Using RAID Sata Ports as Non-Raid

[thermique]

Hi, currently got an Asus P4c800-E Deluxe, its got two SATA ports and two SATA raid ports (promise 378). As im currently using the two sata ports ive got a 3rd sata HDD and have been told i can use one of the RAID ports in a non raid mode. Any idea how to enable this?

Thanks Guys

[Metier9]

ive got the same mobo. Just plug it and dont set any raid options in the bios.

[thermique]

Ive tried disabling (i think), to no avail, tried swapping around the discs and whichever is on the rad port cannot be seen. Which bios settings in particular do i need to alter?

Thanks

[arthurleung]

Enable the Promise SATA RAID Controller, BUT do not setup any RAID when it ask you to, wait for may be 5~10 seconds it should just keep booting and you should see the disk in windows.

By default most if not all low-end raid (especially onboard one) will treat the disk as non-raid even though it is in RAID mode.

It should be pretty safe as all controllers require user to confirm before wiping data.

[thermique]

Tried this (leaving it when it asks to setup raid) and disk isnt showing up, restored bios to default values but still nothing. This disc is definitely working, shows up when connected to the regular sata port. Perhaps i should find the correct settings to disable.

[IAmATeaf]

I used to have the smaller brother to this mobo and am sure I had to install the promise drivers to get a disk to work off this controller. So try enabling the controller then install the drivers and then plug a disk in and see what happens.

[badass]

Frist make sure the settings in BIOS are set to "As SATA" rather than "As RAID"
These options location will vary depending on your motherboard.
Then make sure that the drivers installed are the promise 378 drivers, NOT the fasttrack 378 ones (the fasttrack ones are the RAID drivers)

[thermique]

Already set as "AS SATA" under ide config.

Seperately under other device tab should i have promise controller enabled/disabled, and under enabled "IDE" or "RAID".

Also where do i find the non fast track drivers, i seem to only have promise fastrack 378 on my mobo cd, which i installed.

EDIT: Under the cd by exploring i have the option for 378RAID or 378IDE, going to try the ide ones atm.

[thermique]

Seem to be up the swannee somewhat, having installed the fastrack ones first they seem to be stuck there. If i try to place the regular promise ones on top the device says its not working, if i uninstall fastrack then reboot it comes back with the same fastrack drivers. How do i remove those drivers so i can do a clean install of the regular promise 378 ones?

[IAmATeaf]

You must have the BIOS set to RAID as Windows must be doing an auto-detect and installing and loading the drivers.

[thermique]

^ What worked for me was no setting to raid, but enabling the promise controller as ide only, not the default raid, this then allowed the removal of the Fastrack Drivers, and the machine recognised the promise ide, allowing installation of the Promise 378 drivers. Thanks for the tips guys.