Question regarding SATA drives!

[xthedanielx]

I recently purchased a SATA drive to use on my windows xp system which I run pro tools on. To use the new SATA drive I have to set it up in a raid array for the computer to recognize it, but, pro tools doesn't work right with raid enabled!! Is there a way to use my SATA drive without using the raid controller to detect it?!! Or have i just wasted some cash on a harddrive that i can't use?

[TimOBrien]

RAIDs are useless in audio.

Any 7200rpm drive can keep up with a hundred tracks.

You are far better off dedicating drives to specific purposes.
For example:

Drive 1 - OS and apps
Drive 2 - Audio recording
Drive 3 - Sample libraries

[xthedanielx]

RAIDs are useless in audio.

Any 7200rpm drive can keep up with a hundred tracks.

You are far better off dedicating drives to specific purposes.
For example:

Drive 1 - OS and apps
Drive 2 - Audio recording
Drive 3 - Sample libraries

this is how i have my computer set up, i just wanted to swap out my audio drive with the SATA one that I got for Christmas because the audio drive I am using is an IDE drive and SATA is faster. But I don't know how to get windows to recognize the SATA drive unless the raid is enabled which makes the drive useless to me since I can't have raid enabled to use Pro Tools.

[smileywiley]

Pro Tools should not even be able to tell whether or not you have RAID enabled. RAID is a more core level thing.

I would guess that the HD is not working at all. RAID only works with 2 or more hard drives. If you have it turned on with only one, it's probably flat out not working.

If you had two, you could set them up to RAID 0 (I think that's the one) where they supposedly run twice as fast (sends half the data to each HD, therefore moving twice the data) but I hear that a noticeable difference is very hard to find.

All you need to do is figure out why your HD won't work without RAID enabled. Did you buy a PCI SATA controller card, or do you have a motherboard with SATA already on it? If so, my first guess would be SATA controller drivers. Also, check the BIOS for settings.

[Justin]

Did you put a single drive onto a RAID host port?

Most motherboards with onboard SATA have a couple of normal ports, and then 2 or 4 ports on a RAID controller.

Usually if you put a lone drive onto a RAID controller port, there is a BIOS setting that you need to change to allow that controller to act like a normal EIDE port. Usually it's some kind of toggle in the menu between the RAID and non-RAID mode. (RAID/EIDE mode)
Consult your manual, you may need to set this up correctly before the drive will be accessible to Windows.

You will also need to format the volume before ProTools can use it.