IDE to SATA without installing the OS

psd99

psd99

psd99

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Hi guys,

I installed windows vista while the option in my BIOS for my sata drives was set as IDE.

But now I wish to add two more drives in a RAID 0 configuration. In order to make the RAID I got to change the drive setup in BIOS from IDE to RAID but every time I do this the operating system won't boot from the other drive.

So they are all SATA drives but I need to setup the BIOS as RAID to get into the Intel menu to set the RAID.

Is there a way I can RAID 0 two of my drives (for data) without having to reinstall windows?
 
You might need to remove the windows disc, setup the RAID array, then add the windows disc and like mentioned above check the boot order.
 
nah the boot order was fine

the drive came up as SATA on the post
instead of seeing it as IDE

also I got to see some sort of Intel screen before it tried to boot into windows

I tried setup the RAID 0 just like you mentioned no luck

could this be happening because Windows/ the BIOS sees it as a IDE drive and not a SATA drive?
 
Your issue is that by switching from IDE compatibility mode to SATA you've changed the driver that windows needs to use to boot, but without the gui being loaded you can't change it.
I'm guessing you're seeing a black screen with a flashing cursor, that is the usual symptom on XP, it may be the same for Vista.

Making the change on the controller to RAID, and booting with the Windows Disc and choosing a repair install *may* force it to replace the drivers (have the RAID card drivers ready on a floppy), but I'm dubious.

I'm pretty sure your options boil down to the following :
>Reinstall Windows
>Buy a separate RAID card and attach the new drives to that.

How come you need RAID0?
Is it one enormous partition you're after, or is it RAID1 (mirroring) you want?
 
this is a bit of a shot in the dark, but I had a similar issue when i tried to switch my sata drives over to ahci from ide, something about windows disabling the ahci/raid drivers if they arn't used during the initial install. Anyway, this fixed it for me:

- Set BIOS back to IDE
- Start Windows
- Run Registry Editor/regedit
- Go to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
- Change the "Start" value to 0
- Reboot and switch back to RAID

when I did this, windows booted, installed new drivers and then rebooted and worked fine after that.
 
The easiest (and probably quickest) way without arsing about with imaging software and RAID drivers would be to back up data, create your RAID pack, then reinstall the OS. The problem you have is that you don't currently have the RAID drivers installed from within the OS, hence it won't boot. Not sure why you'd want to go for RAID 0 for data though, RAID 1 would be far better.

Would be nice to hear what you actually use the computer for, how many hard drives, and how much data you have? This would aid us to perhaps suggest what level of RAID to go for.
 
Last edited:
Hi guys

Set BIOS back to IDE
- Start Windows
- Run Registry Editor/regedit
- Go to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
- Change the "Start" value to 0
- Reboot and switch back to RAID

when I did this, windows booted, installed new drivers and then rebooted and worked fine after that.

that sounds good but what did you mean by installing new drivers after I've got into the OS? does windows automatically install the new drivers?

that seems pretty simple are you sure it works?
 
coupe69 said:
The easiest (and probably quickest) way without arsing about with imaging software and RAID drivers would be to back up data, create your RAID pack, then reinstall the OS. The problem you have is that you don't currently have the RAID drivers installed from within the OS, hence it won't boot. Not sure why you'd want to go for RAID 0 for data though, RAID 1 would be far better.

Would be nice to hear what you actually use the computer for, how many hard drives, and how much data you have? This would aid us to perhaps suggest what level of RAID to go for.
Click to expand...


Hi the actual RAID is not going to be on the drive I wish to boot on.


I wanted to make a RAID 0 because it will be one massive partition and I want some speed.


I got the following drives at the moment.

1. 250g - Vista OS
2. 1TB
3. 1TB

and these are the two drives I wish to setup as RAID0.

4. 500gb
5. 500gb


hope that makes some sense.

data is mainly videos/music and recorded tv (that's what I want the RAID 0 for)
 
psd99 said:
that sounds good but what did you mean by installing new drivers after I've got into the OS? does windows automatically install the new drivers?

that seems pretty simple are you sure it works?
Click to expand...

yes, for me windows installed the drivers without asking me to insert anything containing the drivers
 
Kotu said:
yes, for me windows installed the drivers without asking me to insert anything containing the drivers
Click to expand...

Hi just wanted to say a quick thanks.

I tried that just a moment ago it looked good because I could see my boot loader and windows icon came up. Then that black windows screen turned into a blue screen of death. "Computer has been shut down to prevent damage etc.."

Then it said something about check disk /f

I tried it again this time hitting F8 with last know good configuration
still no joy same screen.

For now I have reverted back to IDE
Perhaps that method will only work on ahci
and I need to edit something else in the registry to get it working from IDE to SATA

what do you reckon?
 
Hold on a second I notice that the value in my registry has reverted back to 4
whereas I set that to 0

mmmm daft question right but how do I save my registry after editing it?

surely that didn't revert back on its own accord.

Thought it had to be saved like football manager registry does?
 
I checked mine, its still at 0 though. Do you have any anti-virus type software which might prevent registry changes? it should save the values as you enter them. Doing the f8 last config might have reverted it though.
 
oh okay yes maybe when I pressed F8 it done that
before it probably was on 0 anyway

can you think of an other ways I could get it to work?
 
Kotu said:
if you google for stuff like "vista enable raid drivers" there are some interesting reads which might help. For example: http://drnathan.teamhackaday.com/2009/03/09/how-to-enable-intel-ich-raid-after-installing-windows-vista/ has a more complex version of what I mentioned.
Click to expand...

THANKS for that

it is working a treat

I am so glad I didn't have to reinstall windows!

All I got to do now is setup the RAID
next question is should I set the RAID up in the OS using the matrix software or the RAID BIOS?

If I did setup the RAID 0 in the RAID BIOS will the matrix software automatically recognise the RAID 0?
 
psd99 said:
THANKS for that

it is working a treat

I am so glad I didn't have to reinstall windows!

All I got to do now is setup the RAID
next question is should I set the RAID up in the OS using the matrix software or the RAID BIOS?

If I did setup the RAID 0 in the RAID BIOS will the matrix software automatically recognise the RAID 0?
Click to expand...

lol 4 days later and still not raided up, you could have reinstalled windows in less than an hour without having to mess around with registry keys etc.

Glad you managed to get it sorted though, you should be able to create the pack using the intel matrix storage manager from within windows.
You do realise though if one of your drives in the RAID 0 pack goes down or loses integrity then you'll lose all your data?

For all my music videos etc I use RAID 1 because I like to have some redundancy, and I don't fancy losing it all if a drive goes down!
You'll hardly notice any difference between RAID 0 and RAID 1 for music and videos anyway, most people use RAID 0 for the OS and games.
 
lol at 4 days

well good point about RAID 0 there is that danger of losing my data
but the date that s to go on those 2 drives in going to be recorded television mostly
so if it does get lost it won't be important as personal documents.

One of the reasons why I wanted a RAID 0 is not just speed also wanted Windows to see the drive as 1 big drive.

So how much of a gain could I exactly expect from a RAID 0 with 2 X 500gb HDD's compared to 2 X 500gb hard drives on their own?
 
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