ASUS Z87 Pro motherboard - SSD with Windows 10 - Can I add a few HDDs in RAID 1 configurations?

Pyxxel

Commendable
Mar 18, 2016
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0
1,510
Hi there,

I currently have a system with ASUS Z87 Pro mobo and have my Win 10 installation on an SSD, connected to the Intel controller. I also have a few storage HDDs on the same controller. I also have an optical drive.

Here's what I'd like to do:
- Keep my Win 10 installation on the SSD.
- Add 2 identical 2TB drives and 2 identical 5TB drives and have the identical drives mirror each other in RAID 1 configurations.

My question is, is that possible at all? I understand I can only enable RAID on the Intel controller. I could move the SSD and the optical drive to the ASMedia controller, but would I be able to have two RAID 1 sets on the Intel controller? I.e. end up with 7 TB storage mirrored to the equivalent identical HDDs, for maximum security.

I'm not keen on reinstalling the Windows 10 system, but I can do it if there's no other way.

Thanks in advance for any advice!
Pyxxel
 
Solution
While booted in ahci mode you need to edit the registry so the raid drivers load on the next boot. Make a backup first as I've never tried this on 10....

While booted, edit the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStorV

Change REG_DWORD "Start" from 3 to 0

and save.

Now reboot into the bios and enable raid. Intel should now see that the ssd is not part of a raid and pass it thru as an single AHCI drive when you boot up again.

<sorry about your failed disk>
"Maximum Security"?
No form of raid provides security. They, with the exception of raid 0, provide uptime should a drive fail and addition i/o performance gains.

Raid does nothing for data security. Accidents, deletions, encryptions, virus activity... all will happen unhindered across the raid at realtime speed.

All your data security comes from your backups. If you have no backups or backup plan then you need to make this your first priority. When you have a good backup, you dont care if your drive or raid fails, its just an inconvenience at that point and not a disaster.
 


OK I think you were going off on a tangent. I didn't express myself right. When I said "maximum security" I meant "failure tolerance". I am aware that a RAID 1 provides continuous availability in the case of a drive physically failing. This is what I want to achieve.

I take your point about backups though. I agree that an exact copy of corrupted or otherwise erroneous data is likewise corrupted or erroneous.

My question concerns the possibility of having two individual RAID 1 arrangements on the same Intel controller, plus added to this the presence of an OS SSD and an optical drive.
 


Thanks! :) I did try it last night, but it seems the existing Win 10 installation doesn't like that. As soon as I enable RAID on the Intel controller in the BIOS Win 10 will not start, with the error "Inaccessible Boot Device" - as I said, the Win 10 system is on an SSD on the Intel controller. This happens irrespective of whether a RAID is actually set up or not.

So I switched back to AHCI and rebooted. Win 10 went into "Automatic Repair" which subsequently failed. It gave me a number of recovery options at that point. I didn't pick any but went for a restart, and it booted (very slowly) into Win 10 - with some disk operations being very slow. I guess it's my faulty existing HDD which I'm trying to back up, but I think my data is irretrievable from there - S.M.A.R.T. reports that the disk is "bad".

I think I'm now faced with these choices:
1. Enable RAID, reinstall Win 10 onto the SSD from scratch. Not sure if it's gonna work!
2. Keep my existing Win 10 installation on the SSD and scrap the idea of RAIDs with my 2x5 TB and 2x2 TB HDDs, Instead, I could utilize the spare drives as backups & set up a regular backup plan for these.

Thoughts, recommendations?

Thanks in advance!
Pyxxel
 
While booted in ahci mode you need to edit the registry so the raid drivers load on the next boot. Make a backup first as I've never tried this on 10....

While booted, edit the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStorV

Change REG_DWORD "Start" from 3 to 0

and save.

Now reboot into the bios and enable raid. Intel should now see that the ssd is not part of a raid and pass it thru as an single AHCI drive when you boot up again.

<sorry about your failed disk>
 
Solution


Thanks for your reply and continuous help! I'm trying this now & will update this answer when I get back into Windows, fingers crossed 😀

UPDATE:
Unfortunately, the solution did not resolve the issue for me. The same issues arise - here's what happens:
1. As instructed, I changed the reg key you mentioned, then rebooted & went into the BIOS.
2. As before, enabled RAID for the Intel SATA controller & rebooted.
3. As before, the Intel RAID menu comes up, I press Ctrl-I.
4. As before, all drives are listed, it does see the SSD and my (failing) 3TB Seagate HDD, as well as the two 5TB HDDs I wanted to have in a RAID1.
5. As before, I create the RAID 1 and reboot.
6. As before, Win 10 tries to boot (spinning dots) and eventually the splash screen comes up (light blue with window emblem) stating that the comp needs to restart, and the error is "inaccessible boot device".

I've undone all the changes now and will forego the idea of having a RAID. I'll instead opt for a strict backup regime with the HDDs, It's kinda ironic that Win10 manages to start to a certain degree, then fails half-way through. I don't think it's the Intel controller's fault as the SSD gets passed through fine, otherwise the hidden Win10 system partition could not be accessed at all.

I'm sure there is a solution, maybe by first setting up the RAID configuration and after that, doing a fresh Win10 install, but for me this is too time-consuming right now. It's a pity really, quite poor show by Win10 :kaola: oh well what can you do.

Thanks again for the help, and maybe the discussion helps others to come to a decision faster.

Pyxxel
 
You can always raid the drives using windows and performance and cpu usage would be nearly identical to intel raid..

I was thinking that enabling Intel raid would force CSM on and Secure boot off which if you had a UEFi install of 10 that that is what the problem is. I don't currently have a spare intel rig to test this theory on though (I've got plenty of drives. LoL)
 
I have a similar motherboard to you and have managed to set up my PC in the way you want to. I had the same problem as you but discovered that if you install windows while connected to the Intel SATA port, if you change it to the AsMedia SATA port, it will not boot.
So what you need to do is follow these exact steps to get it set up initially:

1) remove ALL drives from your motherboard.
2) install the SSD into one AsMedia SATA port and your optical drive into the other.
3) Insert the Windows CD and boot the PC up. GO TO BIOS
4) Set the Intel SATA configuration to RAID
5) Boot from the CD and install Windows from scratch using the new installation option and delete all partitions.
6) Install MOBO drivers
7) Shut down
8) Install your pairs of HDDs into the Intel SATA ports.
9) Boot up and go into RAID set up (Ctrl-I) and set up your RAID configuration
10) When you go into windows, go to Disk Manager and you should now have your RAID drives to create partitions

and Bob will hopefully be your uncle!