RAID-0 two identical flash drives in Windows 10?

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StealthFundip

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So, I saw how easily you could set up a bunch of flash drives into a RAID array on a Mac, and simply assumed it would be just as easy on Windows. After 2 hours of searching, I'm still not sure if it's possible.

I've tried using Storage Spaces(on Windows 10), but that doesn't recognize the two flash drives I have connected. Reformatting them to NTFS and disabling the "quick removal" option didn't work either, and now I'm turning towards actual RAID-0 to accomplish this.

I'm aware of the inherent risks of RAID-0, and how pointless this will seem to most. It's a pet project I'd like to do, and something (arguably) productive to do other than mindlessly watching TV.
 
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Shaun o

Shaun o

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So your asking for a set of instructions to set up a Raid 0 array of two SSD hard drives.

Is your intention to put windows on the raid 0 array ?


Your first step is to go into your bios, making sure you are in advanced mode if a Uefi enabled bios.

You must make sure raid mode is enabled.
And you must also mark each drive in the drive table you wish to use in the array by setting each to raid as the mode selection.

Save the changes made in the bios before you exit it.

You now need to look up what the key combination is needed on your keyboard to enter the raid formatting and setup of the two drives selected for raiding.

It will state this in the motherboard manual.
Or of the bios splash screen and booting process when you start, or reset the system.
In order to see it you may have to disable the booting logo option in the bios first of all.

Once you have found the key combination.

While restarting the system, hold the key combination down, or press the key to enter raid setup and preparation.

In raid setup and preparation.

You select what raid mode you wish to setup Ie: Raid 0.
And the type of the array striped or mirrored.
And again,select the two drives you wish to include in the array, tick or select each SSD drive.

And then select the create array option.
Once done it will show the two drives in the raid 0 array as a single drive, with the free space of the two drives combined to one single drive for storage capacity.

EG: 256 +256= Raid 0 - 512GB.

Then you simply exit the raid setup and prep of the drives.
Restart the system.
Run the windows os installation and select the Raid 0 array to install to shown as a single drive in windows setup.
 
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StealthFundip

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I've used the disk management utility to disable the 'quick removal' option in the Properties window, but the Removable flag still appears for both drives. I've done some more digging, but can't find any other option or window that has anything remotely related to "removability" of a certain drive. Google talked about "Flipping the bit" on the firmware of a drive, which I believe I've done before when creating a Linux test drive for school. If you know how to accomplish this without 3rd party software, I would love to hear it!
 
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StealthFundip

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I am using two removable 16GB USB 3.0 Flash Drives, like the ones you would put on a keychain. I'm unsure if they would be compatible with a motherboard based RAID setup, and I cannot find the manual for my motherboard on top of that. (IPMMB-FM board) Probably should have made that more clear...

Excellent answer, with plenty of detail! I'll see if I can format the flash drives through the BIOS, although I doubt it. ...This is turning out to be much harder than I anticipated...

UPDATE: As I guessed, the drives need to be connected through SATA to be formatted as RAID. The 2 flash drives are recognized and listed in the storage tab, though.
 
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