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990FX Extreme9 RAID Functions

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  • #1

    990FX Extreme9 RAID Functions

    I figured I should start a new post regarding this RAID question.

    I've already installed Windows 8.1 without the RAID functions and have my machine up and running for the most part.

    Can I somehow install the RAID functions now/afterwards I've already installed Windows? I would hate to have to reinstall windows at this point just to benefit from the Hardware RAID.

    Thanks in advance.
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  • #2
    Re: 990FX Extreme9 RAID Functions

    Well, not to burst your bubble but it isn't Hardware RAID that the board provides. Any RAID functionality would be an added task for the 9370. ie Soft/Fake RAID
    #1 - Please, when seeking help, enter the make and model of ALL parts that your system is comprised of in your Signature, or at least the model #'s in your System Specs, then "Save' it.
    ____If you are overclocking, underclocking, or undervolting any parts, informing us of this and their values would prove beneficial in helping you.


    #2 - Consider your PSU to be the foundation from which all else is built upon. Anything built upon a weak foundation is poorly built.

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    • #3
      Re: 990FX Extreme9 RAID Functions

      Originally posted by On_E View Post
      I figured I should start a new post regarding this RAID question.

      I've already installed Windows 8.1 without the RAID functions and have my machine up and running for the most part.

      Can I somehow install the RAID functions now/afterwards I've already installed Windows? I would hate to have to reinstall windows at this point just to benefit from the Hardware RAID.

      Thanks in advance.
      If you set the SATA mode to RAID in the BIOS before you installed Windows, you're fine using RAID now. If you did not set the SATA mode to RAID before installing Windows, you've got a problem. Changing to RAID mode in the BIOS now will cause an immediate fail to boot or BSOD.

      That is not an ASRock issue, or an AMD issue, that is a 100% Windows issue. Not a Win 8.1 issue, it goes back as far as at least XP, probably beyond. Why MS has not fixed this, I do not know, because they (and we) know what the problem is. If you were using an Intel board/CPU and asked the same question, I'd give you the same answer, since that is what Intel would tell you to do.

      However... there is a trick to fixing this, involving a registry edit. How it is done on Intel based PCs is fairly well known, you can Google something like "changing to RAID mode" and you'll find all kinds of hits. One is even a Windows command file that performs the registry edit.

      But I can assure you that most if not all of the guides are for Intel PCs, and while the general method should apply to your AMD system, the details are wrong for AMD PCs, and only apply to Intel PCs.

      The heart of this trick is getting Windows to load the RAID driver when it boots. The driver it loads is controlled by the registry. You can install RAID drivers all day, but they won't load unless the boot process finds a registry entry that tells it to load that driver. More specifically, a data item in the drivers registry entry that tells Windows to load the driver.

      That is the main detail that is different between AMD and Intel, the name of the driver. It seems simple, but can you tell me the name of the AMD RAID driver used by your board's chipset? The Intel RAID driver for my Intel board's is named iaStorA.sys. Windows 7 and 8 have a basic Intel RAID driver built into them, and several AMD SATA drivers.

      The RAID driver in the SATA Floppy Image ver:3.3.1540.13 file on your board's download page is ahcix64.sys. Why they call it "ahci", I don't know. I think the AMD RAID driver (?) that is native to windows is called amdxata.sys. I'm not sure.

      If you don't feel up to figuring this all out, then a reinstall in RAID mode is the only alternative.

      Your reference to hardware RAID I imagine means the AMD RAID support that is partially supplied by the chipset, rather than a Windows Dynamic disk.

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