HDs set as RAID or IDE in BIOS?

[Gaucho]

Hello,

I've just installed FreeNAS 8.3.0 in a ASRock AS68-UCC + Phenom X4 @ 3.2Ghz + 8Ghz DDR3 RAM 800mhz + 6 HDS, being:

2 new identical Hitachis 2TB each
1 used Samsung 2Tb with some bad blocks and other SMART errors
1 used Samguns 500Gb with some bad blocks and other SMART errors
1 used Seagate 250Gb OK
1 used Maxtor 160Gb OK


I just booted the system 1st time, did not anything yet. My very first question is: should I set all these HDs as SATA or IDE in system BIOS?

Thank you all


Gaucho

 

[cyberjock]

You should set them according to the manual(AHCI).

Those disks with bad blocks should not be used to store any data. PERIOD. They'll make great drives if you want to see FreeNAS email you with problems so you can see firsthand what its like, but for actual data storage don't do it.

 

[Gaucho]

Interstingly, there is no AHCI option on this BIOS (last one from ASRock, by the way).

Anyway I'll set them to RAID, I just feel it's more modern and.... that's it :)

About the bad disks: doesn't FreeNAS actually identifies and exclude the bad blocks ranges from copying/reading data?

Thanks,


Gaucho

 

[cyberjock]

RAID is the one setting you should NOT be using. Check out the manual...

No, ZFS does not exclude bad sectors. That's supposed to be the responsibility of the disk controller. But, if you look around you'll find that once a disk starts having bad sectors you are playing with fire if you continue to use it. Usually things get worse exponentially until the disk won't work at all. And just like when you play with fire, you will eventually get burned.

 

[Dusan]

Interstingly, there is no AHCI option on this BIOS (last one from ASRock, by the way).

AHCI = SATA

 

[Gaucho]

AHCI = SATA

There's only IDE or RAID :-(

I'll go with IDE then.

(by the way, what a nice forum this is. Fast, cool features, no long reloads, easy to use, etc)

 

[warri]

It should support ACHI, I just tried to find more information about the model (and a manual), but can't seem to find any. Are you sure that "AS68-UCC" is the correct name?

 

[Gaucho]

It should support AHCI, I just tried to find more information about the model (and a manual), but can't seem to find any. Are you sure that "AS68-UCC" is the correct name?

I'm sorry, it is the N68-VS3 UCC. Here is the manual, see pages 43/44: no AHCI at all.