Can't enter raid setup

[Virgule]

Hi,

 

I want to setup raid 1 with 2 drives. I repeatedly mash ctrl+i during POST and beyond but it always boots to windows (8). I've tried holding both keys and I've tried ctrl+L in case I was a lower case L. I can't seem to access raid setup. I have a CM quickfire cherry mx brown keyboard that is set on 8ms input (slowest) and that is plugged via usb. I've installed Intel rapid storage drivers.

 

Any suggestions ?

[roberto++]

Did you enable RAID from the bios first? Typically found under hard drive settings within your bios.

 

 

 

Hi,

 

I want to setup raid 1 with 2 drives. I repeatedly mash ctrl+i during POST and beyond but it always boots to windows (8). I've tried holding both keys and I've tried ctrl+L in case I was a lower case L. I can't seem to access raid setup. I have a CM quickfire cherry mx brown keyboard that is set on 8ms input (slowest) and that is plugged via usb. I've installed Intel rapid storage drivers.

 

Any suggestions ?

 

[technovore]

if you're running w8 and one of them tricky uefi BIOS it might not be so simple to enable RAID

[rhyseyness]

I have the same motherboard.

I'm pretty sure you have to go in via the bios.

Afraid I can't remember where that setting is kept though. I'm at work atm but if you still can't find it by the time I'm home, I'll have a look on mine.

Hope this helps!

[Virgule]

Looking in the bios right now.

[Virgule]

I have the same motherboard.

I'm pretty sure you have to go in via the bios.

Afraid I can't remember where that setting is kept though. I'm at work atm but if you still can't find it by the time I'm home, I'll have a look on mine.

Hope this helps!

Yeaaa, I really don't see where it is. I seem to have navigated every possible menu and didn't find it.

[Virgule]

roberto++ technovore rhyseyness

 

Ok so I found it (its under Advanced/Integrated peripherals/SATA mode/Raid mode  , was AHCI mode by default). 

 

I changed it to RAID mode and upon reboot I saw a new screen flash before the bios screen prompt, so I guess that's the moment I need to hit ctrl+i. However, I waited for Windows to load instead and Windows crashed with windows 8's version of the BSOD (Your PC ran into problems : (   ( or something along those lines) and I was caught in a reboot loop until it gave me the option for a system restore. I canceled and put AHCI mode back. After a few tries, windows finally booted up.

 

...  ?

 

Is that normal ? Do I have to function with an all raid configuration ? I was thinking of having my SSD with OS function on its own and raiding 2 HDDs for storage.

[Virgule]

I changed it back to raid mode and created a raid 1 volume selecting my 2 hdds. As experienced before, I could not boot back afterwards being still in raid mode. I switched it back to AHCI mode and after a few tries, I finally made it in windows. However, in "my computer" I only see my ssd. In drive management, I see my SSD and 4TB of unallocated space (disk 1, which isn't the name of the volume I've chosen). Is that my raid volume that I need to partition ?

 

Also, Intel rapid storage utility gives me a warning about my data being at risk.

 

Please help.

[Virgule]

bump

[FlakeyBanana]

yep thats the one you have to partition

[roberto++]

Hold on, timeout.

 

Can you take me step by step into your process of how you were able to create the raid 1 volume then not have SATA set into RAID mode? I am quite perplexed with this process, I have ssd boot with raid 0, and this is sending red flags in my head.

 

I changed it back to raid mode and created a raid 1 volume selecting my 2 hdds. As experienced before, I could not boot back afterwards being still in raid mode. I switched it back to AHCI mode and after a few tries, I finally made it in windows. However, in "my computer" I only see my ssd. In drive management, I see my SSD and 4TB of unallocated space (disk 1, which isn't the name of the volume I've chosen). Is that my raid volume that I need to partition ?

 

Also, Intel rapid storage utility gives me a warning about my data being at risk.

 

Please help.

[Virgule]

Hold on, timeout.

 

Can you take me step by step into your process of how you were able to create the raid 1 volume then not have SATA set into RAID mode? I am quite perplexed with this process, I have ssd boot with raid 0, and this is sending red flags in my head.

It's simple if you read my posts 1 by 1. Here is the summary :

 

- I change SATA mode from AHCI to RAID

- Can not boot

- I change SATA mode from RAID to AHCI

- Can boot after a few tries

- I change SATA mode from AHCI to RAID

- I create RAID 1 volume named "Storage"

- I exit raid menu

- Can not boot

- I change SATA mode from RAID to AHCI

- Can boot after a few tries

- I have error messages from Intel rapid storage driver

- I check drive management to see my raid volume but see "Disk 1" with 4TB unallocated space instead of "Storage" with 4TB allocated space

[Virgule]

yep thats the one you have to partition

Really skeptic about that.

[Virgule]

roberto++ FlakeyBanana

 

Guys in the mean time, I posted my problem on msi's website and got an interesting response. (https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=175664.0)

 

The guy suggests I have to reinstall my OS with SATA mode set to RAID rather than AHCI (like it was when I installed). Then, as he says, SATA mode : RAID will be understood by Windows for my SSD (which isn't raided) and raided HDDs will be usable because SATA mode is RAID.

 

thoughts?

[roberto++]

What he has said is correct. You will need to reinstall windows on your SSD with the bios set to SATA RAID, if you want to use the motherboard's raid.

 

Now there is "fake" raid 1, which is software based which can be done from some versions of windows. This link may help you do this, http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/1206-setup-software-raid-1-mirroring-in-windows-7-for-desktop-drive-redundancy

 

I have never used the software method, so failure of a drive in the raid volume I do not know what will happen.

 

If you choose to reinstall windows using the suggested method here are some helpful tips when reinstalling windows.

 

• When you are installing windows you will not see your SSD during installation, and will need to have the raid drivers from your motherboard available on a usb flash drive before the drive will show up.
• This raid driver is not an exe file, the exe file is the raid monitoring software used in windows to tell you the status of the raid, and give you the ability to rebuild if one of the drives fail.
• Do not delete the raid driver off your usb drive, you may have a time where the driver when windows does not boot. Keep this version of the raid driver, as a newer version down the line may cause data loss maybe more important to a raid 0 set, but still recommend keeping the driver.

 

Hope this has been helpful, building a raid set for the first time can be difficult. If you have more questions, use the quote/multiquote. For some reason, the member tag does not show up as a notification.

 

roberto++ FlakeyBanana

 

Guys in the mean time, I posted my problem on msi's website and got an interesting response. (https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=175664.0)

 

The guy suggests I have to reinstall my OS with SATA mode set to RAID rather than AHCI (like it was when I installed). Then, as he says, SATA mode : RAID will be understood by Windows for my SSD (which isn't raided) and raided HDDs will be usable because SATA mode is RAID.

 

thoughts?

[Virgule]

What he has said is correct. You will need to reinstall windows on your SSD with the bios set to SATA RAID, if you want to use the motherboard's raid.

 

Now there is "fake" raid 1, which is software based which can be done from some versions of windows. This link may help you do this, http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/1206-setup-software-raid-1-mirroring-in-windows-7-for-desktop-drive-redundancy

 

I have never used the software method, so failure of a drive in the raid volume I do not know what will happen.

 

If you choose to reinstall windows using the suggested method here are some helpful tips when reinstalling windows.

 

• When you are installing windows you will not see your SSD during installation, and will need to have the raid drivers from your motherboard available on a usb flash drive before the drive will show up.
• This raid driver is not an exe file, the exe file is the raid monitoring software used in windows to tell you the status of the raid, and give you the ability to rebuild if one of the drives fail.
• Do not delete the raid driver off your usb drive, you may have a time where the driver when windows does not boot. Keep this version of the raid driver, as a newer version down the line may cause data loss maybe more important to a raid 0 set, but still recommend keeping the driver.

 

Hope this has been helpful, building a raid set for the first time can be difficult. If you have more questions, use the quote/multiquote. For some reason, the member tag does not show up as a notification.

Thanks I will try that.