk'.

7. Insert the diskette labeled ' Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid
Driver Installation Disk' into A: and press 'Enter'.

8. Choose 'Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Controller' and
click 'OK'.

9. See instructions in section 4 to verify controller was installed
correctly.



---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3)Adding the SiI RAID controller to an existing Windows 2000/XP installation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow the instructions in this section to install the Silicon Image
SiI 3114 driver on a system already running Windows 2000.


1. Power off the system. Connect the hard drives to the SiI 3114
controller and insert the controller into a PCI slot. Power up
the system.

2. During OS boot up, Windows 2000 will display the
'Found New Hardware Wizard'. Click 'Next'.

3. Select 'Search for a suitable driver for my device
(Recommended)' and Click 'Next'.

4. Under 'Optional search locations' insure that 'Floppy disk drives'
is checked.

5. Insert the diskette labeled ' Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Driver
Installation Disk' into A: and click 'Next'.

6. When the wizard indicates that it found a driver for the device click
'Next'.

7. If the 'Digital Signature Not Found' dialog appears, click 'Yes' to
continue installing the driver.

8. The wizard will now copy the required files to the system and start the
driver. After starting the driver the wizard will display a completion
dialog, click 'Finish' to exit the wizard.

9. See instructions in section 4 to verify controller was installed
correctly.



------------------------------------------------------------------
4) Verifying controller installation under Windows NT, 2000 and XP
------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow the instructions in this section to verify that the controller was
installed correctly.

For Windows 2000/XP

1. Right click on 'My Computer' icon, select 'Properties',
left click on 'Hardware' tab, and then on 'Device Manager'
button.

2. Double click on 'SCSI and RAID Controllers', If there is no
yellow '! ' or ' ? ' in front of
'Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Controller', the driver
is started correctly.

3. To view information about the devices attached to the controller, use the SiICfg
Utility and click on the device from the list.


For Windows NT 4.0

1. Double click on 'My Computer' icon, select 'Control Panel', click
on 'SCSI Adapters' icon, 'Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid
Controller' should displayed correctly under 'Device' and 'Driver' tab.

2. To view information about the devices attached to the controller, use the SiICfg
Utility and click on the device from the list.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5) Update SiI RAID driver on Windows NT 4.0 with existing Silicon Image driver
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. After OS boots up, Click 'Start'

2. Under 'Settings', click 'Control Panel'.

3. Select 'SCSI Adapters' from the Control Panel.

4. Select the 'Drivers' tab and click 'Add'.

5. Click 'Have Disk'.

6. Insert the diskette labeled 'Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Driver
Installation Disk' into A: and press 'Enter'.

7. Choose 'Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Controller' and
click 'OK'.

8. Refer to instructions in section 4 to verify controller was installed
correctly.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6) Update SiI RAID driver on Windows 2000/XP with existing Silicon Image driver
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the Silicon Image controller already plugged in and the driver already
installed. Follow the instructions to update SiI RAID driver.


1. Right click on 'My Computer' and select 'Properties'. Under the 'System Properties'
section, click on 'Hardware' tab, and then on 'Device Manager'
click 'SCSI and RAID Controller' and right click 'Silicon Image Ultra-133 Medley
ATA Raid Controller'.

2. Click 'Driver' ,'Update Driver' and select 'Search for a suitable driver for my
device[Recommended]'. Insert the driver diskette into floppy drive.
Click 'Next' and complete the driver installation.

3. System will go through the enumeration process and install the driver.
At the end of the process, click 'Yes' to reboot your system when necessary.

4. See instructions in section 4 to verify controller was installed
correctly.


--------------------------------------------------------------
7) Windows 98SE and Windows ME Fresh Installation Instructions
--------------------------------------------------------------
Follow the instructions in this section if you are performing a new
installation of Windows 98SE/ME and you wish to boot from a device attached
to the SiI 3114 controller.

You may start up the Windows 98SE/ME installation from CD. If either your
Windows 98SE/ME CD or CD-ROM drive is not bootable, your can start up with
floppy diskettes.

1. Power off the system. Connect the hard drives to the SiI RAID
controller and insert the controller into a PCI slot. Power up
the system.

2. Put your Windows 98SE/ME CD into the CD-ROM/DVD drive, and
the Windows 98SE/ME boot diskette in the floppy drive if your
system cannot boot from the CD.

3. Follow the normal Windows 98SE/ME setup instructions to select your choice for
partition and file system.


4. Wait until Windows 98SE/ME finishes installing devices, regional
settings, networking settings, components, and final set of
tasks, reboot the system.

5. After the system reboot, right click on 'My Computer' and select 'Properties'.
From the 'System Properties' , select 'Device Manager', right click on
the '?PCI RAID controller' and select 'Properties' from the pop-up menu.

6. Click 'Driver' ,'Update Driver' and select 'Automatic search for a better
driver[Recommended]'. Insert the driver diskette into floppy drive.
Click 'Next' and complete the driver installation.

7. System will go through the enumeration process and install the driver.
At the end of the process, click 'Yes' to reboot your system.

8. See instructions in section A to verify controller was installed
correctly.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
8) First time installing SiI RAID driver with existing Windows 98SE/ME
----------------------------------------------------------------------

If you have an existing Windows 98SE/ME system and just obtained a
Silicon Image SiI 3114 controller card, you need to run the update program
to install Silicon Image driver. The driver package is located in the
Silicon Image driver diskette or the diskette provided by OEM vendor.

1. Power off the system. Connect the hard drives to the SiI 3114
controller and insert the controller into a PCI slot. Power up
the system.

2. During the system boot up, the Hardware Wizard will display that it found a
' PCI RAID Controller' , click ' Next' . Select ' Search for the best
driver for your device[Recommended]' and click ' Next' .

3. Check the ' Floppy disk drives' and insert the driver diskette into floppy
drive. Click ' Next' .

4. System will go through the enumeration process and install the driver.
At the end of the process, Click ' Finish' to complete the installation.
Reboot the system if your Windows 98SE/ME drive is connected on the
SiI RAID Controller.

5. See instructions in section A to verify controller was installed
correctly.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9) Update SiI RAID driver on Windows 98SE/ME with existing Silicon Image driver
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the Silicon Image controller already plugged in and the driver already
installed. Follow the instructions to update SiI 3114 driver.


1. Right click on 'My Computer' and select 'Properties'. Under 'System Properties',
click 'SCSI and RAID Controller' and right click 'Silicon Image Ultra-133 Medley
ATA Raid Controller'.

2. Click 'Driver' ,'Update Driver' and select 'Automatic search for a better
driver[Recommended]'. Insert the driver diskette into floppy drive.
Click 'Next' and complete the driver installation.

3. System will go through the enumeration process and install the driver.
At the end of the process, click 'Yes' to reboot your system.

4. See instructions in section A to verify controller was installed
correctly.

[GaRHaR]

Hi Broken, this is what i strongley suggest you do...it's basically the same setup as mine...and any of the staff can tell you how well it works for me

Move one of your hard drives away from the RAID...and put it as a stand along hard drive for only Windows.
Install windows, and off you go...Inside windows - you will then be able to create and format the partition on the remaining 3hard drive RAID0 which will erase the need for a floppy drive.

Doing it this way, and keeping all your games and data on the RAID - will increase performance and stability.
I'm actually surprised Alienware don't already do this method as it is tried and proven to be a much better setup then running windows off a RAID0.

[broken89]

Ok let me see if i understand. So i have 4 HDD's in 2 RAID sets. so i delete both raid sets and create a new RAID set with 3 HDD's and just leave that other one for me to instal windows on?

Or just delete both RAID sets install windows on one of the 4 HDD's then once windows is installed format and setup the remaining 3 HDD's in RAID? Well if i do this wont i be wasteing alot of space with windows being the only thing on that one 74GB HDD? Or is there a way to create a smaller partition just for windows then add the remaining space for the RAID set?

After getting an ALIENWARE there not really all that great the case is well cheep the liquid cooling isnt that good and well if you ever consider getting a ALIENWARE desktop don't just build your own. But the alienware laptops do look pretty cool though.

[GaRHaR]

Broken, i have a 150gb hard drive with only windows on it....

The less you have on that hard drive - the more speed in windows you will get.

By "only windows" I mean all your programs as well, such as MS Office and games.

The remaning 3 hard drives to be RAID