windows 10 converts my RAID into MBR?

[rmiller2428]

Alrighty then I am stumped. I am pretty new to RAIDs and went out and got myself a pair of 2TB drives to use raid 0. I've installed win 10 to it previously but after about 4 months of use, realized my errors and only 2TB was available (specifically 2047.51GB in use and 1677.29 GB unallocated) So I bit the bullet and decided to reinstall windows 10.

Now, I realized my error was that the disk was in the partition style MBR and not the new fangled GPT. I thought i corrected it by using cmd disk part and converting to GPT, only to find out, after installing windows again, that it had switched back to MBR.

I think im missing something here. I've followed the steps previously to convert MBR to GPT by using cmd diskpart, cleaning the drive (RAID 0) and, converting to GPT. Then proceeding with windows 10 custom install.

Im using an Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 motherboard if it matters and 2x 2TB firecuda drives in raid 0.

In windows disk management it does show disk 0 is a RAID so it seems the drivers are good but i might be wrong, but the 1677.29GB unallocated taunts me with no options to create a new simple spanned or striped volume, everything is greyed out.

If someone could link a super handy step by friggin step video on how to do this, that would be lovely, or at least point out some key step im missing.

 

[Xeltic]

Have you considered doing hardware raid with your MB controller and not do it in windows? Pretty sure you can't have windows booting without a MBR partition but don't quote me on this.

 

[ingtar33]

Your problem is the bios settings, probably the raid controller.

The only way to install windows to a GPT partition is if you have a UEFI bios; and are booting in UEFI mode, not legacy.

SO-> you need to make sure legacy mode on your SATA drives is OFF
I would probably use the RAID controller on the motherboard to create a true RAID 0 and not use the windows software disk strapping method.

so change your drives to a RAID drive in the bios, then boot the raid controller during boot, create the RAID0

make sure to allocate the full drive size to the raid, then once the raid is made, boot to the windows install, you might need to load the ACHI/RAID drivers that came with your motherboard for windows 10 to recognize the RAID drive as a valid install location.

 

[rmiller2428]

Your problem is the bios settings, probably the raid controller.

The only way to install windows to a GPT partition is if you have a UEFI bios; and are booting in UEFI mode, not legacy.

SO-> you need to make sure legacy mode on your SATA drives is OFF
I would probably use the RAID controller on the motherboard to create a true RAID 0 and not use the windows software disk strapping method.

so change your drives to a RAID drive in the bios, then boot the raid controller during boot, create the RAID0

make sure to allocate the full drive size to the raid, then once the raid is made, boot to the windows install, you might need to load the ACHI/RAID drivers that came with your motherboard for windows 10 to recognize the RAID drive as a valid install location.

sorry I wasnt totally clear about this, I am using the hardware raid controller for the setup, ctrl+F during post to bring up AMD option ROM and configuring it that way. which i did on both attempts. as far as the drivers go, its showing up in windows disk management as "AMD 2+0 Stripe/RAID0 SCSI disk device" so i THINK i have it right.

also worth mentioning that may be the culprit now that you've mentioned it. after wiping everything and converting to GPT, then trying to install windows, it asked for the drivers which i had on a seperate flash stick and the installer would not recognize there were ANY drivers on it at all. this particular mobo has drivers for the RAID controller for xp, 7 and 8 but not specifically windows 10. i shut it down thinking something was wrong with the connection to the thumb drive and tried it again and it didnt prompt me for drivers the second time but it did show "drive 0 ~4TB unallocated" and thats what i selected to install to.

 

[Rookie_MIB]

1) make sure that you have the BIOS set up to use UEFI mode. In legacy mode it will only boot from MBR drives which as you noticed only support 2TB size max. Some motherboards also support a dual-mode (legacy + UEFI) which should also work. Your motherboard options for this are in the BIOS Boot section under 'CSM' (Compatibility Support Module).

2) If you had a spare HDD lying around, you could: Disconnect the raid 0 drives, install windows, get the system running, connect and configure the HDDs and get them working properly and fully recognized, then clone the windows disk to the HDD raid set, remove the single disk, configure the raid set as the primary boot device, reboot and it should work. This is how I converted my single disk windows install onto a raid0 SSD set without reinstalling anything (clone single drive to image using clonezilla, get raid set working, clone os back onto new raid0).

3) The other problem you may be running into is that you may need to create the basic raid0 setup through your BIOS before installing any OS. Read the manual for your mobo for that. Point being - you'll need to create the raid0 set, then make sure the reported capacity in the BIOS is 4TB (or 3.6TB - whatever size it's supposed to be) BEFORE installing win10.

 

[rmiller2428]

1) make sure that you have the BIOS set up to use UEFI mode. In legacy mode it will only boot from MBR drives which as you noticed only support 2TB size max. Some motherboards also support a dual-mode (legacy + UEFI) which should also work. Your motherboard options for this are in the BIOS Boot section under 'CSM' (Compatibility Support Module).

2) If you had a spare HDD lying around, you could: Disconnect the raid 0 drives, install windows, get the system running, connect and configure the HDDs and get them working properly and fully recognized, then clone the windows disk to the HDD raid set, remove the single disk, configure the raid set as the primary boot device, reboot and it should work. This is how I converted my single disk windows install onto a raid0 SSD set without reinstalling anything (clone single drive to image using clonezilla, get raid set working, clone os back onto new raid0).

3) The other problem you may be running into is that you may need to create the basic raid0 setup through your BIOS before installing any OS. Read the manual for your mobo for that. Point being - you'll need to create the raid0 set, then make sure the reported capacity in the BIOS is 4TB (or 3.6TB - whatever size it's supposed to be) BEFORE installing win10.

1)fairly certain im using the dual mode thing but i know for sure im at least using either that or UEFI, probs not it but ill double check a bit later today (gotta work sometime)

2) i do have my old drive around here somewhere that still functions just fine, the issue being i tried this method before but ran into the issue that the old drive was MBR and the new ones were set to GPT, tried cloning and it was a no go without paid software and several hours of cloning, so i just opted to do a fresh install and left the old drive alone. dont really need anything on it so ill try converting it as a single disk to GPT, getting it running on win 10, then connect and configure the RAID with GPT, then cloning, and ditching the single drive again. if this doesnt work im ditching the raid 0 idea and just using the 2 of them separate, im done messing with this crap lol.

3) not the issue as i am configuring the raid through bios before install with the amd option rom thing. ive nearly memorized my mobo manual at this point for this thing. honestly, i could do that step blindfolded haha

 

[Rookie_MIB]

1) make sure that you have the BIOS set up to use UEFI mode. In legacy mode it will only boot from MBR drives which as you noticed only support 2TB size max. Some motherboards also support a dual-mode (legacy + UEFI) which should also work. Your motherboard options for this are in the BIOS Boot section under 'CSM' (Compatibility Support Module).

2) If you had a spare HDD lying around, you could: Disconnect the raid 0 drives, install windows, get the system running, connect and configure the HDDs and get them working properly and fully recognized, then clone the windows disk to the HDD raid set, remove the single disk, configure the raid set as the primary boot device, reboot and it should work. This is how I converted my single disk windows install onto a raid0 SSD set without reinstalling anything (clone single drive to image using clonezilla, get raid set working, clone os back onto new raid0).

3) The other problem you may be running into is that you may need to create the basic raid0 setup through your BIOS before installing any OS. Read the manual for your mobo for that. Point being - you'll need to create the raid0 set, then make sure the reported capacity in the BIOS is 4TB (or 3.6TB - whatever size it's supposed to be) BEFORE installing win10.

1)fairly certain im using the dual mode thing but i know for sure im at least using either that or UEFI, probs not it but ill double check a bit later today (gotta work sometime)

2) i do have my old drive around here somewhere that still functions just fine, the issue being i tried this method before but ran into the issue that the old drive was MBR and the new ones were set to GPT, tried cloning and it was a no go without paid software and several hours of cloning, so i just opted to do a fresh install and left the old drive alone. dont really need anything on it so ill try converting it as a single disk to GPT, getting it running on win 10, then connect and configure the RAID with GPT, then cloning, and ditching the single drive again. if this doesnt work im ditching the raid 0 idea and just using the 2 of them separate, im done messing with this crap lol.

3) not the issue as i am configuring the raid through bios before install with the amd option rom thing. ive nearly memorized my mobo manual at this point for this thing. honestly, i could do that step blindfolded haha

You shouldn't need a 'paid' cloning tool. I a multi-boot flash drive with win/linux installs and tools and used clonezilla (yes I know there are newer ones out there, but it WORKS and it's FREE) along with gparted to do pretty much any kind of disk work.

Also - you can convert within WIndows between GPT and MBR. I know that there were quite a few issues with Win7 between disk size, MBT/GPT, 32/64 bit versions, but Win10 sorted that all out.

You should be able to:

1) create a raid set (2x2TB)
2) set the BIOS boot to UEFI (or CSM for UEFI + legacy)
3) set the raid set as GPT (if you need a tool for that - make a bootable usb drive with gparted on it)
4) install Win10.
5) enjoy.

 

[graham3d3d]

I am using a Sybusa pcie card with 4 x 6gbs sata ports set up as striped volumes. Windows seems to be making these as an MBR drive. This cannot be seen in the Asus UEFI Bios while booting up. It also cannot be seen by EaseUS ToDo Backup (from which I want to restore a system drive). Can I convert this striped drive to GPT in Windows? I think EaseUS will be able to see it then.
Thanks for your help
Graham

Your problem is the bios settings, probably the raid controller.

The only way to install windows to a GPT partition is if you have a UEFI bios; and are booting in UEFI mode, not legacy.

SO-> you need to make sure legacy mode on your SATA drives is OFF
I would probably use the RAID controller on the motherboard to create a true RAID 0 and not use the windows software disk strapping method.

so change your drives to a RAID drive in the bios, then boot the raid controller during boot, create the RAID0

make sure to allocate the full drive size to the raid, then once the raid is made, boot to the windows install, you might need to load the ACHI/RAID drivers that came with your motherboard for windows 10 to recognize the RAID drive as a valid install location.