xps 420 win 7 adding storage hdd

ComputerSmith

Honorable
Apr 9, 2012
2
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10,510
Just installed win 7 64 bit on XPS 420 quad core 2.4 gh, 8 gigs ram, 1tb hdd. I went to add the old hdd as a 2nd hdd. win 7 won't see old hdd with vista 32 bit. I went into bios, drives are set up for raid, when I turn raid off and re-boot, it won't boot and restarts. Read that I have to reinstall and setup win 7 again. Is this true? No way to reconfigure to use 2nd hdd as storage drive, I don't need the vista for dual boot. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
 
Solution


I had this same problem. You need the registry setting for the AHCI driver in Win 7. Here's how I did it: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/changing-from-raid-to-ahci/4c94f678-6bd1-48a6-b871-8872c841023a

Worked like a...


I had this same problem. You need the registry setting for the AHCI driver in Win 7. Here's how I did it: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/changing-from-raid-to-ahci/4c94f678-6bd1-48a6-b871-8872c841023a

Worked like a charm and I did not need to reinstall Windows.

Yogi

 
Solution

ComputerSmith

Honorable
Apr 9, 2012
2
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10,510
Phillip and Yogi,
Before I saw Yogi's response, I followed Phillip's advice. I changed the raid settings in the bios and reinstalled Windows. Restarted with no success. Then read Yogi's advice and changed the registry settings and restarted with no success. I did a little more digging and read to change the 2nd drive's sata connection to the sata1 spot where the DVD was. Reboot with success. You most likely figured I knew to do that first. This is my first experience with drives configured with raids on a home machine, I still have a lot to learn. Thanks to sites like this one and experienced individuals as yourselves who give your time to help us, not so experienced newcomers I salute you. You were both a great help to me. Kudos.