SSD RAID 0 Help on z690 Formula

[Spindlwood]

I have 3 SSD Drives. SSD 1 is my boot drive and has Windows 11 installed. SSD 2 & 3 are identical and I'd like to have them in RAID 0. The instructions from Asus say to set the option Advanced=>PCH Storage Configuration=>SATA Mode Selection, but I don't have this option, nor do I see the 2 SSD drives listed for RAID support. These drives have not been formatted or in any way used by Windows 11, as far as I can tell. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks.

[MoKiChU]

Hi,

With 6xx series chipsets based motherboards, there is no longer SATA AHCI-RAID as it was before..

So to create SATA RAID or PCIe/NVMe RAID :

- Start/Restart your PC then press Del when the ROG logo appears to enter in your BIOS > Press F7 to switch in Advanced Mode > Advanced tab > System Agent (SA) Configuration > VMD Setup Menu :

If the SSDs you want to put in RAID 0 are SATA SSDs : Map SATA Controller under VMD : Enabled
If the SSDs you want to put in RAID 0 are PCIe/NVMe SSDs : Map PCIE Storage under VMD : Enabled

- Press F10 to Save & Exit

- Start/Restart your PC then press Del when the ROG logo appears to enter in your BIOS > Press F7 to switch in Advanced Mode > Advanced tab > Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology > Create RAID Volume then like legacy process ...

- Press F10 to Save & Exit

You will need the Intel VMD drivers which you can find the latest version here : [DRIVERS] Intel Chipset/MEI/SATA/VMD (1xx/2xx/3xx/4xx/5xx/6xx)

[Spindlwood]

Thank you for the detailed instructions. Do I also need to install the Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers listed under my MB. When I started to install, it gave the message:

The Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver you are about to install may be used to control the storage device that this computer boots from or a storage device that contains important data. You will NOT be able to uninstall this driver.

I also looked into using Windows 11 to create the RAID 0 drive (they call it something else). Do you recommend using the bios method over Windows?

[Spindlwood]

MoKiChU wrote:
Hi,

With 6xx series chipsets based motherboards, there is no longer SATA AHCI-RAID as it was before, now it is called VMD (which manages SATA/PCIe AHCI-RAID).

So to create SATA RAID or PCIe/NVMe RAID :

- Start/Restart your PC then press Del when the ROG logo appears to enter in your BIOS > Press F7 to switch in Advanced Mode > Advanced tab > System Agent (SA) Configuration > VMD Setup Menu :

If the SSDs you want to put in RAID 0 are SATA SSDs : Map SATA Controller under VMD : Enabled
If the SSDs you want to put in RAID 0 are PCIe/NVMe SSDs : Map PCIE Storage under VMD : Enabled

- Press F10 to Save & Exit

- Start/Restart your PC then press Del when the ROG logo appears to enter in your BIOS > Press F7 to switch in Advanced Mode > Advanced tab > Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology > Create RAID Volume then like legacy process ...

- Press F10 to Save & Exit

You will need the Intel VMD drivers which you can find the latest version here : [DRIVERS] Intel Chipset/MEI/SATA/VMD (1xx/2xx/3xx/4xx/5xx/6xx)

I installed the drivers and set up the RAID 0 Volume in the bios as you outlined. I left the boot SSD alone. However, when I boot, I get "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE".
Any way to recover without reinstalling Windows?

I tried to reinstall windows, but getting "no signed device drivers". I am hosed for the moment

Any ideas?

****** UPDATE ****
It looks like the Intel drivers control all NVMe drives and so the boot drive was hidden because the driver was somehow not available to the boot process (even through I installed the drivers). I copied the Intel drivers (from the Asus site) to the Win 11 install SSD and tried installing. This time I loaded the driver and I could now see all my original partitions. However, I couldn't figure out a way to boot using the driver so I just bit the bullet and am installing Win 11 again.

I know I could have likely undid the RAID 0 config and the drive would probably been visible, but I got this far and decided to see it through. I am curious if I could have done something else to prevent this.

[MoKiChU]

Spindlwood wrote:
I installed the drivers and set up the RAID 0 Volume in the bios as you outlined. I left the boot SSD alone. However, when I boot, I get "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE".
Any way to recover without reinstalling Windows?

I tried to reinstall windows, but getting "no signed device drivers". I am hosed for the moment

Any ideas?

Install/Use last Windows 10 21H2 or Windows 11 21H2 (not WHQL signed for older) :

Windows 10 : https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows10
Windows 11 : https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11

Also, follow this official FAQ : https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1047139

[MoKiChU]

Hi,

Intel Rapid Storage Technology is the commercial name :

Intel RST (Rapid Storage Technology) Drivers = Intel SATA AHCI-RAID Drivers (before 6xx) = Intel VMD Drivers (from 6xx).

I recommend the traditional method via the BIOS to create SATA RAID or PCIe/NVMe RAID, and use the drivers package (Drivers Only / F6) I told you previously rather than the drivers package (Drivers + Software) from your motherboard support page.

[Spindlwood]

Great, thanks. Will do.

[MoKiChU]

Spindlwood wrote:
I installed the drivers and set up the RAID 0 Volume in the bios as you outlined. I left the boot SSD alone. However, when I boot, I get "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE".
Any way to recover without reinstalling Windows?

I tried to reinstall windows, but getting "no signed device drivers". I am hosed for the moment

Any ideas?

Follow this official FAQ : https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1047139

[MoKiChU]

Follow this official FAQ : https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1047139