Big problem trying to setup RAID volume alongside existing boot drive

[Biglunn]

Well after much deliberating, I decided to set up a RAID 0 volume for storage alongside my boot drive.

What I had was 1 x Samsung F3 500gb as my boot drive, 1 x WD 500gb storage drive - both connected via SATA in AHCI mode.

I bought 2 x Seagate 7200.12 500gb drives with the intention of replacing the 1 WD drive in a RAID 0 config, but with keeping the SAMSUNG F3 as the boot drive with WIndows 7 already installed on it.

So..... I simply shut down the PC, removed the WD drive, fitted the 2 x Seagate drives (connected to SATA 5 & 6), started up the PC to BIOS menu - changed storage configuration from AHCI to RAID, rebooted the PC to the RAID menu (CTRL + I), setup a raid volume on the 2 x Seagate drives - not touching the Samsung boot drive, rebooted, and now the PC doesnt recognise a boot drive!

Worried that I have lost all my data on my Samsung boot drive, I restored the BIOS setting from RAID to AHCI, but it still doesnt boot!!! Have I lost everything on my Samsung boot drive simply by switching the BIOS setting from AHCI to RAID?

If I have to install Windows 7 again, do I need an F6 driver at the install stage for the Storage RAID volume?

Lots of questions (and frustrations) I know, but any help would be much appreciated

 

[Biglunn]

Hi.

Yes, the bios is set to boot off the Samsung F3. But I simply get the `media not recognised` after post. Yes, I have pulled the WD drive - I have in the past overlooked the obvious!

Worst case scenario is that Ive lost everything on the boot drive. I might try booting off the windows disk, and try recovery.

I still cannot believe that setting AHCI > RAID in the BIOS could have caused the boot drive to not be recognised

 

[Biglunn]

Well.... I tried to do a repair install, but it wouldnt work! It asked for drivers as it didnt recognise a previous Windows install

What I did do was a reinstall of windows without formatting - and then it DID recognise an existing windows installation, moved it to windows.old, and installed properly.

I then retrieved all my important data, moved it to my new RAID volume, and then cleaned up my boot drive.

Got there in the end!

One other thing - I have built the RAID volume from the BIOS (hardware). I hear people suggesting that software raid is better - in what way?