RAID and BIOS settings

[8bitg33k]

Hi, I'm new to the forum, stumbled across this while trying to find answers to this board and some Intel Tech.

I am having trouble getting hardware RAID to work. Whenever I set SATA mode to RAID in BIOS, Windows gives me BSOD. When I set it back to AHCI after creating the array, Windows boots up fine and recognizes the two drives as one. But then Intel Rapid Store says I have a problem. I have one 60GB for the OS, and two 320gb WD Blue for the raid array (raid 0).

How do I correctly setup RAID?

[Reggie]

You should have installed Windows 7 with the SATA configuration set to RAID. Use the add driver feature in the beginning of Windows 7 installation to add the IRST (Intel Rapid Storage Tech) driver. Single drives are allowed in RAID mode. Just plug the drive in.

It is possible to change the configuration after installing Windows 7 by changing some registry settings. Microsoft has an auto fix to automatically change the registry settings. You will need the IRST driver.
Error message occurs after you change the SATA mode of the boot drive

[8bitg33k]

So it is not possible to add a RAID array after installing the OS, even when the OS does not reside on the RAID array but on it's own separate SSD other than by changing the registry settings?

That's pretty much what I did. ie, I installed Windows on the SSD in AHCI mode, then went into the BIOS set it to RAID mode, created the RAID array with the other two (mechanical drives), rebooted and got a BSOD. Then I set SATA back to to AHCI mode and Windows booted fine. Windows Disk Management correctly identified the two drives as one, so everything looks ok just that irst Manager is giving me this warning. Windows Write Cache Buffer Flushing is enabled.

[profJim]

When you initially install your o/s using AHCI mode, you must change the windows registry to be able to use a raid setup.
This can be done by manually editing the registry, applying a download .REG file or using the Microsoft Auto Fix.
This has been discussed in many threads in the Gigabyte forum.
A web search using: how to enable raid in windows 7 without reinstalling
will detail the different procedures.

[stasio]

So it is not possible to add a RAID array after installing the OS, even when the OS does not reside on the RAID array but on it's own separate SSD other than by changing the registry settings?

No,is not possible.
First RAID then OS.

[8bitg33k]

That's good info, thanks for the answers!

[profJim]

You're welcome.

I think that Stasio is correct if you want to set up a two drive raid array for your operating system.
You want to set up an array for your WD data drives, so you should be able to do this using one of the above techniques.
Let us know how it works out.

[parsec]

Hold on, it's possible to convert to RAID from AHCI, but it involves some work. You may decide to start over, but you can check this guide:

Guide How to switch to RAID 0 - without reinstalling!

As you saw, you can't change to RAID and create a volume, and then change to AHCI mode and have the RAID volume still work. You must stay in RAID mode for RAID to work.

[profJim]

@Parsec
The OCZ Raid 0 Guide appears to be for converting a single o/s drive to a two drive raid 0 array for the operating system.
The OP wants to set up both of his WD hard drives in a raid 0 array and leave the o/s drive as a single drive.

There is no problem with having his o/s drive as a single raid drive.
It seems to me that he should do the registry hack to enable raid mode with his current o/s ssd as the only drive attached to his system.
I assume that he can leave his optical drive connected during this step.
Once he has completed converting his system from AHCI to RAID, he will have all the Intel raid software installed after his system has completed all of the required reboots.

This is where I'm winging it, should he then continue by installing both of his WD hard drives and then create the raid 0 array for both of his hard drives?

[8bitg33k]

The RAID array does exist already... just that irst is reporting 'a problem' and does not show the array, only the SSD as in the image in the first post.

1. I installed the OS on the SSD with the two Blue's unplugged
2. I plugged in the Blues, set SATA Mode to RAID and created the array
3. Windows crashed (BSOD)
4. I went back into BIOS and set SATA mode to AHCI
5. Windows booted fine and recognized the Intel RAID 0 array (even with SATA mode set to AHCI)
6. Intel irst does NOT show the RAID array but reports 'a problem'
7. When I set SATA mode back to RAID, I start getting BSOD's again

Granted, I haven't been able to actually try any of the suggested steps yet. Just wanted to make sure it's clear what is happening (ie array exists, single SSD with OS, RAID array as data storage. In short, this may be a non-issue as the RAID array works just the fact that irst is showing a undefined problem and not showing the two Blues.