Greetings.
I purchased an Optiplex 7020 along with the SATA controller card referenced in this post after chatting with a representative and coming away believing the 7020 and the SATA controller card combination would allow me to set up a RAID 1 array. I bought both the 7020 and the controller card from Dell.
However, after multiple conversations with Dell Technical Support and Startech Technical Support, I am still unable to get this to work. I am able to get into the controller card configuration menu on boot up in addition to being able to access the system BIOS. The BIOS shows "Mass Storage" assigned to the PCI Express slot (as it should), but complains about no hard drive being found when I try to boot.
Just for clarity: I am not attempting to use an integrated RAID configuration and am instead trying to use a controller card to care for the RAID array. So I am of the (possibly mistaken) belief that the "RAID ON" setting in the BIOS is irrelevant because the controller card is caring for the RAID array. BTW: My BIOS doesn't have a "RAID ON" setting. I'm just stating this to prevent a responder from taking me down the path of the integrated RAID configuration. The 7020 doesn't come with integrated RAID.
In fact, this Dell page says I'll need to "purchase additional hardware", which is exactly what I did when I bought the controller card - or at least I thought.
So the questions are: What do I need to do to be able to get my Optiplex 7020 to mirror the first drive onto a second so that the second is bootable right away in the event the first one fails? Do I need a software solution instead? Do I need additional hardware yet?
Thanks in advance!