What is the purpose of a VIA Raid Tool? I bought a computer from a company who does home repairs and custom work. This was installed in my new computer. Also installed is VIA Platform Device. What the heck is this?


Thanks everyone.

What is the purpose of a VIA Raid Tool? I bought a computer from a company who does home repairs and custom work. This was installed in my new computer. Also installed is VIA Platform Device. What the heck is this?


Thanks everyone.

VIA is a chipset (part of the design of the motherboard). RAID is a type of storage which is usually installed on servers and/or computers which need to keep constant backups of their files.

more generically, VIA is a company (http://www.via.com.tw/en)

and yes, RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) (although nowadays I think the I stands for Independent, but really, when it was Inexpensive, the disks were anything but) is a way to connect multiple hard drives to work together on different levels.

sometimes it's as easy as joining two drives together and make it seem like one, but usually it's for data protection and/or integrity. like wizard mentioned, when you have two hard drives, your RAID controller can write to both at them at the same time (mirroring) so that if one hard drive goes bad, you have a current copy as a backup that you can switch to. in more complicated scenarios (like on servers), the RAID is usually set up with three or more drives with one drive acting as a checksum so if one of the drives goes bad, you can replace the bad drive and it can automatically replace the missing data on the replacement drive. but i'm guessing you probably aren't going to use that at home.

I really can't offer much on the Platform Device [Manager] other than I think it's just software that helps manage the VIA drivers and components, most likely for the RAID.

VIA is a chipset (part of the design of the motherboard). RAID is a type of storage which is usually installed on servers and/or computers which need to keep constant backups of their files.


Could it alter audio for your computer if removed. I had asked someone at work about it and got a vauge answer. The guy said it could alter my audio. I just don't want any programs I don't need.

i wouldn't remove it for the sole purpose that it might be managing your computer's hardware (your hard drive(s)) and removing it might render them inoperable. you might want to try signing up at VIA's forums at http://forums.viaarena.com and asking your question there.

i wouldn't remove it for the sole purpose that it might be managing your computer's hardware (your hard drive(s)) and removing it might render them inoperable. you might want to try signing up at VIA's forums at http://forums.viaarena.com and asking your question there.

Thanks so much. I didn't like the word RAID, LOL!!!!! :D

It's unlikely that removing a RAID configuration tool could alter your audio settings. However, I would not put this near the top of software to be uninstalled in a search for increased capacity. A RAID configuration tool falls in the area of system utilities.

On the other hand, if you're not using RAID on your computer--how many hard disks are installed?--you probably don't need it at all.

Could it alter audio for your computer if removed. I had asked someone at work about it and got a vauge answer. The guy said it could alter my audio. I just don't want any programs I don't need.

There is no way to remove the tool because it is most likely part of the BIOS which configures your computer settings (date, time, number and type of hard drives, disk drives, cd drives, etc.)

The RAID configuration is like a secondary BIOS which is specifically for the RAID drives.

The VIA chipset is part of the motherboard and soldered onto the motherboard.

what she's seeing is probably either drivers or software to monitor/configure the raid. i wouldn't advise removing either in either case.