- Sep 3, 2013
- 2,052
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I'm scared to proceed without advice. Please help! I tried to lay out everything as clearly as possible below, and I will appreciate your help. This is a frustrating (and time sensitive) storage bind! 
How am I supposed to rebuild a RAID 1 if my system won't let me boot to the OS with the motherboard set to RAID mode?
The drive setup: I have an SSD as an OS drive and two HDDs configured in a RAID 1 array, as well as another backup HDD for creating a second copy of the RAID (4 disks total, 1 for OS, 2 for RAID, and 1 for backup).
Behavior I'm observing: I can't get pas a blue screen of death when booting with the motherboard set to RAID mode. It used to work fine, but then I had to do a bios flashback for an unrelated reason, and it caused me to lose the RAID. Presumably it was because the flashback put everything to default, and RAID is not the default SATA setting - AHCI is the default. I was able to boot into AHCI mode and backup the full contents of the RAID 1 array onto another HDD, so the data is safe (thank god!).
Why I am stuck: Since the procedure for making a RAID 1 with Intel Rapid Storage is (1) set motherboard to RAID mode, and (2) create RAID array from the software in the OS, I can't complete the first step of the procedure. I realize that I create a new RAID during POST by pressing ctrl+I, but I don't want to risk a complete drive format if I can avoid doing that. There is no guaranty the data will transfer properly from the backup disk to the RAID array. I will do that if necessary, but it's a last resort.
What I'd like to be able to do: My preference is to get into the OS and use the Intel software because I think I will be able to just have it rebuild the RAID array from one of the two disks in the array. One major snag is that, even if I disconnect all drives except the OS drive, I still get a BSOD when trying to boot while the motherboard is in RAID mode.
I'm at a loss and would really appreciate help!
The data is crucial because the computer is used for photo production and can't be down long, and it definitely not acceptable to lose data because the majority of it is irreplaceable. . . . In the meantime, I'll be biting my nails in nervous confusion!
How am I supposed to rebuild a RAID 1 if my system won't let me boot to the OS with the motherboard set to RAID mode?
The drive setup: I have an SSD as an OS drive and two HDDs configured in a RAID 1 array, as well as another backup HDD for creating a second copy of the RAID (4 disks total, 1 for OS, 2 for RAID, and 1 for backup).
Behavior I'm observing: I can't get pas a blue screen of death when booting with the motherboard set to RAID mode. It used to work fine, but then I had to do a bios flashback for an unrelated reason, and it caused me to lose the RAID. Presumably it was because the flashback put everything to default, and RAID is not the default SATA setting - AHCI is the default. I was able to boot into AHCI mode and backup the full contents of the RAID 1 array onto another HDD, so the data is safe (thank god!).
Why I am stuck: Since the procedure for making a RAID 1 with Intel Rapid Storage is (1) set motherboard to RAID mode, and (2) create RAID array from the software in the OS, I can't complete the first step of the procedure. I realize that I create a new RAID during POST by pressing ctrl+I, but I don't want to risk a complete drive format if I can avoid doing that. There is no guaranty the data will transfer properly from the backup disk to the RAID array. I will do that if necessary, but it's a last resort.
What I'd like to be able to do: My preference is to get into the OS and use the Intel software because I think I will be able to just have it rebuild the RAID array from one of the two disks in the array. One major snag is that, even if I disconnect all drives except the OS drive, I still get a BSOD when trying to boot while the motherboard is in RAID mode.
I'm at a loss and would really appreciate help!
The data is crucial because the computer is used for photo production and can't be down long, and it definitely not acceptable to lose data because the majority of it is irreplaceable. . . . In the meantime, I'll be biting my nails in nervous confusion!
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