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How To Setup Matrix RAID *AFTER* Installing Windows

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rainless

Old Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2006
It's "Choose Your Own Adventure Night" here at OCF...

I'm new to SATA in general... and certainly new to RAID. (I was also the last person on earth to switch from Analog to Digital.)

One thing always puzzled me: Why is everyone always talking about installing the RAID drivers before installing windows?

A few things occurred to me during my voyage of infinite discovery.

Given that you've already got windows installed on some hard drive or another and you just want to setup a Matrix RAID array on two or more separate drives that you just bought:

1. You will Have to enable RAID over the entire SATA bus.
2. Doing so will in no way harm your windows install or any of the files on its hard drive.
3. You will not be able to boot into windows.

Windows XP will just reboot itself.
Windows Vista will BSOD.

Charming really.

I need to pause here to tell you, while this may be low amongst the "Craziest **** I've ever seen on a computer" ...it still ranks.

First I was puzzled as to why you could've just setup drives individually in the bios to run as IDE or RAID. Then I was confused as to why... if those drives are already marked as Non-RAID... I wouldn't be able to boot to them.

There are ways... There are ways.

Here's a start:

http://drnathan.teamhackaday.com/20...ntel-ich-raid-after-installing-windows-vista/

He's not the first guy to come up with that... but after I get this working (since what he suggested didn't work for me) I'll explain exactly how I did it.
 
http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=444831

That's the guy that came up with the idea before Dr. Nathan was able to take all the credit. ;)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I believe the general ASSumption is that you will be installing windows onto your RAID drive and that any other drive you use will just have storage on it.

I don't know WHY this idea is so universally accepted... Especially given that... I dunno... maybe you wouldn't NEED extra hard drives if you already had enough hard drive space. Maybe you already have Windows installed... Maybe you're working a TRI-Boot! with XP, Vista, and 16 versions of linux on one thumb drive!

Absolutely nobody I've ever chatted with about RAID seems to have ever considered that possibility.

So, like I said in the earlier post, if you enable RAID you won't be able to get back into Windows.

Let's deal with that problem first:

1. Go back into the bios
2. Re-enable IDE on the SATA ports
3. Save and exit.
4. Go BACK into the bios and setup what you want your boot drive to be
5. Save and exit
6. Turn the computer OFF
7. Unplug the SATA cable from your RAID drives (might not be necessary, but do it.)
8. Boot back into Windows like nothing ever happened


From here you can get started with hacking your RAID into Windows.

It's complicated... and I haven't GOTTEN IT DONE yet... (yes I have) but I'm the type of guy that doesn't sleep until he wins.
 
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Now that you're back in Windows (yay!) you can start to address The Problem... which is this:

It's not that Windows isn't acknowledging your RAID volume, the exact problem is that it KNOWS your RAID volume is there.

So it goes to load the driver... doesn't find it... then freaks out.

What we're going to do is load that driver. This all takes place in the registry's "CriticalDeviceDatabase."

This is where the drivers for your hard drives, monitor, mouse, and all other critical devices are loaded.

Dr. Nathan essentially got it right (with one colossal error), but didn't go deep enough into explaining what was happening and why.

He also didn't use this:

a code box
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\PCI#VEN_8086&DEV_2822&CC_0104]
"ClassGUID"="{4d36e97b-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}"
"Security"=hex:01,00,04,90,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,02,\
00,4c,00,03,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,ff,01,1f,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,\
00,00,00,00,18,00,ff,01,1f,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,20,02,00,\
00,00,00,18,00,9f,01,12,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,21,02,00,00
"Service"="iaStor"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0001]
"InfPath"="oem9.inf"
"InfSection"="iaStor_Inst_RAID"
"ProviderName"="Intel"
"DriverDateData"=hex:00,00,97,ae,db,8b,c9,01
"DriverDate"="2-11-2009"
"DriverVersion"="8.8.0.1009"
"MatchingDeviceId"="pci\\ven_8086&dev_2822&cc_0104"
"DriverDesc"="Intel(R) ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO SATA RAID Controller"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Services\iaStor]
"Type"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000000
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Tag"=dword:00000019
"ImagePath"=hex(2):73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,00,\
52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,52,00,53,00,5c,00,69,00,61,00,53,00,74,00,6f,00,72,\
00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00
"DisplayName"="Intel RAID Controller"
"Group"="SCSI Miniport"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Services\iaStor\Parameters]
"queuePriorityEnable"=dword:00000000
"BusType"=dword:00000008

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Services\iaStor\Parameters\Port0]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000000
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Services\iaStor\Parameters\Port1]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000000
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Services\iaStor\Parameters\Port2]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000000
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Services\iaStor\Parameters\Port3]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000000
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Services\iaStor\Parameters\Port4]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000000
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Services\iaStor\Parameters\Port5]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000000
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000000

1. Now that you're back in windows you're going to copy the above information and save it to a file called "raid.reg"


2. Then you need to install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager (get it from here: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2101 )


3. Run it with the extension "-a" to extract the files to Program Files\Intel.

4. Go into that directory and copy iaStor.sys to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers

5. Double-click "raid.reg" to import the information into the registry

6. Shutdown, connect your RAID drives (if you disconnected them), boot, re-enable RAID, setup your boot priority and you'll be back in Windows!

7. Once back in windows run the Intel Matrix Storage installer again to fully install the program. (Hack just installs the driver, not the manager.)

That's it!

As for why this took me all day yesterday to do... even though my directions are essentially the same as Dr. Nathan's look VERY closely at the code to his guide.

THAT was the problem. :)

Thanks to Dr. Nathan and the guy at PCPer who started all of this! :beer:
 
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And DONE. Details in the morning. :D

RAIDraider.jpg

hdtune150GBRAID0.jpg

This is before even formatting. :)
 
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I've hit this brick wall a few times.

Subscribed

Here's that .reg file for those who don't want to make their own from the code text.
 

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Here it is w/writeback cache and a 256kb offset:
 

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I dont understand the difficulty :( I just added a drive and booted into BIOS, setup RAID, told it FROM which drive TO which drive and do Background build. Took 5 minutes. The build obviously was more then 5 minutes. This is on a dell at work. Why the heck does it read like it is reprogramming a Geode? :bang head
 
I dont understand the difficulty :( I just added a drive and booted into BIOS, setup RAID, told it FROM which drive TO which drive and do Background build. Took 5 minutes. The build obviously was more then 5 minutes. This is on a dell at work. Why the heck does it read like it is reprogramming a Geode? :bang head

Because... if it was that easy for you... then you already had the RAID drivers installed for some odd reason.

Read the FIRST POST:

If you enable RAID without having the RAID drivers installed (which... coincidentally... you have to have RAID enabled in order to install the drivers... which you won't be able to do without the drivers installed) then:

1. Windows XP will reboot at the flash screen.
2. Windows Vista will BSOD
 
I have an installed Vista OS on a hard drive that won't boot with my new Matrix RAID on. I'll try and see if I can get it to work, but I don't want to endanger my RAID 0 & RAID 1 slices I've already built and populated with a tweaked OS and 800+GB of data/music/video/etc. I'd sure be very bummed if I broke the set futzing around as Matrix won't allow you to build a Mirror set with data already on one drive kept intact TTBoMK.
 
i was about to say, all you have to do is enable raid, do the driver trick and then install the Intel matrix storage software and your done, but nice write up.

Now, even if i dont plan to raid my harddrive, i choose raid in the bios anyways, save alot of headaches if i choose to do it in the future, not to mention it is nice to have hotplug support.
 
I have an installed Vista OS on a hard drive that won't boot with my new Matrix RAID on. I'll try and see if I can get it to work, but I don't want to endanger my RAID 0 & RAID 1 slices I've already built and populated with a tweaked OS and 800+GB of data/music/video/etc. I'd sure be very bummed if I broke the set futzing around as Matrix won't allow you to build a Mirror set with data already on one drive kept intact TTBoMK.

Wait wait wait :eek: You mean if i add 2 drivers to the set on a seperate card that it might break the RAID set i just built? Damn it. I was going to add 2 1TB drives. :bang head
 
Wait wait wait :eek: You mean if i add 2 drivers to the set on a seperate card that it might break the RAID set i just built? Damn it. I was going to add 2 1TB drives. :bang head
On a separate card it would be a separate set. I don't think you would necessarily affect a set on the ICHR. Just back up everything you hold dear before you start futzing with things.

Again, I'm a relative n00b on ICHR Matrix RAID so don't take my thoughts as gospel (no matter what color the stars or post count).
 
I have an installed Vista OS on a hard drive that won't boot with my new Matrix RAID on. I'll try and see if I can get it to work, but I don't want to endanger my RAID 0 & RAID 1 slices I've already built and populated with a tweaked OS and 800+GB of data/music/video/etc. I'd sure be very bummed if I broke the set futzing around as Matrix won't allow you to build a Mirror set with data already on one drive kept intact TTBoMK.

Wait wait wait :eek: You mean if i add 2 drivers to the set on a seperate card that it might break the RAID set i just built? Damn it. I was going to add 2 1TB drives. :bang head

On a separate card it would be a separate set. I don't think you would necessarily affect a set on the ICHR. Just back up everything you hold dear before you start futzing with things.

Again, I'm a relative n00b on ICHR Matrix RAID so don't take my thoughts as gospel (no matter what color the stars or post count).

I'v done it at least 70 times over the past few days without losing any data. The only time I could've conceivably lost data is when I accidentally unplugged the wrong drive (in section 1 above) and the RAID array failed. I suppose I could've lost data there. But if you follow the directions as I wrote them, I don't see how losing data would be possible.

As long as you first switch back to IDE mode... then unplug the RAID drives upon shutdown... then just have them plugged up the next time you start up your RAID... then I don't see how you could lose data.

I don't have anything important on the drives YET... so I'll try it and see if any data loss occurs.

As for adding new drives... you wouldn't need a new controller CARD per say. Most motherboards have two different RAID controllers on them already. So instead of using the ICH10, you can use the alternative ports to create a different array. Then you wouldn't have to worry about Array 000.
 
Thanks rainless but i used a sperate card out of fear. it worked. Compmgmt.msc shows 3 drives now, 1 off the matrix raid (which is Raid 1 set) and 2 drives off the Sil controller (which is a Raid 5, 3 + 1) Dont understand why it shows two drives but oh well. it reports that its fine. I am going to have to add a PSU though. I dont think it was enough as it was. 6 drives might be asking too much of it now.

@ Mod None of us here are n00bs, we just all have different Strengths :) I have read quite a few of your posts, you have never said anything completely useless yet :beer: Your advice is good advice in my book.
 
Rainless... you sir are a legend!

That is awesome work... can't wait to try it out (but it will be a few weeks).

STICKY
 
A seperate RAID card does not apply to Matrix RAID, why I have my operating system on the raptors using Matrix and the 4TB of storage on the Areca 1210 I have in here :)

The Matrix unfortunately you cant rebuild/reconfigure on the fly like you can a hardware RAID card. They work independently from the operating system.

I could be wrong I guess, the Areca has spoiled me, I spent some time frigging around with the Matrix RAID, and trying several differnt RAID setups. Had 4 RAID configurations for a while messing around with the Matrix and the Areca partioned off in various ways once I put my 4 RE3 drive's in here. I finally just put it back where I had it originally in one big partion on the Matrix, seemed to work much faster on my system at any rate.
 
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A seperate RAID card does not apply to Matrix RAID, why I have my operating system on the raptors using Matrix and the 4TB of storage on the Areca 1210 I have in here :)

The Matrix unfortunately you cant rebuild/reconfigure on the fly like you can a hardware RAID card. They work independently from the operating system.

I could be wrong I guess, the Areca has spoiled me, I spent some time frigging around with the Matrix RAID, and trying several differnt RAID setups. Had 4 RAID configurations for a while messing around with the Matrix and the Areca partioned off in various ways once I put my 4 RE3 drive's in here. I finally just put it back where I had it originally in one big partion on the Matrix, seemed to work much faster on my system at any rate.

Well post some numbers! We'll go toe-to-toe :)
 
*BUMP*

And I vote sticky, though I'm sure, after years and years of experience, either Viper John or David will be in with excuses as to why it shouldn't be. ;)
 
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