Congrats ,
your contribution to "Can I install RAID without
reinstalling Windows &?" has been selected as the Best
Answer.
Click here to review this thread: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum//forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=32&post=275432&page=1&p=1
Thank you for contributing the Tom's Hardware community
The Tom's Hardware community team
New URL:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/275432-32-install-raid-reinstalling-windows
Best solution
Storage Expert
>
do I still need to reinstall Windows?
Probably YES!
That depends a LOT on whether or not you configured your onboard MB
controller for RAID
MODE initially, or not.
There is a very good reason why Intel highly recommends that
the BIOS be set initially to RAID mode, even if all devices will be JBOD
starting out.
Intel calls this "RAID Ready".
If you have NOT set your BIOS to RAID mode, you can expect big problems.
BEST WAY to reach your goal is to start over with a fresh install of Windows
and, before inserting the Windows Setup disc, set your BIOS to RAID mode
for the onboard MB controller.
And, some BIOS subsystems require that the Option ROM be enabled separately,
so don't forget to do that too if there is a separate option to ENABLE or
DISABLE it.
Then, invoke the Option ROM for that controller, and configure the SSD as JBOD
and your 2 platter drives as members of a RAID 0
array.
Also, have the correct device driver ready to load at the correct moment:
XP and Windows 7 Setups differ
slightly in the way they obtain that device driver:
XP requires that device driver to be on a floppy disk; Windows 7 can read it
from any available storage device e.g. USB thumb drive or optical
disc.
After Windows Setup loads that device driver, it will detect your SSD as one
device,
and the RAID 0 as a second storage device.
Then, you should be able to complete Windows Setup with no further problems.
p.s. Some isolated Users have reported some success with
specialized patch programs that allow you to switch BIOS mode to RAID
withOUT re-installing Windows: the one we tried
failed miserably, however.
MRFS