Hi David, Thanks.
I opted to go with the after-OS load of the RAID driver as (as I understand it) during the initial setup using the Intel BIOS RAID setup, in order to create a bootable volume with the embedded RAID controller (unlike with my old 3ware card that allowed me to configure one single stand alone disk to boot the OS with this MRB partition) I would be able to select a boot volume ONLY if I were to RAID either a 0 or 1 configuration using two disks to boot from, allowing me to select another three disks and RAID these forming what I thought would be a RAID 5 array, that is, until I saw that I was only able to use RAID 0,1,or 10 due to the restrictions set forth by the lack of additional keyed hardware allowing me to use a RAID 5 array, thusly, limiting my options to the need for one OS MBR disk and one RAIDED volume (RAID10) ... that limit, created by the number of ports on the board. RAID 10 needs 4 discs. That, plus the port for my Optical drive leaves me with one port left for my MBR OS disc.
So, I headed down towards folly land trail with attempting to use the web console (local host install) in order to load the OS on one drive and then to attempt to create the RAID volume this way. This route still concerns me as I had to configure the boards BIOS for AHCI instead of RAID pre-OS install. (I read in one forum where a lady stated that you could set to RAID, install on one physical Drive and it would "intelligently" revert to AHCI only for this drive). Problem is, when I attempted to load the OS with the board's BIOS set to RAID - no such thing apparently occurred, leaving me with no drives available. Perhaps it would have if I had loaded the RAID driver at that point, but would it have shown me a stand alone 80 GB drive? After I set the boards BIOS back to AHCI, the drive was available for me to load the OS.
Do I need to start over and still set the S5000VSA's BIOS to RAID and load the driver. Will the OS load read the drive there with the RAID driver installed at that point or will it still not be present as the stand alone disk (to accomplish RAID 10 with my physical SATA port limit), do I proceed with fumbling with the non-.exe RAID driver that is loadable post OS install? None of the above?
Where I am currently: 5 total drives attached to the board's SATA ports, one of which is an 80 GB MBR OS volume and the other 4 are 1.8 TB I am wanting to RAID and format GPT to show as much storage as possible using either 5 or 10 (preferably 10 at this point). The OS is loaded with Small Business Server 08 and I, in attempting to install the RAID driver, deleted the storage controller in the hopes to install the RAID driver and now it is gone = no more storage controller listed there for me to update the driver (unless it is hiding under a sub category). But show hidden devices does not produce any devices without drivers installed. I got this idea from the read me file on the RAID driver folder. (ESRT2 RAID driver for Windows) and reads as follows:
"Installation of the driver after the operating system is installed:
1. Boot into applicable Windows OS. Click the Windows Start button and select Settings.
2. Click Control Panel.
3. Select Adapter.
4. Select the Drivers tab.
5. Scroll down the list until the appropriate selection for your system which contains the Intel(r) Embedded RAID Technology II and for your operating system displays, then click <OK>.
6. Select it, then remove it by clicking the Remove button.
7. Click the Add button.
8. Select the Have Disk button.
9. Insert the diskette into the floppy drive.
10. Select drive letter A: and click on <OK>.
11. Select Intel(r) Embedded RAID Technology II and click OK.
12. After Windows* copies the driver, reset the system."
But, I can find no driver listed to replace other than the storage controller I listed.
Is it back to the drawing board for me? Am I limited to RAID 10? Is RAID 5 really not an option without the unlock hardware key? With 5 ports available, can I use one stand alone disk (80GB) to load the OS and one volume with 4 1.8 TB drives? Am I understanding correctly that the Intel board design only allows me to use a bootable volume in conjunction with another RAID array if that volume itself (the boot volume) is Raided with 0 or 1?
Should I wait for me 3ware card to get here?
Thank you!