Selecting RAID controller for my needs

[gugucom]

This was only a test for the time when my replacement Intels will arrive. Then I will RAID0 two 80GB SSDs. I expect the ArcRAID disks to work exactly like the single Arc disk that I did for testing now. That means it will hopefully look like a basic disk in Vista disk utility and in OS X disk utility. The single disk was also quick set up in RAID0 mode. I'm very happy that it ran without any issues regarding cloning and booting.

I'm also very happy that I discovered how to shrink a drive in Vista. When the 160 GB RAID0 is done I will shrink the 250GB Vista drive down to 159,9 GB and clone it to the ArcRAID0 disk.

Keeping my drives in GUID will make things easy in OS X. I don't mind that I loose 328 MB per drive for the EFI protection partition and the end zone. That is absolutely negligable compared to the risk of being out of Apple spec on partitioning.

I will look into the temp and beep issues later today.

 

[nanofrog]

This was only a test for the time when my replacement Intels will arrive. Then I will RAID0 two 80GB SSDs. I expect the ArcRAID disks to work exactly like the single Arc disk that I did for testing now. That means it will hopefully look like a basic disk in Vista disk utility and in OS X disk utility. The single disk was also quick set up in RAID0 mode. I'm very happy that it ran without any issues regarding cloning and booting.

Yes, as far as the OS is concerned, it's a single logical volume.

I'm also very happy that I discovered how to shrink a drive in Vista. When the 160 GB RAID0 is done I will shrink the 250GB Vista drive down to 159,9 GB and clone it to the ArcRAID0 disk.

With SSD, you'd have to be a little more frugal with used capacity I think. Shift large/low priority files (i.e. useful downloads,...) to the mechanical disks, and problem solved.

Keeping my drives in GUID will make things easy in OS X. I don't mind that I loose 328 MB per drive for the EFI protection partition and the end zone. That is absolutely negligable compared to the risk of being out of Apple spec on partitioning.

I will look into the temp and beep issues later today.

Fortunately, as the card manages the drives, you won't get the problems you did with the RR2642.

IIRC, won't OS X read NTFS without the need for GUID?

I'd think it's not necessary to read the windows files, as it can't write, and has nothing to do with the array managementally speaking. And here's the real rub. If you attempt to set it up as a GUID version under windows, you won't be able to boot from the array. I've tried it, as I'm interested in it's capabilities as well. What's odd, is the software RAID used in windows is GPT (GUID), and it can be booted off it. It's extremely weird.

I'm not sure if you're using something like MacDrive, or how that actually would fit in the equation, but would expect it to not require GUID partitions either.

 

[gugucom]

Well, I definitely have a GPT Windows drive now that boots nicely in EFI32 of my 2006 Mac Pro and it is showing as a basic drive in Windows disk utility. I do not get any boot messages from the controller since I fitted the EFI binary to the 1210 ROM. It is all very fast and smooth.
Looks very good.

For OS X writing to NTFS partitions I use the Paragon NTFS driver. Except for a bug with the pre setting of the start drive in system preferences it works very well even for partitioning NTFS drives and partitions out of OS X disk utility.

 

[nanofrog]

Well, I definitely have a GPT Windows drive now that boots nicely in EFI32 of my 2006 Mac Pro and it is showing as a basic drive in Windows disk utility. I do not get any boot messages from the controller since I fitted the EFI binary to the 1210 ROM. It is all very fast and smooth. Looks very good.

Stupid BIOS... time for the industry to dump it already!

I'll end up thinking on this now, even though I don't need to, as the array works just fine.

 

[gugucom]

I have changed the heat sink and it seems to be ok. I just can't read any temperatures of the CPU. The only temperature I can read is the HDD temperature when I enable the S.M.A.R.T. function.

I still get alarms athough I have disabled the beeper because the system still thinks that there is a fan.

 

[nanofrog]

I have changed the heat sink and it seems to be ok. I just can't read any temperatures of the CPU. The only temperature I can read is the HDD temperature when I enable the S.M.A.R.T. function.

Hmm...

For the temps (normally, of course), there's two ways you should be able to see it:
1. Open Browser access, go into Information on the left, then select Hardware Monitor. There are small variations in the browser, as the interface data is in the ROM.

2. Enter the firmware, and look for it in there as well. Not practical for a running system, and is why it was made available via the Browser Interface.

You should have 2 temps for the card (CPU & board, listed as Crtl), and one for each drive. For drive temps, you will need S.M.A.R.T Enabled, as you found out.

I'm not quite sure what's going on, but I'd be looking into doing a cold boot, and entering the firmware to see what I could find out. It's worked on the models I've had access to. Hopefully, you can get it sorted, and not have to return it. The lack of temps is unacceptable for such a card, as it's meant for enterprise use.

I still get alarms athough I have disabled the beeper because the system still thinks that there is a fan.

You need to go into the firmware. There's a Fan Detect setting that will stop the beeper alarm. It also stops the fan failure event to be logged.

Any other alarms or items in the event log indicating problems?
As mentioned before, there's a few settings or so the firmware is the only way to access them. They're related directly to the card's operation, not the creation/management of arrays.

 

[gugucom]

Sorry, I seem to be dense here. What do you mean by going into firmware?

Do you mean the CLI?

 

[nanofrog]

Sorry, I seem to be dense here. What do you mean by going into firmware?

Do you mean the CLI?

No. Normally (via BIOS based firmware), you get the system firmware, the card firmware (injects the array as a boot device), and then the system firmware reloads with the new inclusion. In my case, the process is visible. In the MP, the system firmware isn't visible, but IIRC, the RAID card firmware process was. It would show, dissappear, and then proceed with the boot process.

You should be able to access the firmware during startup. The default key is Tab or F6 after the PCI bus test is complete, and the default time limit is 5 seconds in which to press it.

If you can't see it, just hold down the Tab key, and see if it allows you entry.

I'll check, but I'm not sure if you'll be able to access these functions via CLI (I don't recall that ability, but I spend the least amount of time in CLI, though it's usefull for some specific settings).

IIRC, I sent the CLI manual with the upload (2nd one that had the MacOS folder containing the drivers and utils). But if I didn't, let me know, and I'll get it uploaded for you.

Worst case, install it in the PC you have available, and make the settings. It will hold them while being moved back to the MP.

Let me know what happens, and good luck.

 

[gugucom]

I can't get into the firmware menue by pushing tab or F6 or a combination anytime during booting of OS X or Windows respectively. I get into ArcHttp64 in both systems but I obviously get the same GUI pages generated by the card. As I have reported there is no soft switch for the fan to configure the active or passive heat sink. The Arc1210 issues a fan failure error message on each booting cycle. There is also no provision to read the temp of the controller.

I will try several things.

• check command line interface if it allows setting of the parameters
• update firmware and hope it sorts the issue
• install the controller in the Shuttle PC

I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[nanofrog]

I can't get into the firmware menue by pushing tab or F6 or a combination anytime during booting of OS X or Windows respectively. I get into ArcHttp64 in both systems but I obviously get the same GUI pages generated by the card. As I have reported there is no soft switch for the fan to configure the active or passive heat sink. The Arc1210 issues a fan failure error message on each booting cycle. There is also no provision to read the temp of the controller.

I will try several things.

• check command line interface if it allows setting of the parameters
• update firmware and hope it sorts the issue
• install the controller in the Shuttle PC

I'll let you know how it goes.

That makes things really difficult.

At this point, placing it in the Shuttle PC would seem to be the easiest answer IMO. At least the changes you make will still be there when you place it back in the MP.

Good luck.

 

[gugucom]

I have played around with the CLI and have no joy. I have updated the firmware to the July 2009 version and there is no new feature to set for passive heat sink. It looks like the venerable PC will once again be required to sort things out for the Mac.

Edit: Neither XP32 nor XP64 will recognize the Areca card in the Shuttle. I think that the EFI firmware is interfering with the driver installation. No idea how to remove a firmware file once it is loaded.

 

[nanofrog]

I have played around with the CLI and have no joy. I have updated the firmware to the July 2009 version and there is no new feature to set for passive heat sink. It looks like the venerable PC will once again be required to sort things out for the Mac.

This is what I expected. I didn't recall the ability to access this level of settings this way. Only via the firmware.

The PC seems to be the only way that I can think of.

Edit: Neither XP32 nor XP64 will recognize the Areca card in the Shuttle. I think that the EFI firmware is interfering with the driver installation. No idea how to remove a firmware file once it is loaded.

You'd have to replace the firmware again. You have to reflash it with the ARC1210BOOT.ROM portion at a minimum (BIOS variant). It will be one of the .ROM files in the unzipped firmware file.

I can't recall if any of the other portions need to be flashed or not, but I don't think this is the case.

 

[gugucom]

This is what I expected. I didn't recall the ability to access this level of settings this way. Only via the firmware.

The PC seems to be the only way that I can think of.


You'd have to replace the firmware again. You have to reflash it with the ARC1210BOOT.ROM portion at a minimum (BIOS variant). It will be one of the .ROM files in the unzipped firmware file.

I can't recall if any of the other portions need to be flashed or not, but I don't think this is the case.

I'm pretty sure I have done that but all that XP finds on the Shuttle is two PCI to PCI bridges. The Shuttle may simply be too old. It has a single lane PCIe slot I believe.

I could install Vista though to be on the safe side and load the drivers on installation of the OS.

Edit: I have spoken to Starlite, the German distributer of Areca. The guy confirmed that setting changes to the active heat sink can only be made in the firmware interface which I am not supposed to get on a Mac. He also told me that many PC systems do not recognize the Areca cards and that there is no remedy but a newer system that would. Unless the BIOS menue is immediately displayed at booting the system is useless. That describes my experience. He promised to contact Areca Taiwan for a solution. I hope that it will be forthcoming.

 

[nanofrog]

I'm pretty sure I have done that but all that XP finds on the Shuttle is two PCI to PCI bridges. The Shuttle may simply be too old. It has a single lane PCIe slot I believe.

I could install Vista though to be on the safe side and load the drivers on installation of the OS.

Edit: I have spoken to Starlite, the German distributer of Areca. The guy confirmed that setting changes to the active heat sink can only be made in the firmware interface which I am not supposed to get on a Mac. He also told me that many PC systems do not recognize the Areca cards and that there is no remedy but a newer system that would. Unless the BIOS menue is immediately displayed at booting the system is useless. That describes my experience. He promised to contact Areca Taiwan for a solution. I hope that it will be forthcoming.

I don't recall age being much of an issue, but they weren't that old to begin with IIRC. PCIe 1.1, usually 8x slot available, though twice a 4x was tried and worked. The board I'm using now is PCIe 2.0 spec, and works.

I couldn't remember if the firmware had come up on the Mac for certain, but I seriously thought it had (ARC-1680ix12). There's going to some small differences in it, but wouldn't think much (mostly SAS controller related).

At this point, I think you're going to have to find a system that it will work in (PC) to make the necessary changes to the settings. Sorry this getting to be such a PITA.

 

[alphaod]

I don't know if this has been ask and answered already…

If I already am using the "software" RAID set up using Disk Utility and I want to a make a new RAID set up via a hardware setup with an add-on card, would the previous RAID setup need to be take apart and everything redone?

 

[nanofrog]

I don't know if this has been ask and answered already…

If I already am using the "software" RAID set up using Disk Utility and I want to a make a new RAID set up via a hardware setup with an add-on card, would the previous RAID setup need to be take apart and everything redone?

Yep. The card will initialize the drives, wiping out all data.

 

[gugucom]

I don't recall age being much of an issue, but they weren't that old to begin with IIRC. PCIe 1.1, usually 8x slot available, though twice a 4x was tried and worked. The board I'm using now is PCIe 2.0 spec, and works.

I couldn't remember if the firmware had come up on the Mac for certain, but I seriously thought it had (ARC-1680ix12). There's going to some small differences in it, but wouldn't think much (mostly SAS controller related).

At this point, I think you're going to have to find a system that it will work in (PC) to make the necessary changes to the settings. Sorry this getting to be such a PITA.

NP nonofrog. I'm pretty confident that the guy at starline will get me a solution from Taiwan. If everything fails I will send him the card and have him set it up for me.

He said that many PC Bios versions had PCIe set ups for graphic cards only and were not designed to receive more sophisticated cards like SATA II controllers.

My BIOS is 2 or 3 years old and my Shuttle was designed 5 years ago in 2004. Not a big surprise that they eventually stopped to upgrade the BIOS in 2007 when the 939 socket went out of main stream production in December 2006. For me this is entirely acceptable. AMD switched to AM2 socket then and that socket received all the new goodies. At least Shuttle integrated all Vista features retrospectively which is a lot more than Apple would ever bother to do for their customers. So I'm not too disappointed that this trial didn't work out.

 

[nanofrog]

NP nonofrog. I'm pretty confident that the guy at starline will get me a solution from Taiwan. If everything fails I will send him the card and have him set it up for me.

He said that many PC Bios versions had PCIe set ups for graphic cards only and were not designed to receive more sophisticated cards like SATA II controllers.

My BIOS is 2 or 3 years old and my Shuttle was designed 5 years ago in 2004. Not a big surprise that they eventually stopped to upgrade the BIOS in 2007 when the 939 socket went out of main stream production in December 2006. For me this is entirely acceptable. AMD switched to AM2 socket then and that socket received all the new goodies. At least Shuttle integrated all Vista features retrospectively which is a lot more than Apple would ever bother to do for their customers. So I'm not too disappointed that this trial didn't work out.

I didn't realize the Shuttle was that old (manufacture date). As per what I've had access to, it's been workstation and server boards, so that would have prevented the "graphics only" consumer board problems with the RAID controllers. Such details do tend to skip my notice these days, as I stick with such boards.

At least you have an option if you can't do it yourself. I was just thinking in terms of time, as I presume you'd like to get this all sorted out sooner than later.

Is Starline local, or would shipping be involved?

 

[gugucom]

The old shuttle was bought as a barebone HTPC but was never really good in that role. It was quite noisy and had only one PCI and one PCIe slot. A very limited machine but it did my DVB-S recording and DVD playing many years until I switched to Apple.

The problem is a bit annoying but I could avoid it by going back to the noisy active heat sink. It isn't stopping me to use the Mac. Hopefully it will get sorted one or the other way.

Starline is the national importer and they are 170 miles away from Munich.

 

[nanofrog]

The old shuttle was bought as a barebone HTPC but was never really good in that role. It was quite noisy and had only one PCI and one PCIe slot.

Hmm... Time to retire it perhaps?

Starline is the national importer and they are 170 miles away from Munich.

Ouch. Well, if you're desparate, I gues it might be possible to drive it, assuming you can afford the time.

Personally, I'd be asking a friend or two if I could use their systems (assuming it would work for the task needed). Fortunately, you won't even need to boot it. Just begin the boot process (POST), and wait for the Areca firmware to load, enter it, and do what you need. Done.

Would that actually be a possiblity for you?

 

[gugucom]

Personally, I'd be asking a friend or two if I could use their systems (assuming it would work for the task needed). Fortunately, you won't even need to boot it. Just begin the boot process (POST), and wait for the Areca firmware to load, enter it, and do what you need. Done.

Would that actually be a possiblity for you?

I would have to visit the office of my girl friend. They got new boxes lately. Everybody else tends to have old stuff or Macs.

 

[nanofrog]

I would have to visit the office of my girl friend. They got new boxes lately. Everybody else tends to have old stuff or Macs.

Perfect. Take the card to her office, and her out to lunch.

 

[gugucom]

ARC-1210 firmware access
Hi gugucom,

Did you get the chance to use a PC to make any firmware settings on it?

It was a strange session. Her PC already had a RAID card in it which I had to take out. But then I had lost the booting capability because Windows XP was on a RAID1 array running off that card. I would not get communication with the Arc1210 and gave up on that machine.

I switched over to another machine and quickly got the firmware interface. There was no definite software switch to accommodate a fan less setup but I found a Function that enabled or disabled fan detection. I switched that to off.

From that moment the warning in the fault log was gone but the irritating beeps continued to sound every time I shut down the machine and it took endless time to shut down in OS X which was something it had done allways before. At least it is three times the shut down time it takes in Windows to shut down. In both systems it beeps.

I suspect that regardless of my settings the card still detects a fault which is n't dealt with properly in OS X and cause a time out in the firmware.

It is annoying that I cannot read out any temperatures of the CPU. I am not satisfied with the current state of things. I might go back to the fan and try a more sophisticated fan and heat sink if it fixes the fault.

 

[nanofrog]

...but I found a Function that enabled or disabled fan detection. I switched that to off.

That's all there is in any of them I've ever seen, SATA or SAS models.

It does stop the beep for me though, and it also eliminates the report in the Event Log. But the only card I've attempted under OS X was an ARC-1680ix12. Never a SATA model. So that may be the difference.

If the fan's plugged in, it spins. I've always had to disable the Fan Detect, as it always beeps on me. I don't know if Areca's even aware it's an issue though, as most of them are never shut down (24/7 operation).

From that moment the warning in the fault log was gone but the irritating beeps continued to sound every time I shut down the machine and it took endless time to shut down in OS X which was something it had done allways before. At least it is three times the shut down time it takes in Windows to shut down. In both systems it beeps.

You might want to re-flash the firmware. All of it (not just the EFI component). The change of Boot to EFI, and back (assuming you did this), may have caused an issue.

Worth a shot, even if it doesn't work.

You can state this in an email to Areca, if it comes to that. As you know from the manuals, the responses can be rather cryptic, so be warned. BUT the information usually is there, and most often accurate. WAY better than Highpoint, CalDigit, or a few others I've dealt with. The only issue you may run into is, they can't understand the question.

I suspect that regardless of my settings the card still detects a fault which is n't dealt with properly in OS X and cause a time out in the firmware.

See above.

It is annoying that I cannot read out any temperatures of the CPU. I am not satisfied with the current state of things. I might go back to the fan and try a more sophisticated fan and heat sink if it fixes the fault.

Let me take another look at the IOP332's datasheet. It may be missing the diode, and not even capable of it. It could be an obvious reason it's not there.

Otherwise, the temps should have been there, even visible in the firmware under Hardware Monitor (IIRC on the heading). It's in there, if it has the capability, and I'd have thought the card does. IT staff need to be able to monitor such things, not just the drives. RAID controllers can get BBQ'ed just as easily as anything else.

 

[gugucom]

I received an email by the starline guy who obviously got it from Areca because the attached pdf had a Chinese page numbers. The pdf describes how you use the rEFIt shell to identify the driver configuration and pull up the McBIOS RAID firmware interface in rEFIt shell. It is a very help full facility for Mac users and I attach it here.

When I manage to close down the beep it only works one time and then it gives double beep the next time I boot the controller. This leads me to believe that there is still a fault that doesn't get reported.

I have loaded the firmware several times for Mac and PC and it has never changed anything but I will do it another time.

The reason why I want a smooth shut down and restart is my use of both OS X and Vista. I need the machine to switch the OS quickly and silent because I don't want to wake the house if I do it in the night.

BTW, my processor is a 500 MHz IOP333