Is it possible to add several Raid 0 HDDs (based on Motherboard Raid) to the Unraid Array?

[PhilippG]

I am quite new to Unraid and I thinking about ways to make the array as performant as possible. Is it possible to add multiple Hardware Raid 0 from the Motherboard (based on Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology RAID) and get it running within the Array as a Parity and Regular Drive?

 

Example if I got 6 x 4TB HDDs:

 

8TB Parity Drive: 2 x 4TB Western Digital Red (combined as Raid 0 Drive )

8TB Regular A:    2 x 4TB Western Digital Red  (combined as Raid 0 Drive )

8TB Regular B:    2 x 4TB Western Digital Red  (combined as Raid 0 Drive )

 

Right now I fail to build that in practice.

I did a test on my new Unraid on two different systems (AsRock Z97 Pro3 and ASUS Mainbaord), and it is not detecting the three Raid 0 but six individual Discs instead. Despite the fact that the RAID Setup in Bios is successful and the fact that those Drives are being detected as 3 big 8TB Drives in Windows 10.  Is there something that needs to be changed within Unraid?

 

I am aware that Raid 0 is not a save way to store data and if the Motherboard dies I am in even bigger trouble. And I am aware that Cache Drives could be used to speed up Transfer instead. Is there anybody who has been successful?

 

 

[JonathanM]

99% of motherboard RAID setups aren't actually hardware RAID, more like front end configuration for software based RAID. What you propose is possible with some hardware based RAID cards, but not recommended for several reasons, the biggest being that if you pass through a RAID volume Unraid is unable to monitor disk health properly.

 

[PhilippG]

Thank you. That is quite helpful.

[JorgeB]

Yes, like jonathanm mentioned most boards use "fakeRAID", you can use something like an LSI MegaRAID controller to have raid volumes assigned as devices, I used one for some time mostly for testing and it was fast, but not having easy access to SMART data was a deal breaker for me.