RAID 1 Boot Drive Question

JRom_246 · January 3, 2014

If I create a RAID 1 array through the motherboard chipset, then install windows 7 ultimate, will i be able to boot from either drive? IF i remove one drive will i still be able to boot from the other drive?

IdeaStormer · January 4, 2014

Yes, but you will get a RAID array failure message but you can ignore it or add the second drive back in, whether it be the one you took or a new one of the same size or greater.

Ninety1Nine · January 5, 2014

If a RAID1 array gets seperate for some reason including a drive fail, they can function as individual drives as if nothing happened.

The problem comes when you want to put them back together, you may have to format them.

Source: Had this happen to me where a RAID1 wasn't recognized by the OS (becuase I installed in AHCI mode by accident), so It split the drives into two seperate drives with identical data on both even though the controller still had them as a single RAID1. They were still completely usable and I was able to reinstall windows on my SSD with the MoBo back in RAID mode and they were back as one drive.