Raid 0 with existing OS

[TrademarkTM]

banging my head against the wall here guys, Trying to put two 256gb SSD's in RAID 0 in BIOS that are empty with one other 128gb SSD with windows 7 proffessional installed on it already. All three of my SSD's are connected to SATA 3. My board is a asrock x79 extreme 6. i have RST and RSTe drivers installed to windows 7. followed RAID manual, after i configure SATA to RAID in BIOS/Save and exit/reboot, I get no option to set up raid with either the UEFI or Intel RAID setup (usually just crashes when i enable raid in BIOS, have to set up AHCI to boot successfully). Also the RST and RSTe utilities do not recognize my two added 256gb blank SSD's. The only way i can actually perform any kind of striping is disk management in windows 7, they are formatted and striped but other utilities like HD tune with consider them seperate drives. Can anyone offer some help with putting my two blank 256gb in RAID 0 with BIOS?

 

[niksal12]

I had the same issue with setting up RAID on my Z87. When you change the sata mode to Raid, it will cause Windows to blue screen if I'm correct. The way that I got around it was to set up all my raid options then reinstalled windows. Once enabled to change your raid settings there is going to be a second prompt after the asrock splash screen, I think to get in is crtl and f or something. That is where you configure your raid settings, once the raid is configured you will have to reinstall windows (I had to at least).

 

[TrademarkTM]

I can't get as far as setting up raid config. I enable RAID in the UEFI Save and exit. if I go back into the UEFI, RST is there but no options to set RAID config. if i don't go back into UEFI there is no splash screen for intel RAID config (ie ctrl-i), it just crashes after post before windows starts.

 

[niksal12]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0ZmK78cbQM
That should help you out.

 

[TrademarkTM]

that video is basically what ive been trying to accomplish. I'm going to format my drives, enable RAID in SATA setting within the UEFI, maybe then ill get the option to configure drives in raid, then install windows 8.1

 

[niksal12]

that video is basically what ive been trying to accomplish. I'm going to format my drives, enable RAID in SATA setting within the UEFI, maybe then ill get the option to configure drives in raid, then install windows 8.1

Yup that should be it.

 

[TrademarkTM]

still didn't work. upgraded to windows 8.1 x64 enterprise edition, no matter if i set UEFI to AHCI or RAID after i save and exit it just goes to windows start up immediately after. the only drive that shows up in RST utility is my samsung 840 that has windows on it. The 2 samsung 850's do not. All im trying to do is stripe the 2 850 volumes for the best load speeds. I'm stuck tough.

 

[Y0GI]

Looking at the specs for your mobo: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/X79%20Extreme6/?cat=Specifications

- 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors by Intel® X79, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10 and Intel® Rapid Storage 3.0), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug functions
- 3 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors by ASMedia ASM1061, support NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug functions

It appears that you only have RAID available on the Intel SATA 3 ports and there are only 2 Intel SATA ports. Where do you have your 128 GB SSD plugged in? Are you using the 2 Intel ports to set up your RAID?

Yogi

 

[TrademarkTM]

im plugged into the grey slots that are banked together to make 4 altogether. am i supposed to be on 2 specific grey slots? the black slots are SATA 2 which i have my DVD drive connected to. if 2 of the 5 SATA 3 ports are intel only i have no idea which 2 i would need to be connected to.

 

[TrademarkTM]

lol wow found the correct ports, Yogi you're either a genius or im a total moron. got the intel raid setup (ctrl-i) to pop up after i changed storage config to RAID in bios. now the question is where should i put my SSD with the operating system on it?

 

[Y0GI]

It can go on any of the Asmedia ports. You just need to go into the BIOS and set it up so that the 128 GB drive is first in the boot order.

Yogi

 

[TrademarkTM]

thanks Yogi, only problem im having now is if i restart my computer my raid drive disappears in windows. restart again, intel raid config shows up in post confirms my drives are in RAID 0 then boots to windows with them showing up again. no idea why its doing that.

 

[Y0GI]

You're welcome. Glad that it worked for you.

I'm surprised that you can even boot into Windows with RAID set in the BIOS. If you installed Windows with the SATA mode set to AHCI, you need to reinstall Windows or make some changes in the Windows registry. I took the registry route and it was rather easy: http://www.overclock.net/t/1227636/how-to-change-sata-modes-after-windows-installation

Yogi

 

[TrademarkTM]

from what I can remember (doing a lot of setting changes over 8+hours) I installed windows with the BIOS set to RAID. I have the boot drive enabled to ASmedia in AHCI. Seems like i have to go into the UEFI during boot to get the RAID config to pop up and load into windows.

 

[Y0GI]

If you can, set the Intel SATA ports in the UEFI to RAID and set the Asmedia ports to AHCI. You may not have the option to set them differently, I don't know.

Can you currently boot into Windows with the 128GB SSD? If so, have you checked the Registry settings for RAID, AHCI, and IDE? Which setting do you have?

Yogi

 

[TrademarkTM]

If you can, set the Intel SATA ports in the UEFI to RAID and set the Asmedia ports to AHCI. You may not have the option to set them differently, I don't know.

Can you currently boot into Windows with the 128GB SSD? If so, have you checked the Registry settings for RAID, AHCI, and IDE? Which setting do you have?

Yogi

Current UEFI Config
SATA mode - RAID
Intel Rapid Storage Technology - RST
ASMedia SATA 3 mode - AHCI
ASMedia Bootable - Yes

Yes I can boot windows from the 128GB SSD, it is in boot order #1

not sure where to find which controller mode I have installed in the Registry.

 

[Y0GI]

If you can, set the Intel SATA ports in the UEFI to RAID and set the Asmedia ports to AHCI. You may not have the option to set them differently, I don't know.

Can you currently boot into Windows with the 128GB SSD? If so, have you checked the Registry settings for RAID, AHCI, and IDE? Which setting do you have?

Yogi

Current UEFI Config
SATA mode - RAID
Intel Rapid Storage Technology - RST
ASMedia SATA 3 mode - AHCI
ASMedia Bootable - Yes

Yes I can boot windows from the 128GB SSD, it is in boot order #1

not sure where to find which controller mode I have installed in the Registry.

See if this will help: http://www.overclock.net/t/1227636/how-to-change-sata-modes-after-windows-installation

Yogi

 

[TrademarkTM]

Alright, I couldn't find any instructions to change windows 8 registry except IDE so i decided to re-install windows with the previous UEFI config. Posts through, loads RST Config, boots windows. We're all good!

 

[Y0GI]

Glad to see that you got it all worked out. Enjoy!

Yogi