tangcla Posted November 27, 2013 Share Posted November 27, 2013 Guys, just got my Microserver and haven't opened the box yet - it's at home - but have been reading threads on here to familiarise myself with the machine. But I can't seem to follow which is advice, and which are suggestions, to how it all works. My plans are to use the B120i purely to boot an SSD, and to have my storage on a P410 RAID card (which I currently have in my gen7 Microserver). Because i already have 3x drives (possibly 4x if I can find a cheap 3TB drive for my array), I plan on using 'upstairs' to place the SSD as a boot drive; I understand that I require the B120i to be in RAID mode for the fan, but in terms of connections, there seems to be two options for both power and data. Power: a] use Molex and a Y-splitter; b] use MX714 or equivalent to use FDD power. Data: a] use ODD port (is this a standard SATA connector?); b] use separate SATAII port on motherboard. Then, the next question is - to install and boot to either the ODD or the SATAII port, what are the settings to make it work - I've read all sorts of issues from people about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P@ck3tL0ss Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 Guys, just got my Microserver and haven't opened the box yet - it's at home - but have been reading threads on here to familiarise myself with the machine. But I can't seem to follow which is advice, and which are suggestions, to how it all works. My plans are to use the B120i purely to boot an SSD, and to have my storage on a P410 RAID card (which I currently have in my gen7 Microserver). Because i already have 3x drives (possibly 4x if I can find a cheap 3TB drive for my array), I plan on using 'upstairs' to place the SSD as a boot drive; I understand that I require the B120i to be in RAID mode for the fan, but in terms of connections, there seems to be two options for both power and data. Power: a] use Molex and a Y-splitter; b] use MX714 or equivalent to use FDD power. Data: a] use ODD port (is this a standard SATA connector?); b] use separate SATAII port on motherboard. Then, the next question is - to install and boot to either the ODD or the SATAII port, what are the settings to make it work - I've read all sorts of issues from people about this. I have not had any issue with mine, I run a laptop hard-drive in a caddy (spinning disk not SSD, but shouldn't make a difference). It is powered by molex using the Y splitter. The drive plugged into the ODD port was configured as a Raid 0 array with one logical drive in the ACU (configurable on boot, you'll see the prompt). Once the drive is setup I installed the OS via a bootable USB stick. Worked like a champ. I don't think there are any other SATAII ports on the MoBo but I could be wrong. If memory serves you have a USB 3.0 port... all the drive ports come off of the B120i to the drive bays. I'm running OpenMediaVault (opensource NAS), and once I finish the migration from the shuttle PC that served the same purpose prior, I'll have all 4 drive bays full of disk for storage (3x4TB + 1x3TB... until my OCD kicks in and I replace the 3TB with another 4TB drive anyway). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikon Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 I think you may be overthinking this just a little. IOW, I suspect you will find it's a bit easier than you think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tangcla Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 I think you may be overthinking this just a little. IOW, I suspect you will find it's a bit easier than you think. Yep I found that out too Molex pass-through with SATA power, plus a regular SATA cable to power it off the ODD port - done. I have ordered a Dell MX714 as the Molex is to the 4x drive bays, and I'd rather separate the load onto a different rail for stability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikon Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Good to hear. Sometimes, it is easier than anticipated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ad-d Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 For those in the UK you can get a really cheap FDD -> SATA power cable adapter for just £1.99 from Maplins (£4.98 inc postage or free postage when spending £10+ if you don't live near a store). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Lam Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I've taken the plunge based on the insightful postings of the members here and have bought myself a Gen8. Installed Win8 to an SDD in the ODD slot and have put 2 3TB Reds into slot 1 and 2. I am booting off a microsd to boot into windows using the trick someone posted in this thread. But during my installation of Windows off a USB, there was a point where it finished copying files off the USB and then rebooted and tried to boot off the SDD. But i couldn't get it to boot off the SDD with AHCI set. The only way i could do it was to switch it to Legacy mode which is what is still set now. If i try to switch it back to AHCI, Windows will not boot properly. My question: 1) Would i see an improvement or benefit of some sort if i switch this back to AHCI? 2) How can i go about switching it back to AHCI? Ideally without a wipe of windows since it's all set up working sweetly. Any help would be appreciated, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBiggerMan Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Gordon - have you tried pulling the WD Reds out during the install process? Once the install is complete, follow my instructions to setup the MicroSD card. Once you're booting from the MicroSD card, you can put the WD Reds back in. But make sure you stay in AHCI mode throughout... - TheBiggerMan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikon Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 TheBiggerMan makes a good point. To add to that, there is a reg hack you can use to switch from AHCI to IDE and back. Here's a link to one: http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?444831-HOWTO-enable-AHCI-mode-after-installing-Windows/page10 (caveat: I haven't tested this procedure. If it doesn't work, search for others on the web; I'm sure you can find one that will work). I can tell you that I have used a reg hack to do this and it worked with no issues. -- I just don't recall if it's the same procedure as what's in the link I posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBiggerMan Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 (edited) ikon - you're right - something similar to that does work, but I'd personally recommend the following MS KB article. BTW - don't use the "FixIt" auto-helper, you're better off doing it manually. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976 Alternatively, a 3rd party overview with nice screencaps is at http://www.askvg.com/how-to-change-sata-hard-disk-mode-from-ide-to-ahci-raid-in-bios-after-installing-windows/ The only time I've had problems with this method is if your setup uses a non-standard storage driver... you can trawl through the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services subkeys looking for those with the Group key set to "SCSI Miniport". Generally switching on the ones that aren't really needed does not cause a failure, but will cause the system to boot slower. You can switch on a driver by changing the Start key to 0 (3 is disabled). - TheBiggerMan Edited February 13, 2014 by TheBiggerMan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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