Installing a RAID volume post OS installation (whilst keeping the OS on a single SSD)?

[Mr Davo]

Hi Everyone,

I have a DKT-702 Computer (OEM brand, from Harris Technology in Australia). I have identified that it uses a Foxconn H67M-V motherboard, which utilizes the Intel H67 chipset. I would now like to add a RAID1+0 array (utilizing 4 x 1 Terabyte Drives) to my computer, however I need to keep my primary hard drive (a Samsung EVO 840 - 250 Gig SSD).

The motherboard manual clearly indicates that the motherboard does support the RAID type that I intend on implementing. I have a little bit of experience with RAID on personal computers, so I plan to go about the task as follows -

1). Disconnect the primary (SSD) drive
2). Connect the 4 x 1T Disks
3). Enter the BIOS and set the "IDE Mode" to RAID
4). Enter the RAID Utility & setup the RAID volume
5). Partition the new RAID volume as I see fit (it will only be for data, no OS).
6). Plug the primary (SSD) drive back in
7). Start the computer up
8). Install the Intel Matrix RAID drivers into Windows (7)
9). Reboot

Given the following intended procedure is there anything that I should be particularly careful about? Alternatively if anybody can suggest a better procedure I am very open to adapting my plan. My primary goal is to keep my primary drive safe from data loss, and to implement a new RAID1+0 array purely for the storage of data.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Davo

[parsec]

Re: Installing a RAID volume post OS installation (whilst keeping the OS on a single SSD)?

Sorry, that won't work, given what seems to be the case from the steps of your procedure.

That is, it seems you did not install Win 7 on your SSD with the SATA mode set to RAID. You cannot simply change the SATA mode to RAID after an OS installation, the PC will not boot. Removing your OS drive and creating the RAID array without it is not a work around for that issue. Otherwise I don't understand why you would remove the SSD when creating a RAID array out of other drives, that won't affect it at all.

What SATA mode did you use when you installed Win 7, AHCI or IDE? Regardless, there is a method for changing to RAID mode after an OS installation, that requires a registry edit. Google on "change from AHCI to RAID", and you'll get many links to the procedure. Microsoft has a "hotfix" for this as well as I recall, which should appear among the hits of that search.

The other alternative is to reinstall Win 7 with the SATA mode set to RAID.

Assuming that you are able to change to RAID mode, you can then create the RAID 10 volume with the RAID utility available during POST, or if you install the Intel RAID driver in Windows, you can do that with the Intel Windows UI.

You can use the newer Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) driver instead of the old Intel Matrix Storage Manager (IMSM) driver, with your H67 chipset. Any of the IRST drivers from Intel should work with your H67 chipset, and can be downloaded from Intel here, as well as different versions of IMSM:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...l%C2%AE+RST%29

Don't forget to select your OS version on that page, if only to reduce the size of the list.

The only possible problem when using an IRST driver, would be caused by the version of the Intel RAID Option ROM that is part of that PC's BIOS. Normally older Option ROMs work fine with newer driver versions, but if that PC has a very old one, you may need to use the IMSM driver. I doubt that will be the case, but you never know with OEM PCs sometimes...

[Mr Davo]

Re: Installing a RAID volume post OS installation (whilst keeping the OS on a single SSD)?

Hi All,

I was able to boot to the SSD in RAID mode (even though Windows 7 wasn't installed in this mode) by following the instructions in the link below -

Overclockers UK Forums - View Single Post - ICH10R/P45 - changing from IDE to ACHI?

Thanks

Davo

[Mr Davo]

Re: Installing a RAID volume post OS installation (whilst keeping the OS on a single SSD)?

Hi Everyone,

I found this very useful tutorial on YouTube, and thought it worth promoting!

Kind Regards,

Davo

[parsec]

Re: Installing a RAID volume post OS installation (whilst keeping the OS on a single SSD)?

Hi All,

I was able to boot to the SSD in RAID mode (even though Windows 7 wasn't installed in this mode) by following the instructions in the link below -

Overclockers UK Forums - View Single Post - ICH10R/P45 - changing from IDE to ACHI?

Thanks

Davo

That's what I said...

[Mr Davo]

Re: Installing a RAID volume post OS installation (whilst keeping the OS on a single SSD)?

Thanks Parsec, I should have re-read your original post. I appreciate the effort that you have put in, and I am happy to say that everything is going well so far. I have initialised the disk under Windows, and plan on performing a disk format tonight. :)