Boot Question..

[Vinceisg0d]

Hi there,

I have two 1TBs in a RAID0 as my old OS drive, and recently purchased a SSD which I am now using as my OS drive.

I went to format the RAID0 and just use it as a storage drive, but now my SSD wont boot anymore, it is giving me a boot error on start up.

If I install Win7 on my RAID0 then I can boot the SSD fine...

What gives? How do I fix it? Is there any detriment aside from space loss to having the OS on my storage drive as well as my SSD?

 

[jsc]

Sounds like you are still booting from the hard drives, not the SSD.

 

[Vinceisg0d]

When I originally installed them I was definitely booting from the SSD, it gave me an option on bootup of two different Win7s... Now however after formatting/reinstalling Win7 on the RAID I dont get the option anymore...

How do I fix this? =o I want to use the RAID as a storage device and use my SSD as the OS, the SSD still has the OS files on it..

In the manage window it has my RAID as:

Healthy (Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)

and my SSD as

Healthy (System, Active, Primary Parition)

 

[Paperdoc]

So you put in he SSD and then did a new install of Win 7 on it, and it booted OK from there. Then you Formatted the RAID0 array and it stopped booting.

I suspect what happened is the system backup file. When Win 7 installs, if it finds a second HDD in the machine, it places a separate set of backup files in a semi-hidden location on that second drive before installing on the target. Thereafter if ever there is a bad glitch, it can recover by copying files from the backup. BUT this means that it will NOT be able to boot if the backup (second drive) is disconnected! I suspect that is what you did.

So, do you have any data on the SSD or elsewhere that you need to preserved? Do you have it in a backup somewhere? Back it up if possible.

THEN disconnect the RAID0 drives and ensure that the RAID management system is aware there is NO RAID array present. That way the only drive in the system is the SSD. Now re-Install Win 7 to the SSD, and it will place the backup files on that unit where they always can be found. When you have it all working again, re-connect and re-establish the RAID0 array as your storage device.

 

[jsc]

Paperdoc, Win7 does that?

That's good to know. Now that Microsoft is bringing the family pack back, I will be upgrading several of my computers.

 

[RetiredChief]

Paperdoc. +2K.
When installing a New HDD, or a SSD and you already have a Bootable HDD. Disconnect the existing HDD before installing the Operating system on the New SSD/HDD. Once the installation is complete you can then reconnect your old HDD.

You will still have the option to boot to the OLD HDD By hitting the Key to bring up the boot menu (F12 on My system). Once you are satisfied every thing is great you can the get rid of the Old operating system. You can also simply copy your "favorites" from old to new. Also simplifies transfering email files.

 

[Paperdoc]

As I understand, both Vista and Win 7 do this. For that reason many people deliberately defeat the intended process of placing a safe backup on a separate drive by Installing with only ONE HDD in place. However, obviously that makes it impossible to have it create a Dual Boot system for those who want to preserve access to a previous Windows already on another HDD.

 

[RetiredChief]

Paperdoc
Two forms of dual boot. (1) Use a software boot manager, and (2) using Bios to determine boot drive. I perfer #2, as Software one can be messed up and prevent booting to either drive.

By removing a bootable drive, installing the 2nd drive w/operating system, you still have a dual boot system without software manager. In Bios you set boot drive, during post you have an Option to select mulibootable disk, On my MB it's F12, I can then if I want boot to the "old", when done just reboot and it boots to first Drive. I Had My Vista set up This way with 3 sets of raid 0, 1 for XP, one for Vista, and one for Win 7 RC. Note: drive letters switch as Drive that is booted become "C", what was "C" may become D. BUT all drives were accessible regardless of which drive I booted to. See cavet for exception.

One cavet. You can not remove a drive and reinstall a Image File, created from that drive, to a 2nd drive and then reinstall the first drive. Windows will block access to the one that is not booted to.

 

[Paperdoc]

Great points, RetiredChief, on how to get Dual Boot function without relying on the Windows Install process to establish a software tool.