Today my long awaited NM10-DTX motherboard arrived and I promptly built a NAS server using it. However I have run into some issues with the RAID configuration.
The BIOS appears to have an "Onboard RAID Controller Configuration" menu, within which I can select what RAID Mode to use; the selection menu offers four options (I have 4 2TB drives installed), which are; Update to Stripe (RAID0), Update to Large (JBOD), Update to RAID10 (RAID10), Update to Normal Disk.
I was expecting to run a software RAID 5 setup using Linux, however when I select "Update to Normal Disk" only one of the 4 drives shows up.
Surprisingly enough, no matter which option I select (I tried them all), the "JMicron Technology Corp. RAID Setup Utility v1.07.14" program that loads following the ZOTAC logo at boot, never shows more than 1 hard drive present (rendering the utility entirely useless). If I select a RAID or JBOD option in the BIOS, that HW RAID device shows up as a single drive within the JMicron RAID Setup Utility.
Does anyone know how to make the controller display all 4 drives in the OS, or if it can somehow handle raid 5?
Documentation for this feature is non-existent. RAID 10 wouldn't be so bad, as it has better performance, however the BIOS does not allow me to "rebuild" the array, which sorta defeats the purpose of having a RAID to begin with, since if a drive fails, i can't rebuild the RAID.
Any help is appreciated!
Thanks!
Z-Spot ZOTAC Forums
NM10-DTX SATA RAID Configuration Issues
#2
supaahiro 
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Posted 17 April 2010 - 09:51 PM
Where do you see the 1 drive, in BIOS or in Linux? Also, can you test 1 drive at a time to make sure BIOS recognizes them.
Make sure you are using SATA Ports 3-6 for your RAID setup as those are set aside just for RAID.
Here is a link to the drivers: ftp://driver.jmicron.com.tw/jmb36x/
Make sure you are using SATA Ports 3-6 for your RAID setup as those are set aside just for RAID.
Here is a link to the drivers: ftp://driver.jmicron.com.tw/jmb36x/
#3
element913
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Posted 17 April 2010 - 11:11 PM
The one drive appears in the RAID BIOS and in Linux as "H/W RAID". In the system BIOS I see 4 drives in the SATA3-6 slots (all of which say "supported"). Is there any way to un-RAID the RAID ports?
I have a dvd burner hooked up to the SATA1 port and SATA2 is open.
I have a dvd burner hooked up to the SATA1 port and SATA2 is open.
#5
element913
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Posted 18 April 2010 - 08:24 AM
It appears the options "AHCI", "IDE", and "Disabled" are available under "IDE Configuration->Configure SATA as", and they only effect SATA1-2.
#7
element913
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Posted 18 April 2010 - 11:33 PM
The latest bios says
.8Mbit Flash size
.2010/End/March update
.Changed IDE Configuration settings
(End/March/2010)
in the release notes.
The BIOS that shipped with the board is from 03/25/2010, so I'm assuming its the latest, since the previous entry says
.8Mbit Flash size
.2010/Mid/March update built
.Fixed "Windows installation slow with some RAM" issue
(Mid/March/2010)
and 03/25/2010 is not Mid-March.
.8Mbit Flash size
.2010/End/March update
.Changed IDE Configuration settings
(End/March/2010)
in the release notes.
The BIOS that shipped with the board is from 03/25/2010, so I'm assuming its the latest, since the previous entry says
.8Mbit Flash size
.2010/Mid/March update built
.Fixed "Windows installation slow with some RAM" issue
(Mid/March/2010)
and 03/25/2010 is not Mid-March.
#9
element913
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Posted 19 April 2010 - 09:49 PM
I just confirmed by flashing the BIOS, the BIOS that was shipped is the same as the most recent on the site.
Version: 08.00.16
Build Date: 03/25/10
ID: A137PA25
I've decided to return the board, thanks for the help.
Version: 08.00.16
Build Date: 03/25/10
ID: A137PA25
I've decided to return the board, thanks for the help.
#10
Skol
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Posted 20 April 2010 - 07:52 AM
Hello Folks,
I have the same problem
: How can I use all 6 SATA ports in Windows without using any raid?
Usually every 20$ RAID controller has this feature or a special firmware to make this possible.
I was waiting about 3 months for this board and now I cannot use it!
Regards,
Skol
I have the same problem
: How can I use all 6 SATA ports in Windows without using any raid?Usually every 20$ RAID controller has this feature or a special firmware to make this possible.
I was waiting about 3 months for this board and now I cannot use it!
Regards,
Skol
This post has been edited by Skol: 20 April 2010 - 07:53 AM
#12
PumpkinEater
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Posted 23 April 2010 - 12:57 AM
I also bought the board assuming that I can use 6 SATA ports independantly without RAID. Before sending it back to the store I would like to check which options the board provide ( OS is Ubuntu Server 9.10):
- My idea is to configure two harddisks as RAID1 and use this pair for the OS. Is it possible to boot from the RAID1 disks and to use the two basic SATA ports (not provided by the jmicron chip) as normal disks?
- What exact type of jmicron controller is used?
- How does JBOD exactly works on the board?
- Is the restriction regarding the SATA ports coming from the jmicron chipset or from the BIOS? Is there a chance to remove the restriction in a future BIOS version?
It would be nice to get some more detailled infromation regarding the SATA ports.
Thank you very much.
Peter
- My idea is to configure two harddisks as RAID1 and use this pair for the OS. Is it possible to boot from the RAID1 disks and to use the two basic SATA ports (not provided by the jmicron chip) as normal disks?
- What exact type of jmicron controller is used?
- How does JBOD exactly works on the board?
- Is the restriction regarding the SATA ports coming from the jmicron chipset or from the BIOS? Is there a chance to remove the restriction in a future BIOS version?
It would be nice to get some more detailled infromation regarding the SATA ports.
Thank you very much.
Peter
#13
tietze
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Posted 23 April 2010 - 07:03 AM
In line with what PumpkinEater writes above I would like to know whether you are working on a bios update that will fix this problem.
If it's not possible to "use the 6 SATA ports independantly without RAID" the board becomes unusable for the NAS I had planned.
For me the attraction of this board was the number of SATA-ports, low power consumption and two PCIe slots.
I think it would be appropriate (if this really is the case) to state clearly that the board does not support independent disks on the RAID-controllers 4 ports. Because, as Skol writes above, this is to my knowledge a possible mode of functioning on every (onboard) cheap (fake-) RAID controller on the market.
~ Jørgen.
If it's not possible to "use the 6 SATA ports independantly without RAID" the board becomes unusable for the NAS I had planned.
For me the attraction of this board was the number of SATA-ports, low power consumption and two PCIe slots.
I think it would be appropriate (if this really is the case) to state clearly that the board does not support independent disks on the RAID-controllers 4 ports. Because, as Skol writes above, this is to my knowledge a possible mode of functioning on every (onboard) cheap (fake-) RAID controller on the market.
~ Jørgen.
#14
tietze
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Posted 23 April 2010 - 10:28 AM
I've been investigating a bit more. And should probably have done this earlier...
The Zotac board use one of the JMB36x chips for controlling two extra SATA channels. None of the chips in the JMB36x product line support more than two SATA channels: http://www.jmicron.c...roduct_list.htm
I assume that the Zotac board has all 4 SATA RAID ports connected through a port multiplier, to one of the channels that the JMB36x chip controls. Like this:
JMB36x chip
Some port multipliers offer the option to handle the disks behind the multiplier as 1 disk or as individual disks (usually by jumpers). Sadly Zotac has chosen that the disks on the port multiplier should appear as one disk.
The JMB36x supports port multipliers, so it should be able to make available all the disks behind the port multiplier as individual disks. But I guess there is only a slim chance that a BIOS update could solve this problem. Then of course it would not be 4 full sata channels, but four disks on 1 SATA channel. Which is a performance degradation that would not fit all applications.
The Zotac board use one of the JMB36x chips for controlling two extra SATA channels. None of the chips in the JMB36x product line support more than two SATA channels: http://www.jmicron.c...roduct_list.htm
I assume that the Zotac board has all 4 SATA RAID ports connected through a port multiplier, to one of the channels that the JMB36x chip controls. Like this:
JMB36x chip
\--- channel 1 ---- 4x SATA port multiplier
\--- channel 2 ---- 1x eSATA port
Some port multipliers offer the option to handle the disks behind the multiplier as 1 disk or as individual disks (usually by jumpers). Sadly Zotac has chosen that the disks on the port multiplier should appear as one disk.
The JMB36x supports port multipliers, so it should be able to make available all the disks behind the port multiplier as individual disks. But I guess there is only a slim chance that a BIOS update could solve this problem. Then of course it would not be 4 full sata channels, but four disks on 1 SATA channel. Which is a performance degradation that would not fit all applications.
#15
linux-man
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Posted 23 April 2010 - 12:59 PM
There has been some discussion of how SATA is implemented on the following forum thread (in German):
http://www.hardwarel...x-697054-3.html
It appears as though this board has a JMB362 dual port SATA controller and a JMB324 1-to-5 SATA Port Multiplier.
The JMB324 Port Multiplier appears to be daisy-chained off one of the JMB362 SATA ports, while the other one goes to the eSATA connector.
The JMB324 (not listed on the JMicron website) appears to be a 5 port variant of the JMB322.
When reading the JMicron feature description page of the JMB322 (http://www.jmicron.c...duct_JMB322.htm) it appears that the JMB322 is perfectly capable of making the individual disks connected visible to the OS:
Furthermore one owner of the NM10-DTX on the German forum mentioned above, claims he is able to see all disks connected to SATA ports 3-6 individually, by hot-plugging them after the board has booted.
To me it looks like the current problem is a limitation or error in the current system BIOS of this board, so I hope Zotac will still fix this with a BIOS update.
I don't currently own this board, but I had planned to buy it, although I won't buy it before this issue has been solved with a BIOS update, so that all disks are individually visible.
http://www.hardwarel...x-697054-3.html
It appears as though this board has a JMB362 dual port SATA controller and a JMB324 1-to-5 SATA Port Multiplier.
The JMB324 Port Multiplier appears to be daisy-chained off one of the JMB362 SATA ports, while the other one goes to the eSATA connector.
The JMB324 (not listed on the JMicron website) appears to be a 5 port variant of the JMB322.
When reading the JMicron feature description page of the JMB322 (http://www.jmicron.c...duct_JMB322.htm) it appears that the JMB322 is perfectly capable of making the individual disks connected visible to the OS:
Quote
JMB322 uses JMicron's production-proven Multi-port Serial ATA PHY technology and JMicron-proprietary storage processor to provide very high efficient SATA RAID operation. With an easy configuration scheme, the device can be a pure port multiplier which provides SATA port expansion just like a SATA Hub, or hard-drive performance booster which provides a high performance device seen by host controller or hard-drive data protector which automatically backup data to prevent data loss from hard-drive damage.
Furthermore one owner of the NM10-DTX on the German forum mentioned above, claims he is able to see all disks connected to SATA ports 3-6 individually, by hot-plugging them after the board has booted.
To me it looks like the current problem is a limitation or error in the current system BIOS of this board, so I hope Zotac will still fix this with a BIOS update.
I don't currently own this board, but I had planned to buy it, although I won't buy it before this issue has been solved with a BIOS update, so that all disks are individually visible.
This post has been edited by linux-man: 23 April 2010 - 01:12 PM
#16
boarder
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Posted 26 April 2010 - 04:16 PM
I concur. I was waiting for this board for the exact same reason (number of individual sata ports). I need to use software raid for what I am doing, so this is a problem. Anyone at zotac interested in discussing this issue ?
#17
ominus
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Posted 26 April 2010 - 07:15 PM
I had just placed my order for an NM10-DTX board 5 minutes earlier, when I came across this forum posting.
I too was hoping for individual sata ports, not RAID. Wish the product spec had stated clearly that it was RAID ONLY. I realise it didn't say it could support individual drives, but in this day and age, why shouldn't it?
I'm wanting to run Windows Home Server on it and if there was anything important enough on my drives to need RAID abilities, I'd just use WHS's Duplication feature. I've been holding off on buying a board because I was waiting for this one.
I have just cancelled my order and I'll wait and see if Zotac can release a BIOS update to tweak it for us to allow the individual drives to be seen. I'm not too concerned about SATA performance, as long as I can stream 1080P video, I'm happy.
My co-worker was also considering getting one of these boards but I think this will also put him off getting one.
If Zotac are able to do a BIOS fix, could you let us know so that I can buy my board and have it all ready to go for the update?
Thank you
I too was hoping for individual sata ports, not RAID. Wish the product spec had stated clearly that it was RAID ONLY. I realise it didn't say it could support individual drives, but in this day and age, why shouldn't it?
I'm wanting to run Windows Home Server on it and if there was anything important enough on my drives to need RAID abilities, I'd just use WHS's Duplication feature. I've been holding off on buying a board because I was waiting for this one.
I have just cancelled my order and I'll wait and see if Zotac can release a BIOS update to tweak it for us to allow the individual drives to be seen. I'm not too concerned about SATA performance, as long as I can stream 1080P video, I'm happy.
My co-worker was also considering getting one of these boards but I think this will also put him off getting one.
If Zotac are able to do a BIOS fix, could you let us know so that I can buy my board and have it all ready to go for the update?
Thank you
#18
tietze
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Posted 27 April 2010 - 03:05 AM
I asked technical support directly about the possibility of using SATA port 3-6 for individual disks and on the possibility of a BIOS update. I got the answer below:
eurotech@zotac.com, on 26 April 2010 - 12:55 CEST, said:
Dear customer
The latest fact is :
* the first two SATA Ports (1-2) on this model is from the intel chipset, just ordinary SATA ports, no RAID function.
* the four SATA Ports (3-6) are implemented by an extra RAID Controller (Jmicron).
* SATA Ports (3-6) can be configure to run in RAID [0, or 1, or 0 +1] , or it can be set to run as 4 independent logica drives (under certain limitations).
On the existing BIOS, there are two places to configure the Jmicron RAID modes :
[1] In the CMOS - Advanced - RAID Controller configuration items
- Set to RAID 0 (stripe)
- Set to RAID 1 (mirror), when 2 pcs HDD installed
- Set to RAID 01 (stripe + mirror), when 4 pcs HDD installed
- Set to Large (JBOD), any number of HDD installed
- Set to Normal Disk
[2] In the Jmicron RAID Config (Expansion ROM BIOS), bring up by press <Ctrl + J> during bootup
There is some issue in this Jmicron RAID Config ROM BIOS
Do not use this feature for the time being, this is not able to take care of the HDDs at "SATA Ports 3-6"
For the time being, please use the approach (1), in the CMOS Setup, to do the RAID Configuration, rather than the <Ctrl + J> (Jmicron RAID config ROM BIOS).
To use the SATA ports (3-6) as independent logical drives, please have Windows installed (up and running) from HDD at SATA port 1 or port 2. Then install the Jmicron Driver (JMB36x) from the bundled CD Disk. Add the extra HDDs to SATA ports (3-6). Enter CMOS to set the RAID Controller to "Normal Disk", boot to Windows, then use Windows Disk Management tools to initialze / format the newly added HDDs (at SATA 3 - 6) to become valid logical drives.
We are now working with the BIOS Engineers to improve the Jmicron RAID Config (ROM BIOS), to make it work with SATA Ports 3-6.
The latest fact is :
* the first two SATA Ports (1-2) on this model is from the intel chipset, just ordinary SATA ports, no RAID function.
* the four SATA Ports (3-6) are implemented by an extra RAID Controller (Jmicron).
* SATA Ports (3-6) can be configure to run in RAID [0, or 1, or 0 +1] , or it can be set to run as 4 independent logica drives (under certain limitations).
On the existing BIOS, there are two places to configure the Jmicron RAID modes :
[1] In the CMOS - Advanced - RAID Controller configuration items
- Set to RAID 0 (stripe)
- Set to RAID 1 (mirror), when 2 pcs HDD installed
- Set to RAID 01 (stripe + mirror), when 4 pcs HDD installed
- Set to Large (JBOD), any number of HDD installed
- Set to Normal Disk
[2] In the Jmicron RAID Config (Expansion ROM BIOS), bring up by press <Ctrl + J> during bootup
There is some issue in this Jmicron RAID Config ROM BIOS
Do not use this feature for the time being, this is not able to take care of the HDDs at "SATA Ports 3-6"
For the time being, please use the approach (1), in the CMOS Setup, to do the RAID Configuration, rather than the <Ctrl + J> (Jmicron RAID config ROM BIOS).
To use the SATA ports (3-6) as independent logical drives, please have Windows installed (up and running) from HDD at SATA port 1 or port 2. Then install the Jmicron Driver (JMB36x) from the bundled CD Disk. Add the extra HDDs to SATA ports (3-6). Enter CMOS to set the RAID Controller to "Normal Disk", boot to Windows, then use Windows Disk Management tools to initialze / format the newly added HDDs (at SATA 3 - 6) to become valid logical drives.
We are now working with the BIOS Engineers to improve the Jmicron RAID Config (ROM BIOS), to make it work with SATA Ports 3-6.
#20
Hairlocks
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Posted 27 April 2010 - 05:17 AM
tietze: please can you do me a big favour. If you get the single disk access working can you try the opensolaris live cd ( http://www.genunix.o...dev-134-x86.iso ) and see if it can detect all the disks.
Thanks
Thanks
