RAID array on same controller as boot drive

[Windows7ge]

This is a question.

Lets say your motherboard only has one SATA controller and you want to create a RAID array.

Your boot drive is an SSD, it was configured when the controller was set to AHCI but now the controller is set to RAID for the storage array.

If the boot drive is on the same SATA controller as the RAID volume is it still possible to boot to the SSD or will there be some sort of strange conflict?

 

This is not a situation I'm in it's just a general question I've had and cannot test for myself.

[Captain_WD]

20 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

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Hey there

Swapping the modes of the motherboard causes problems and issues with booting most of the time. There are ways to do that by altering the registry. This topic in the community should be quite helpful for this. http://www.overclock.net/t/1227636/how-to-change-sata-modes-after-windows-installation

What are your plans? Most of the time RAID isn't really worth it be that for the speed gain or the redundancy. You may be better off either with a larger SSD or with a backup solution. 

Captain_WD.

[Windows7ge]

4 hours ago, Captain_WD said:

Hey there

Swapping the modes of the motherboard causes problems and issues with booting most of the time. There are ways to do that by altering the registry. This topic in the community should be quite helpful for this. http://www.overclock.net/t/1227636/how-to-change-sata-modes-after-windows-installation

What are your plans? Most of the time RAID isn't really worth it be that for the speed gain or the redundancy. You may be better off either with a larger SSD or with a backup solution. 

Captain_WD.

Thanks for the intel. I'm not in this situation. All my motherboards have multiple SATA controllers so I can run boot drives completely independent of the RAID arrays. (I do have a 6TB RAID0 array on my main system and I'm booting to PCI_e. My redundancy is nightly backups to a NAS that I built which is configured in RAIDZ1(effectively RAID5) for its own redundancy.

 

I asked because a fellow community member wanted to create his own 2x3TB RAID0 array but when he told us what motherboard he had I noticed that this motherboard only had one SATA controller. He boots off an SSD but I wanted to know if when the SATA controller is set to RAID if he configured the RAID0 array would he still be able to boot to the SSD...apparently that is not very likely. I gave him detailed instructions on how to create the RAID volume and format it but it seems he's going to run into issues.

[Captain_WD]

On 13.05.2016 г. at 8:36 PM, Windows7ge said:

~snip~

You seems to have a pretty well set-up storage configurations so congrats on that! 

 

If your friend doesn't necessarily need to have the array on the motherboard's controller and set it up as a hardware RAID from the motherboard, they can easily do a Striped array from Disk Management and be done with it, avoiding any potential issues. If they have a good backup plan for that I don't think it would be a problem.

 

Captain_WD.

[Windows7ge]

9 hours ago, Captain_WD said:

If your friend doesn't necessarily need to have the array on the motherboard's controller and set it up as a hardware RAID from the motherboard, they can easily do a Striped array from Disk Management and be done with it, avoiding any potential issues. If they have a good backup plan for that I don't think it would be a problem.

 

Captain_WD.

He asked us how to set up RAID so I'm willing to bet he has no backup plan. he'll probably create a new post talking about why he can't boot to his SSD after creating the array. You are correct I forgot about the option of software RAID although I'm not sure how versatile it is. If he were to ever re-install the OS or change to a different version of windows would the array still be intact? Unless he upgrades his motherboard he might have to boot to the RAID array but that'd be a whole nother process with many potential issues and faults.

[Captain_WD]

14 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

~snip~

Both RAID types involve risks and issues either due to hardware failure or due to software changes so you would have to choose which one would bother you less and which has a lower chance of happening (swapping motherboard/hardware failure or reinstalling the OS). 

If you are reinstalling the same OS it SHOULD see the same array instead of separate disks as it uses the same drivers to handle the RAID. Hardware RAIDs are presented to the OS as a single drive so they are not affected by changes of the OS, but software RAIDs are controlled by the OS's drivers. Using the same OS theoretically uses the same drivers and (again putting the word in capital letters) SHOULD see the same array, but that's a big "should". 

 

Either way, a complete backup would grant you safety against any potential problems.

 

Captain_WD.

[Windows7ge]

7 hours ago, Captain_WD said:

Both RAID types involve risks and issues either due to hardware failure or due to software changes so you would have to choose which one would bother you less and which has a lower chance of happening (swapping motherboard/hardware failure or reinstalling the OS). 

If you are reinstalling the same OS it SHOULD see the same array instead of separate disks as it uses the same drivers to handle the RAID. Hardware RAIDs are presented to the OS as a single drive so they are not affected by changes of the OS, but software RAIDs are controlled by the OS's drivers. Using the same OS theoretically uses the same drivers and (again putting the word in capital letters) SHOULD see the same array, but that's a big "should". 

 

Either way, a complete backup would grant you safety against any potential problems.

 

Captain_WD.

That's true. However He's more likely to change something relative to the OS than his motherboard so I think hardware RAID is the better option of the two. It's just too bad he didn't buy a board with enough features. Like multiple SATA controllers.

 

Thanks, your insight was very helpful.

[Captain_WD]

15 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

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Getting a dedicated RAID card can be a solution to that, but it is quite a pricey solution. 
I'm glad I could be of help Feel free to ask away if there's anything else I can assist with. I'd be happy to! 

Captain_WD.