Issues installing Win 7 on a raid 0 array

[n00bster]

Hi - hoping someone can help here.

I have just bought a copy of Windows 7 and two brand new 2TB HDDs. What I want to do is raid the two drives together with raid 0 and install Windows onto the array. This would give me a 4TB C drive with Windows installed.

So far today I have had little success...

After reading as much I can I have discovered that I may not be able to install Windows onto a 4TB drive and may well have to partition a 2TB section to install Windows on. I am fine with this, even if this means loosing the other 2TB (hopefully I can partition this into another drive, but I'll worry about that later).
Unfortunately I have discovered that I accidently bought an upgrade version of Windows 7 and the product key will not allow me to install Windows as a clean install. This should not be a problem as I have a working copy of both XP and Vista.
I installed XP onto a 2TB partition on the raid array and attempted to upgrade to Win 7, this did not work and told me I had to format and perform a clean install (which I cannot). Next I attempted to install Vista and this is where I have run into issues.
I am now unable to install any OS on the raid array. I can see a 2TB partition but when I attempt to install onto it I receive the following error message "Windows setup could not reinitialize the deployment engine. To install Windows, restart the installation".
After reading several forums I tried formatting the array using a DOS prompt but after 3 hours (when the format got to 100%) I received the error "all NTFS boot sectors are unwriteable. cannot continue. format failed". I have also tried to format the drive using Gparted (a linux-based boot application allowing partitioning and formatting etc.) this also failed with no obvious error message.

I am now completely stuck, any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[SiriusB]

Any particular reason you want a RAID0 array? You can save a huge headache by simply having two separate disks.

In any case, you can install Windows 7 Upgrade onto a blank slate, so to speak. There are two methods and I am surprised you didn't search - these forums and the Internet are awash with articles on getting around this!

In short, you can either use a registry hack - doesn't always work, but only in rare cases - or you can use the double-install method. The registry option you can look up. The double-install involves installing Windows 7 once, without using a Product Key [you can leave it blank]. Then install again choosing to Upgrade and using the Product Key. This is the method Microsoft recommends.

As for your wonky RAID array, why not simply return the SATA controller to AHCI mode, format the disks separately [quick format will do, using whatever software] and then set up the array again.

 

[Raumarik]

I'm with SiriusB on this, with RAID0 you won't see a massive speed increase that many people expect and you are opening yourself up to a massive risk of data loss. People get fixated on RAID 0, when an upgrade to their PC elsewhere will reap far greater benefits without the risk, even an SSD as the boot drive and the two 2TB disks working as separate unraided drives would be far quicker and have far less risk. Yes with RAID0 on benchmarks you'll see a difference but in day to day use there's little in it.

For info I have a RAID0 setup, but I also have a RAID5 on the same PC where the important data is kept (and then off to encrypted USB storage). I'd avoid RAID0 unless you had a solid back up plan in mind.

However you are right in that you'll be limited to <2TB for the boot partition, which begs the reason why you'd want to go down the RAID0 config rather than keeping the drives separate or going for RAID1 and mirror the drives, no performance gain but at least you have peace of mind.