Problems setting up RAID

[MichaelAS]

Decided to repost here so i can get more answers

i have decided to use a 60 GB SSD as a cache with my 1TB HD as i will be installing more programs and 60GB is not sufficent
i am following these instructions ftp://europe.asrock.com/manual/raid/...se/English.pdf
i have set the drives to RAID and made sure that it is using the Intel ports and made sure its SATA III compatible.

unfortunately once i try to select the partitioned (250GB) 1TB hard drive i get an error message stating that:

"Windows cannot be installed on this disk. The computers hardware may not support booting the disk. Ensure that the disk controller is enabled in the computers BIOS menu"

any idea why this is happening ?

Thank You

[wazza300]

Re: Problems setting up RAID

what are you tring to do? you have a spare/blank 250gb partition for your os on the 1tb drive? why not save all the hassle and clone your existing ssd/windows install to the 250gb partition? you can use free macrium reflect to do this

then you can do a simple reg tweak from within windows that lets you install the raid drivers,then restart into bios select raid0 and boot in windows install thr rst drivers and select the 1tb hdd to accelerate with the ssd


If you already have W7 installed and do not want to reinstall do this:
1) Do not connect the caching SSD yet. First apply the following registry tweak:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Iastorv
In the details pane, right-click "Start", and then click modify.
In the Value data box, type 0

This registry change enables the RAID driver in Windows.
2) Next install the raid driver.
3) Connect your caching SSD
4) Set up caching with RST util.

Thought I would post a short guide on setting caching as it can be sort of confusing the first time.

First a few notes:
1) Your caching SSD should be 64GB or less as this is the max that can be allocated. You can also use a larger SSD if partitioned.
2) You can cache 1 HD or RAID array only so ensure you have an OS partition and games/storage partition on the HD you want to accelerate. You can cache any type of RAID array except matrix.
3) RST takes a bit of time for the cache to get populated with your OS and utils you use most. It might not seem fast at first but it will get faster over time.
4) Ensure chipset drivers are installed before attempting any of this
5) If you have a Gigabyte board, use the SRT utility. It will do all this for you including the registry tweak if you didnt install Windows in RAID mode.

Enhanced mode vs Maximized mode:
Enhanced mode is more secure because if your SSD dies you wont lose any data. With maximized mode if your SSD dies you could lose data. Basically it works like this:

With enhanced mode read perf is improved but write perf is bottlenecked by the write perf of the HD so it will be a bit slower. With maximized mode the data is written to the SSD first and then synced to the hard disk later. Thus if the drive dies before it writes to HD you lose data.

There is only a minor difference between enhanced and maximized so you have to decide if you want to risk any data of the accelerated drive for that extra 2 seconds in boot time. The difference in performance between the two is shown here.

Procedure:
1) Plug your caching SSD and storage HD (the one to accelerate) into the Intel SATA ports. Do not use 3rd party like Marvel, it will not work.
2) Enter BIOS, change HD mode to RAID
3) Install OS
4) DL the latest RST driver from Intel. Dont bother installing from mb disk, it will be outdated. Grab it here.
5) Open RST utility, go to accelerate tab
6) Enable acceleration, select your OS/storage drive as the accelerated drive, select enhanced or maximized mode. Enhanced is the most secure, maximized is the fastest.
7) Reboot. If you get a message about boot options being changed or something and are unable to boot into windows go to the BIOS and check your HD priority. It often gets changed when caching is implemented so you just have to put your OS HD back at the top.

[MichaelAS]

Re: Problems setting up RAID

what are you tring to do? you have a spare/blank 250gb partition for your os on the 1tb drive? why not save all the hassle and clone your existing ssd/windows install to the 250gb partition? you can use free macrium reflect to do this

then you can do a simple reg tweak from within windows that lets you install the raid drivers,then restart into bios select raid0 and boot in windows install thr rst drivers and select the 1tb hdd to accelerate with the ssd


If you already have W7 installed and do not want to reinstall do this:
1) Do not connect the caching SSD yet. First apply the following registry tweak:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Iastorv
In the details pane, right-click "Start", and then click modify.
In the Value data box, type 0

This registry change enables the RAID driver in Windows.
2) Next install the raid driver.
3) Connect your caching SSD
4) Set up caching with RST util.

Thought I would post a short guide on setting caching as it can be sort of confusing the first time.

First a few notes:
1) Your caching SSD should be 64GB or less as this is the max that can be allocated. You can also use a larger SSD if partitioned.
2) You can cache 1 HD or RAID array only so ensure you have an OS partition and games/storage partition on the HD you want to accelerate. You can cache any type of RAID array except matrix.
3) RST takes a bit of time for the cache to get populated with your OS and utils you use most. It might not seem fast at first but it will get faster over time.
4) Ensure chipset drivers are installed before attempting any of this
5) If you have a Gigabyte board, use the SRT utility. It will do all this for you including the registry tweak if you didnt install Windows in RAID mode.

Enhanced mode vs Maximized mode:
Enhanced mode is more secure because if your SSD dies you wont lose any data. With maximized mode if your SSD dies you could lose data. Basically it works like this:

With enhanced mode read perf is improved but write perf is bottlenecked by the write perf of the HD so it will be a bit slower. With maximized mode the data is written to the SSD first and then synced to the hard disk later. Thus if the drive dies before it writes to HD you lose data.

There is only a minor difference between enhanced and maximized so you have to decide if you want to risk any data of the accelerated drive for that extra 2 seconds in boot time. The difference in performance between the two is shown here.

Procedure:
1) Plug your caching SSD and storage HD (the one to accelerate) into the Intel SATA ports. Do not use 3rd party like Marvel, it will not work.
2) Enter BIOS, change HD mode to RAID
3) Install OS
4) DL the latest RST driver from Intel. Dont bother installing from mb disk, it will be outdated. Grab it here.
5) Open RST utility, go to accelerate tab
6) Enable acceleration, select your OS/storage drive as the accelerated drive, select enhanced or maximized mode. Enhanced is the most secure, maximized is the fastest.
7) Reboot. If you get a message about boot options being changed or something and are unable to boot into windows go to the BIOS and check your HD priority. It often gets changed when caching is implemented so you just have to put your OS HD back at the top.

hi

i managed to install windows with RAID enabled, i then managed to get onto RST but there was no acceleration tab so restarted the computer now my computer is refusing to reboot
why was there no acceleration tab ?
why is my computer not booting?

Thanks for the guide btw

[parsec]

Re: Problems setting up RAID

What drive is your OS installed on? Did Windows see your SSD and HDD?

Check your BIOS for boot order, and the SATA mode.

[MichaelAS]

Re: Problems setting up RAID

What drive is your OS installed on? Did Windows see your SSD and HDD?

Check your BIOS for boot order, and the SATA mode.

hi
the OS is installed on the 1TB.. yes windows can recognize both and so does RST but their is no accelerate tab
the 1tb is set for boot and is set into RAID Configuration..upon boot a RAID configuration utility shows but i was told that RAID should be configured in RST and not manually..currently i cannot boot

[wazza300]

Re: Problems setting up RAID

press ctrl and i and see what the raid says,if theres any array delete it and then try booting up

you could try setting to ide or ahci and see if you can get into windows,then do this guide

If you already have W7 installed and do not want to reinstall do this:
1) Do not connect the caching SSD yet. First apply the following registry tweak:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Iastorv
In the details pane, right-click "Start", and then click modify.
In the Value data box, type 0

This registry change enables the RAID driver in Windows.
2) Next install the raid driver.
3) Connect your caching SSD
4) Set up caching with RST util.

just remember to install the raid driver before you reboot,then set to raid in bios

[MichaelAS]

Re: Problems setting up RAID

press ctrl and i and see what the raid says,if theres any array delete it and then try booting up

you could try setting to ide or ahci and see if you can get into windows,then do this guide

If you already have W7 installed and do not want to reinstall do this:
1) Do not connect the caching SSD yet. First apply the following registry tweak:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Iastorv
In the details pane, right-click "Start", and then click modify.
In the Value data box, type 0

This registry change enables the RAID driver in Windows.
2) Next install the raid driver.
3) Connect your caching SSD
4) Set up caching with RST util.

just remember to install the raid driver before you reboot,then set to raid in bios

there are no RAID arrays in the configuration utility and the utility states that they are "Non-RAID Disk" under the type/Status, i have completed the Reg tweak

where can i find the RAID driver? do you mean the one that comes with RST ..on the Asrock website under my mobo the only RAID driver that is available can only be installed from a floppy during set up ?

once i install RST and then reconnect the SSD, RST cannot open as it states an unknown error has occured as i believe it requires a reboot before it can be used

[MichaelAS]

Re: Problems setting up RAID

press ctrl and i and see what the raid says,if theres any array delete it and then try booting up

you could try setting to ide or ahci and see if you can get into windows,then do this guide

If you already have W7 installed and do not want to reinstall do this:
1) Do not connect the caching SSD yet. First apply the following registry tweak:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Iastorv
In the details pane, right-click "Start", and then click modify.
In the Value data box, type 0

This registry change enables the RAID driver in Windows.
2) Next install the raid driver.
3) Connect your caching SSD
4) Set up caching with RST util.

just remember to install the raid driver before you reboot,then set to raid in bios

Just successfully restrted after Enabling RAID in BIOS and now their is still no Accelerate Tab in RST

[wazza300]

Re: Problems setting up RAID

try uninstalling/re installing rst,it was a pain when i last set it up,it takes a few goes before the tabs show up

[johnpoole4]

Re: Problems setting up RAID

Thanks for the guide btw