[gentoo-user] Hard drive AHCI versus RAID setting in BIOS?

[gentoo-user] Hard drive AHCI versus RAID setting in BIOS?

[Walter Dnes]

  Are there any (dis)advantages for RAID versus AHCI being set in
the BIOS (Dell Inspiron)?  I.e. disk capacity, speed, and reliability.

  Since wiping Windows voids the warranty, I'll run the new machine for
several days under Windows, just in case there are any early problems.
After that, it goes Gentoo.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>
I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications

Re: [gentoo-user] Hard drive AHCI versus RAID setting in BIOS?

[Mark Knecht]

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On Fri, Jun 4, 2021, 3:05 PM Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org> wrote:

>   Are there any (dis)advantages for RAID versus AHCI being set in
> the BIOS (Dell Inspiron)?  I.e. disk capacity, speed, and reliability.
>
>   Since wiping Windows voids the warranty, I'll run the new machine for
> several days under Windows, just in case there are any early problems.
> After that, it goes Gentoo.
>
> --
> Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>
> I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications
>
>
> Please excuse any formatting issues. Answering on my phone.


No experience with Dell machines in years but I imagine setting RAID in
bios assumes you want to use a built in hardware RAID controller which may
require a specific driver vs the standard AHCI interface.

Check your manual carefully.

HTH,
Mark

>

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Re: [gentoo-user] Hard drive AHCI versus RAID setting in BIOS?

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Fri, 4 Jun 2021 18:04:51 -0400, Walter Dnes wrote:

>   Since wiping Windows voids the warranty, I'll run the new machine for
> several days under Windows, just in case there are any early problems.
> After that, it goes Gentoo.

I always boot system rescue and dd the entries drive to somewhere safe.
That way I restore the original setup in the case of a warranty claim -
unless the failure is that bad that I can't boot or access the disk.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Windows Error #05: Nonexisent error. This cannot really be happening

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Re: [gentoo-user] Hard drive AHCI versus RAID setting in BIOS?

[Walter Dnes]

On Sat, Jun 05, 2021 at 12:04:19AM +0100, Neil Bothwick wrote
> On Fri, 4 Jun 2021 18:04:51 -0400, Walter Dnes wrote:
> 
> >   Since wiping Windows voids the warranty, I'll run the new machine for
> > several days under Windows, just in case there are any early problems.
> > After that, it goes Gentoo.
> 
> I always boot system rescue and dd the entries drive to somewhere safe.
> That way I restore the original setup in the case of a warranty claim -
> unless the failure is that bad that I can't boot or access the disk.

  a) The drive is one terabyte in size.

  b) Yes, Mr. Dell Support, I bought the machine 6 months ago and I've
been websurfing, Youtubing, etc ever since.  And Windows Home has not
forced an update all that time.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>
I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications

Re: [gentoo-user] Hard drive AHCI versus RAID setting in BIOS?

[Michael]

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On Saturday, 5 June 2021 03:10:10 BST Walter Dnes wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 05, 2021 at 12:04:19AM +0100, Neil Bothwick wrote
> 
> > On Fri, 4 Jun 2021 18:04:51 -0400, Walter Dnes wrote:
> > >   Since wiping Windows voids the warranty, I'll run the new machine for
> > > 
> > > several days under Windows, just in case there are any early problems.
> > > After that, it goes Gentoo.
> > 
> > I always boot system rescue and dd the entries drive to somewhere safe.
> > That way I restore the original setup in the case of a warranty claim -
> > unless the failure is that bad that I can't boot or access the disk.
> 
>   a) The drive is one terabyte in size.
> 
>   b) Yes, Mr. Dell Support, I bought the machine 6 months ago and I've
> been websurfing, Youtubing, etc ever since.  And Windows Home has not
> forced an update all that time.

The drive may be 1TB, but the data on it must be significantly less.  
Clonezilla can copy and compress the data into a backup image for later 
restoration, should a claim against warranty arise.

Whether a MSWindows Update took place or not, or indeed whether the OS was 
even initialised or not (first run), is pretty much immaterial, as long as the 
failure is related to hardware and data can be provided to this effect.  I've 
returned a PC because smartmontools showed an imminent disk failure and 
another because it failed an overnight run of memtest86+.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Hard drive AHCI versus RAID setting in BIOS?

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Fri, 4 Jun 2021 22:10:10 -0400, Walter Dnes wrote:

> > I always boot system rescue and dd the entries drive to somewhere
> > safe. That way I restore the original setup in the case of a warranty
> > claim - unless the failure is that bad that I can't boot or access
> > the disk.  
> 
>   a) The drive is one terabyte in size.

Most of is empty, the drives always compress to a lot less.
 
>   b) Yes, Mr. Dell Support, I bought the machine 6 months ago and I've
> been websurfing, Youtubing, etc ever since.  And Windows Home has not
> forced an update all that time.

That would be difficult but no evidence of any evil doing, such as
installing Linux. However, I'm more concerned about an earlier failure,
if it lasts six months it should last six years.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Hard drive AHCI versus RAID setting in BIOS?

[Michael]

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On Saturday, 5 June 2021 08:32:47 BST Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Fri, 4 Jun 2021 22:10:10 -0400, Walter Dnes wrote:
> > > I always boot system rescue and dd the entries drive to somewhere
> > > safe. That way I restore the original setup in the case of a warranty
> > > claim - unless the failure is that bad that I can't boot or access
> > > the disk.
> > > 
> >   a) The drive is one terabyte in size.
> 
> Most of is empty, the drives always compress to a lot less.
> 
> >   b) Yes, Mr. Dell Support, I bought the machine 6 months ago and I've
> > 
> > been websurfing, Youtubing, etc ever since.  And Windows Home has not
> > forced an update all that time.
> 
> That would be difficult but no evidence of any evil doing, such as
> installing Linux. However, I'm more concerned about an earlier failure,
> if it lasts six months it should last six years.

Back to the original question:

I've not had a Dell with this option yet, but I understand Dell uses RAID with 
NVMe drives because it allows Intel RST drivers to work with most/all NVMe 
drives.  I'm not sure if any of the Dell onboard software to restore the Win10 
OS also depend on this.  Once you initialize the OS I think you won't be able 
to run it in a different mode.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/why-does-dell-set-the-bios-to-raid-always.832016/

However, I've seen it mentioned in various places Linux will not be able to 
see the drive if RAID is selected - I don't know if this is still the case.

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/Pros-Cons-AHCI-vs-Raid-On-XPS13-9300-NVMe/
td-p/7636984

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Re: [gentoo-user] Hard drive AHCI versus RAID setting in BIOS?

[Walter Dnes]

On Sat, Jun 05, 2021 at 08:53:30AM +0100, Michael wrote

> Back to the original question:
> 
> I've not had a Dell with this option yet, but I understand Dell uses
> RAID with NVMe drives because it allows Intel RST drivers to work
> with most/all NVMe drives.  I'm not sure if any of the Dell onboard
> software to restore the Win10 OS also depend on this.  Once you
> initialize the OS I think you won't be able to run it in a different
> mode.
> 
> http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/why-does-dell-set-the-bios-to-raid-always.832016/
> 
> However, I've seen it mentioned in various places Linux will not be able to 
> see the drive if RAID is selected - I don't know if this is still the case.
> 
> https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/Pros-Cons-AHCI-vs-Raid-On-XPS13-9300-NVMe/td-p/7636984

  Some years ago, I had a Dell with a hard drive (no SSD), that would't
work with RAID enabled.  Apparently things haven't changed much.  Thanks
for the info; I'll know to select AHCI when I install.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>
I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications

Re: [gentoo-user] Hard drive AHCI versus RAID setting in BIOS?

[Mark Knecht]

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On Fri, Jun 4, 2021 at 4:04 PM Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 4 Jun 2021 18:04:51 -0400, Walter Dnes wrote:
>
> >   Since wiping Windows voids the warranty, I'll run the new machine for
> > several days under Windows, just in case there are any early problems.
> > After that, it goes Gentoo.
>
> I always boot system rescue and dd the entries drive to somewhere safe.
> That way I restore the original setup in the case of a warranty claim -
> unless the failure is that bad that I can't boot or access the disk.
>
>
> --
> Neil Bothwick
>
> Windows Error #05: Nonexisent error. This cannot really be happening

Just a side thought but if the machine uses a M.2 type PCIe drive shipped
originally with Windows on it then, because the swap is physically easy and
quick, I might consider just buying a second M.2 for a LInux install thus
keeping the original with Windows.

- Mark

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