Need more SATA controllers

Question

Question

Need more SATA controllers

by Joshen74 Sep 22, 2013 3:48AM PDT

Hello everybody, need your help to find a good solution to my problem (i have already found some bad ones)

Lets start with basics:
I have a MSI Z77A-GD65 motherboard
On this i have 2x Sata and 4x Sata3 (and two i cant seem to be able to use?)
I have one 120G SSD for OS and most programs, DVD, 2 HDD for media and 2 HDD in Raid 1 for safe storage.
So i run BIOS in Raid as this is the way as i know it to handle the Raid 1 setup.
I only use one PCI express slots for my GEFORCE GTX 670 at the moment.

Problem:
BF4 is coming to town and i only have 17G free on my SSD.
I really want to have theses games on a SSD as i have latency in games and when its loading a new game.

My plan is to get a new 250G SSD to have all games and SW and only keep the OS (more or less) on the old SSD.
The problem is that i have no more Free Sata slots!!!

Solution:
I have looked at several controller cards as that seems to be a possible way to go, if possible a Sata6 version.
But as i have understood now it might not be possible to get any speed from this controllers?
Example Asus U3S6

Have also read something about not being able to use BIOS in RAID mode when using this cards? how do i setup my Raid 1 in that case.

Hope you can come up with some suitable solutions for me (without replacing the MB)

/Joshen

Discussion is locked

8 Posts

- Collapse + Expand Details

- Collapse -

Re: Need more SATA controllers

by Joshen74 Sep 22, 2013 1:59PM PDT

Yes, the raid is for backup.
Have two additional external backups of witch one is off site as well (Photos (150Gb), documents and other important stuff)
I have been thinking about only having one of them internally and making a mirror to the external one every night instead. (and this would let me change one of them to something quieter as well, not a completely bad solution)

I'm getting a new 250Gb SSD so yes, keeping that one as an external "extra" unit is one way to do it as i have an empty USB3 external case lying around. That would be a fast one, but not that large

The other HDD are 2 and 3TB so replacing them with something bigger is not much of an idea.

Connecting the DVD to the extension card have been on my mind as that is the one i use the least (but i use it every other week )

So far moving one of them externally and giving up the Raid is looking like the best way to go.

I think i will need to make a check of the raided HDD to check the helth of them.
Can any of you recommend a good program to do that, i haven't had a lot of good results with that previously.
(i have a HDD on my desk that i have replaced get the OK from the check programs but sounds like a grinder from time to time)

- Collapse -

Re: "The other HDD are 2 and 3TB so replacing them with

by VAPCMD Sep 22, 2013 9:08PM PDT

something bigger is not much of an idea"...it was a good, logical idea considering you made no mention of the existing disk sizes.

VAPCMD

- Collapse -

Several ways to check hard drives

by wpgwpg Sep 23, 2013 1:29AM PDT

You can run chkdsk and let it identify and attempt repair of any bad sectors. You can also download disk diagnostics from Western Digital and Seagate. There is a Windows 7 Control Panel tool called Performance Information and Tools which will check a lot of things including your hard drive's SMART data and disk performance information.

- Collapse -

Question.

by Bob__B Sep 23, 2013 2:47AM PDT

There is a Windows 7 Control Panel tool called Performance Information and Tools which will check a lot of things including your hard drive's SMART data

Perhaps I'm blind but where on that screen do you see Smart data?

- Collapse -

Here's how to find the SMART data

by wpgwpg Sep 23, 2013 3:15AM PDT

Click Start -> Control Panel -> Performance Information and Tools -> Advanced Tools -> Generate a System Health Report. It will take 60 seconds to collect the data, then another minute to generate a report. Then look in the Basic System Tests and click the + next to Disks, and voila there it is. Then below there you can click the little down arrow to the far right of where it says Disks and again where it says Disk Totals and Physical Disks there's a bunch more info. No doubt it is a bit cryptic to get to it, but persistence pays.

- Collapse -

Your right

by Bob__B Sep 23, 2013 8:22AM PDT

It is a bit cryptic to get 'there' and when you do finally get 'there' it does not tell you much.

I think I'll stick with this tool.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/disk_smart_view.html

Seems a bit quicker and easier to use.

Back to PC Hardware forum

VAPCMD · Answer 1 · Sep 22, 2013 8:11AM PDT

- Collapse -

Answer

Have you considered consolidating smaller HDDs onto

by VAPCMD Sep 22, 2013 8:11AM PDT

HDDs with more disk space ?

VAPCMD

wpgwpg · Answer 2 · Sep 22, 2013 10:05AM PDT

- Collapse -

Answer

Re: Need more SATA controllers

by wpgwpg Sep 22, 2013 10:05AM PDT

You could buy an expansion card with a SATA port and connect your DVD drive to that. That frees up one mobo SATA port. You could also buy an SSD big enough to hold both your OS and games. That frees up another SATA port. Since you have your OS and games on an SSD, what are you using RAID for? Backup? If so, get hold of a good 3rd party backup program like Easeus Todo Backup Free which you can download from
http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm . You can set it up to do automatic backups at the time and frequency of your choice. Then you could back up to an external hard drive, freeing up at least one more SATA port. There've been a lot of posts on the 'net about why RAID is problem prone, so avoiding it is a good idea in any event.
`
Good luck.

Need more SATA controllers

CNET Forums

Other Forums

Forum Info