cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Retrieve RAID 0 on a x470 mobo

Oldar
Level 7
Hello to all!

I am starting to loose my mind here... First let me tell you my system specs

- CPU: AMD 2700X
- Mobo: Asus Crosshair VII Hero WiFi
- RAM: 2 x G.Skill Flare 8GB
- SSD/HHD: 1 x SSD Samsung 850 Pro 256 GB (OS),
2 x HDD WD Raptor 300GB (RAID 0)
2 x HDD WD Black Caviar 2 TB (DATA)

Several months ago, I somehow managed to create a RAID 0 with my 2 raptors after installing my Windows 10 Pro in the Samsung SSD through the BIOS RAID Configuration. Everything went fine, until a friend of mine wanted to finish a project on my PC and long story short, my windows crashed on my disk. Fortunately I had a recently clone disk backup BUT for some reason I cannot make it work (Always blue screen after loading windows)

With heavy heart I started setting up the whole system again and I came up with my initial problem:

In order to see the RAID, I have to change the Sata Configuration from SATA to AHCI. Then I stop seeing the Samsung SSD where the OS is installed. All comes down to these 2 options:

A. Setting Sata Configuration > RAID, the system does only recognize as bootable drive the RAID which is not what I want to have and I really do not know why is that. I cannot choose between any other device to boot no matter what. In this case I cannot boot into Windows.

B. Setting Sata Configuration > AHCI, the system recognizes as bootable drive the SSD. In this case I can log in into Windows, I see all the drives except the ones that are in RAID.

I am sure that some has to do with the drivers of SSD but I cannot remember how on earth I came up with the solution so many months ago. Any ideas are more that welcome.

PS: I don't want to delete and create the RAID from the beginning as it is the only one drive I have not recently backup and I need all date in there. I just need to figure out how I am going to have the OS in the SSD and the RAID set up while the system will be on RAID Sata mode.

Thanks in advance for your time.

Friendly
Oldar
1,799 Views
11 REPLIES 11

Oldar
Level 7
After some research I managed to figure it out.

I will mark here the steps I followed so that if anyone else has similar issues, he may find this thread helpful

1. Set Sata > RAID
2. CSM > Disabled
3. I choose to boot from the USB where I have the Windows AND the AMD-RAID Drivers Folder.
4. While the Windows installation starts up, I choose the Country, Time, Language etc., I write the windows key and then when I have to choose a drive to install the windows, I press "Load Driver"
5. I select the files rcbottom.inf (first one of there more than one)
6. Again "Load Driver" rcraid.inf
7. Now I am able to see the SSD to choose it as where the OS will installed.

Thanks for reading this.

Friendly
Oldar

Oldar
Level 7
Ok, today a new problem came up and I think this one is beyond my knowledge to solve.

After setting up the system on my SSD (Samsung 850 Pro), and after I made my RAID 0 appear again, I installed windows 10. When I entered in them, all my drivers were there:
1 SSD, 5 HDD and a newer M.2 which I recently bought to replace my RAID 0 in sometime. Everything seemed to work as intended. I started install drivers, you know, chipset, audio, lan, GPU, PSU etc... Somewhere there, after some reboots, my m.2 disk dissappeared from my system. It is not in Device Management, and I cannot see him in Bios too.
My BIOS settings were Sata > RAID, NVMe RAID Mode > Disable, CSM > Disable, and everything else that has to do with NVMe Sata in BOOT Meny Enable.

If someone can help me figure it out that would very helpful after almost 24 hours I am trying to do everything work again...

Edit: If I choose CSM > Enable, then BIOS can see M.2 but windows not. If CSM > Disabled BIOS cannot see M.2 neither windows 10. I am losing my mind here, as it was there the first time I entered windows...

Firstly, you need to ensure that both M.2 drives are formatted with a GPT ( global partition table) or MBR( master boot record)partition. It is advisable that your boot drive uses a GPT . This could be the reason why one of the drives cannot be seen when you disable CSM.

Oldar
Level 7
Thank you very much for your answer, but how do I format the the disks from the windows installation menu? I cannot choose from there if I want them gpt or mbr.

My problem is not in BIOS as I see it, but in Windows where after some driver installations it dissappeared.

If you want your operating system to be installed on the NVME SSD then use rufus to create a bootable flash choosing GPT for UEFI. Do a clean installation and you can format one or both drives, preferably both. Alternatively, if you already have windows installed use disk management to do a check. Incidentally, if no partition has been created on a drive then you will not see it in file explorer. If this is the case use disk management to create a partition and you are done.
https://www.easeus.com/partition-master/partition-windows-10-free.html
https://rufus.ie

On second thoughts, if your drives disappeared after installing drivers then you will need to install the AMD Chipset drivers and the Raid installer. Please ensure that you choose the 246mb file because it has Raid Expert.
https://www.amd.com/en/support/chipsets/amd-socket-am4/x470.

Try the method above initially, if it does not work.Then disconnect all drives excluding your O/S and restart the machine. Get into windows, shut down and reconnect the drives. If you are still using raid please ensure that it is activated in the bios ( sata raid).

Oldar
Level 7
Thank you very much for your recommendations

I dried the drivers and the removing option but it did not make any difference.

I cannot recall how I did the whole thing work the first time, because I remember now that I used Sata > AHCI and NOT Sata > RAID when I loaded windows on the SSD drive. That way, I had a functional disk with an OS without effecting on the RAID Arrays and I was able to boot with both AHCI and RAID mode on.

What I cannot remember though is how I made that work because when I do not have SATA > RAID, I cannot see the drive with the OS in the BOOT Options and that makes me crazy as I know I found a way to make it work but I cannot remember it how...

I think I will try it again now, following this order:

1. Remove all the drives except Sata SSD and M.2 (does not make any difference if M.2 is installed at this point. I can see it in the windows installation menu I do not want to install windows in it.)
2. SATA > AHCI
3. CSM > Disable
4. BOOT > UEFI USB Drive (when Windows 10 are)
5. From windows installation menu, I see M.2 but not Sata SSD. I load the drivers manually as I already saved them in the USB.
6. I see Sata SSD and M.2
7. I choose Sata SSD and moving forward with windows Installation
8. Entering Windows.

Up until this step, I think it will be ok and I will propably be able to see both Sata SSD and M.2 SSD in the Disk Managemet. Now, as of how I need to set SATA > RAID and being able to boot from the sata with the OS installed I think I need to "play" with some BIOS settings and I hope I will eventually find it. If not, at least this time I kept a safe OS backup and I will restore it knowing that with this setup I will not be able to have access to an M.2 drive...

Good day to you, I trust that you are covid-19 free at this point in time. I need to know what type of SSD you are using. They could be the legacy SATA, M.2 SATA or M.2 PCIE. This is because the M.2.2 slot does not support M.2 SATA. If your configuration is fine then we need to check your boot menu. We are back to CSM.
I suggest that you enable CSM then for Boot Device Control select UEFI & Legacy OPROM. If this does not work then we will have to check your PCIE configuration.
Check the attachments.

Best Regards,
Fortiscrew.

Oldar
Level 7
Ok I managed to find a way and enter windwos in ACHI mode. For those that are interesting I followed these steps:

1. While in windows I entered in msconfig window -> Check Boot from Safe Mode (Minimal) -> Restart
2. Enter BIOS and change SATA > AHCI -> Save & Exit
3. Enter windows and press again msconfig window -> Uncheck Boot from Safe Mode (Minimal) -> Restart
4. Enter in windows in AHCI mode.

Unfortunately no M.2 in disk management again...

Edit: When I tried to unistall Chipset and Sata Raid drivers although I see them as installed programs in my windows apps menu, when I press "Unistall" a message warns me "No unistallable drivers found". Only the AMD GPU drivers I can unistall succesful...