Switching from AHCI to RAID

[I.M.O.G.]

Is it possible to switch from AHCI to onboard RAID without doing a fresh install? Looking to do this with v64 and/or 764.

 

[c627627]

It should work. Backup if possible and be sure to install any RAID drivers *before* making the switch.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Any special tricks necessary other than preloading drivers? I think you have to do something special for an AHCI to IDE switch, not an expert on this stuff though.

 

[c627627]

What you're trying to do is different from IDE to AHCI. You may need to reinstall drivers but it should work.

I have personally made the jump from IDE to AHCI on my Windows7/XP/Vista triple boot. Details [but you're not trying to do this, that's just for information of people looking to go from IDE to AHCI/RAID.]:
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6544822&postcount=16
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6544826&postcount=17

 

[c627627]

You probably have various reasons to go RAID but just in case they're for personal use, I would think twice before switching to RAID.

If one drive messes up, everything will be gone. Lots of potential headaches for non-backed up personal use. Ed Stroligo once wrote an article against RAID for home use and after Gautam used it back in the day, I talked to him about it and he warned me against it.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Ya, I'm just looking to test it - there won't be any useful data or any applications I actually use the system for. I read that article, and I wouldn't run raid0 for a regular usage OS - especially in this day and age where SSDs are plenty quick enough for the OS.

Just looking to get some cool benchmarks done, without jumping through too many hoops setting up an OS from scratch... I have fully prepped OSes ready, so it would save me a lot of time if I can switch without reinstalling.

Thanks for the other links, not for what I'm doing, but I like to read how things are done. Never know when it can come in useful for someone.

 

[c627627]

Yes, and I'm looking forward to you finding out the hard way if simply installing RAID drivers was enough for the AHCI to RAID switch.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

I should have an update later today, or at the latest after this weekend.

 

[shadowdr]

You don't have to reinstall to move to raid. If you have two more drives they can be independent of the OS drive, you can use a drive image as well if you want the OS on the array. The image can be either raid or non raid as long as the drivers are installed but I am only familiar with AMD and not Intel. All of the different raid versions I have used they are as easy as entering the raid bios and defining the drives in the array but if they are raid0 they should be formatted using the OS from the single drive that is not part of the array first and then imaged. It should be pretty easy.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Shadowdr: I'm using onboard raid. I have six sata ports on the CIVE. I have windows installed under ahci currently. If I switch from ahci to raid in bios, the first 4 sata ports all must be switched to raid. Port 5 and 6 are independent, but then my only options are raid or ide if ports 1-4 are set to raid.

So basically, I have two options. Try to install the raid drivers and hope I don't get a 0x7b error at the loading screen once I reboot with raid mode enabled instead of ahci, like c6 mentioned trying.

The other option is setting raid mode then doing a fresh install.

Unfortunately, I cannot use onboard raid with my existing AHCI install, as once I enable the onboard raid I don't have any ahci ports to use for my OS drive. I'm new at using onboard, so I don't really know what I'm doing, and just reporting my experience so far really. All input is appreciated.

 

[shadowdr]

I am not sure that I understand what you are saying. The bios should not care if there are single disks among an array as long as they are not set to an array(I am assuming that you mean raid0). The raid drivers only allow you to take advantage of the advanced features, much like AHCI drivers. Unless we are talking about an SSD there are no disadvantages of having a single OS drive and a raid array on the same controller both using the same raid drivers. For some reason SSD's perform poorly on the same controller as a raid array is on with AMD but I am not sure that Intel is the same way. The best way is to have an image of the OS that you can keep separate of the other drives because when you go back to AHCI you will need to use one of the methods above in C6's post unless you have an imaged drive handy. I have had a few controllers that you had to add the single drive as an array by itself but it is uncommon.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

I'll try to clarify:

I installed the OS with BIOS set to AHCI. Once I switched the bios to RAID mode on the sata ports, rather than AHCI mode, when I rebooted and tried to load windows I got an 0x7B blue screen, the standard BSOD that pops up when you have AHCI or IDE set incorrectly.

I had 2 other disks I wanted to run in RAID0, other than the OS disk which was just going to be a lonesome non raid drive. It wouldn't load the OS after installing in AHCI mode, then rebooting in RAID mode.

I do have an image of the AHCI install backed up, and will drop the image back to the drive when I return to AHCI mode.

For now, I did a quick fresh install from USB to get this working, and once I did the fresh install with the onboard sata already set to RAID, I'm booting fine into windows with one drive as the OS not in raid, and 2 other drives in RAID0.

 

[shadowdr]

I think I see now, after you installed the raid drivers it gave the error and wouldn't boot. Glad you were able to accomplish what you needed and are able to go back without issue.

 

[medo145]

I know this thread is a bit out of date, but I managed to accomplish this without a reinstall and thought it might come in handy for others trying to do the same. I had some spare drives and wanted to set up a raid0 for games on my brother's comp (os drive non raid). After switching to raid in the bios and creating the array, the os drive would bsod when trying to boot.

Here's the change you need to make while in windows under ahci.

run regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStorV

Change the Start REG_DWORD from 3 to 0

Restart into bios, change to raid and it should not bsod when booting up.