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Posted:1/29/2012 5:08:00 AM |
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The Adaptec 5405 I use with the board has its own firmware, and Adaptec says that UEFI ist currently not supported.
However, the board supports the controller somehow.
Is this because it boots in some kind of BIOS mode? As I use an SSD as Win 7 boot device, and the Raid Array as data volume (which is already GPT), can I convert the SSD to GPT and let Win 7 nevertheless of the Adaptec Raid install in that SSD?
Or is UEFI mode "switched off" due to the Adaptec Raid, and the board falls back in a Bios Mode?
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Posted:1/29/2012 9:53:00 AM |
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The mobo doesnt "support" the add in card
The card has its own firmware and bios and drivers
You can have a mobo embedded chip that has an entry/options in the bios onboard devices SATA page (enable enable oprom)
Or a separate card that ASUS Intel knows nothing about.
If you load the card in PCIe slot with 2+ wiped devices plugged in and have force bios (third party) in boot page you should see all the info upon boot or once everything is setup you can go back to keep current
The intel UEFI (unified EFI) has within it the legacy bios
Legacy, "BIOS" is for Win XP. Intel says they are gonna keep it till 2014 at least
Legacy known as "BIOS" = MSDOS MBR 512B sectored HDD with 63 512B sector offset for start of first partition
The UEFI is GUID GPT 1MB offsett to first partition.
512B sectors are emulated (controller chip on HDD) from big drive actual 4096B "sectors"
When all HDD go 4096B sectors no emulation, MBR is worthless.
SSD have no sectors - only 4096 pages
Win 7 auto detects mode to install by DVD device mode - UEFI or MBR (non UEFI)
FWIW X79 also supports NATIVE SAS with the RSTe, but the PCH lines are blocked because Intel couldnt make them work
The only real dif between GPT and MBR drives is
MBR = bootmanager in root of O/S partition
100MB no letter reserved
GPT has efi.sys100MB partition no letter Fat 32 and MSR128 MB Hidden Fat 32 partition and bootmgr.efi in C:\Progam Files\Common Files folder
Your Adaptec RAID is "already GPT"
How exactly did you accomplish that?
cant go any further - your third paragraph is missing some words
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Posted:1/30/2012 12:11:00 AM |
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Hello,
I managed to have the Adaptec Raid Volume in GPT format by doing this:
First I created a volume larger than 2 TB with the Adaptec Raid Bios, which was then initializing. Then I installed Windows 7 with an install user on the SSD in AHCI mode. After having booted Win7 from the SSD (which is a used SSD and therefore unfortunately still in MBR mode) I used diskpart, selected the Adaptec Raid Drive, entered "clean" and then "convert GPT". Then I closed diskpart, and went over to the Win 7 volume manager. There I selected the Raid drive, and created a volume, which was then ready to use, and I assigned Drive "D:" to the Raid Volume.
Then I merged my C:\Users Folder to D:\Users by editing the corresponding registry settings, and copying using the command prompt from the install dvd. However, in the past I have also tried with an unattend.xml but it I didn't manage to make it work.
How can I identify in which kind of mode the board boods (Bios or EFI mode) and in which kind of mode Windows is loaded?
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Posted:1/30/2012 5:35:00 PM |
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ahah very clever you
fwiw, in my experience diskpart or diskmanager (right click the drive # and convert MBR or convert GPT) does not make the correct 100MB efi.sys no letter FAT 32 partition and the 128MB no letter hidden FAT32 MSR (Microsoft Reserved) partition. It works but you lose ability to correctly read MBR drives while in GPT O/S drive. Only actual Win 7 install does everything right. I know how to do it in diskpart but its rather complicated.
The board only boots in modes during the install from DVD
After that its windows that dtermines whats happening
Thats why you can mix modes with dif drives
Once installed, UEFI/bios doesnt know or care what mode HDD SSD are in, but windows will not allow boot into GPT on non UEFI bios - like if you switched drive to an older mobo
If you are booting GPT X64 then you also have to set winbootmanager in bios boot page and first in order (even before DVD) or no boot.
Should really say winefimanager - so confusing. In other words you are TELLING the UEFI this is a GPT boot drive
http://i.imgur.com/uQY4w.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/AeoJJ.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/ajqzhv.jpg
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Posted:1/31/2012 12:58:00 AM |
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Hi Howard,
I just played around in the BIOS and I have not the settings as you tell with your last link, especially selecting winbootmgr for EFI boot.
It may be that the Adaptec Raid forces the P9X79 firmware in Bios mode, may that be?
I will try to boot into Bios without the Adaptec installed and then give you further information what happens.
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Posted:1/31/2012 2:19:00 AM |
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Nothing changes when I remove the adapter.
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Posted:1/31/2012 2:24:00 AM |
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you cant select uefi for winbootmanager boot if it isnt already so
It doesnt show
similarly if your only HDD has a bad cable it wont show, and if your DVD drive is bad it wont show and you will see absolutely nothing in bios EZ page. It has to exist to show.
For third party controllers, force bios must be used to see oprom screen
Another big boobytrap with loading a drive as UEFI GPT with Win 7, after all the install reboots, the first full boot after install will give a black screen, since the winbootmanager option has not been moved to first position - the DVD is first from the install - heh
http://i.imgur.com/hAIUN.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/rmb7I.jpg
Another boobytrap is if you use >2.19TB drives some vendors who dont support GUID are now using the workaround "Long LBA" which jiggers the file table so that up to 4TB drives can be used no UEFI
Would be nice to see a benchmark or 2 for Adapteced drives
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Posted:1/31/2012 6:33:00 AM |
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So, that I understand correctly: under the circumstance, that I have a cleaned SSD for Win 7 install, I can try to install Windows 7 on a GPT drive, and boot in EFI mode, although the third party adapter (Adaptec) ist installed and "force bios" is selected?
Regarding benchmark: I donnot dare to degrade the Raid volume, as that would destroy it, I believe, so I can give you the benchmarks of Aida64 linear read test here for a Raid 5 volume ~ 2,91 TB with 4 x Samsung HD753LJ HDD a 750 Gig.
Linear Read (Begin) - Block 512k - 328,3 MB/s
Linear Read (Middle) - Block 512k - 260,2 MB/s
Linear Read (End) - Block 512k - 128,4 MB/s
Random Read - Block 512k - 192,4 MB/s
Buffered Read - Block 1M - 1350,8 MB/s
Average Read Access 13,59 ms
I think two drives in a Raid 0 volume could be also a bit quicker, in tomshardware there is a nice test on the 5405 (4 ports), or 5805 (8 ports), where you have a good comparison.
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Posted:1/31/2012 7:41:00 AM |
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Waah. I found it out. I managed to boot the Windows 7 install DVD in EFI mode, and it found the Adaptec array (where it denied to install, but however, the drive and data were accessible) and the SSD (where I could have installed Win 7 after a diskpart "clean").
The problem was that once upon a time I bought the very first version of Win7, and after SP1 came out, I created an own Win 7 SP1 install CD out of the original Win 7 install cd. However, as I didn't have EFI at this time, I didn't care about it, and the self created Win 7 SP1 install CD boots always in MBR mode ...
Taking the original DVD solved the problem, by pressing F8 after boot and selecting the DVD Drive with UEFI in the boot menu.
Well, I think I will reinstall Win 7 shortly, as this jeopardizes my peace of mind ...
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Posted:1/31/2012 11:13:00 AM |
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ya cant install 7 on a drive as GPT on a drive that has no UEFI support. The first thing win 7 does is check the bios for support and the Adaptec bios says NO!
You have to separate GPT data drives and boot drives in your mind
You can even disable RAIDED\non RAIDED, GPT non GPT DATA volumes in bios boot page, they wont be seen in bios, but once in windows they are accessible, tho you may have to add a drive letter, or initialize. Nothing that doesnt boot has to be shown on boot page. It will also speed boot times.
If you are gonna fool around with X79 you need Win 7 SP1 with ALL updates right from the get go, or you are going to run into landmines.
Remember - Win 7 MAKES the drive GPT during install if it sees a UEFI compatible bios, that is to say a DVD X64 in UEFI mode. The UEFI doesnt make it - it just O.K.'s it.
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