Scott Mueller's Upgrading and Repairing PCs Forum

I have an Intel DZ68BC mobo , two WD RE4 500GB hardrives and a Samsung 128Gb SSD installed in a system . Post has no problems , used F7 method to install the latest bios but as yet no os installed, so far the build is going well . I plan to put the os on the ssd along with applications and use the wd drives for a raid 1 for files , pictures etc.

I plan to use Intel Rapid Storage Technology , the option rom is in the bios, read Intels latest manual and looked at all the documentation on their site. The manual states that when installing Windows 7 ( total drive volume less than 2 TB ) loading a driver during operating system installation is recommened but not required. Also state that Windows 7 includes drivers for RAID/AHCI during installation.

So now I'm confused about the default drivers in Windows 7 SP1 and RST drivers in general, think they will work but wondering if I start with older drivers can they be updated without a clean install? If useing the F6 download drivers there appear to be ways to extract the driver files and use a usb flash drive to load the drivers during Windows 7 installation. Seems those drivers are more recent and correspond closer to the latest RST download.

How would you recommend installing Windows , go with default drivers or load drivers during install? I've googled the subject and found lots of contradiction, maybe because f6 was required on XP. As allways any advice , corrections and links are appreciated.

As long as the drives are properly recognized during the install (which should be the case if they are 2.2TB or less in capacity) I would allow Windows to supply the default drivers during the install, then update them post install just as you would with any other drivers. If the Windows supplied drivers do not allow the drive to be properly recognized, then of course they will need to be updated during the install.


If you don't have at least one more equivelant drive for backup, then I would recommend using the 2nd drive for backup instead of using RAID 1. An even better backup solution would incorporate at least two external drives (eSATA or USB 3.0 recommended) in an alternating fashion for daily or weekly backup, with one of them kept off-site. Scott.

Based on your recommendation and specs. on the 20th video I purchased an external enclosure and 3rd hdd for a backup solution. Haven't set them up yet , still looking at backup software along with the robocopy method you previously posted on. The Z68 chipset mobo has 4 sata II ports and 2 SATA III ports. Presently the SSD is on SATA III port 0 and the WD HDD on SATA II ports 2 and 3, also an optical drive on port 4. There is a Marvel 88SE9128 SATA III controller with two free ports on the mobo along with an Marvel esata port on the back panel. The Rosewill external enclosure is esata capable and came with an esata rear expansion bracket adapter, which is installed but unconnected.

Been thinking for some time on which unused SATA port Scott would use to connect the esata external backup drive.

Z68 SATA III PORT 1
Z68 SATA II PORT 5
MARVEL SATA III TWO FREE PORTS
MARVEL BACK PANEL ESATA CONNECTION

I like the alternating external drive backup mentioned , have a spare esata rear bracket adapter with two connections and may pick up another external enclosure and drive. If I do that how to connect?

I'm glad you've incorporated backup into your system. I'd probably keep all of the eSATA connections on the Marvell controller. Scott.

Scott, thanks for the help.