2 x OS, raid 0 hdd's, 1 SSD, two boot priorities, help me simplify.

Forum Storage : NAS/RAID 2 x OS, raid 0 hdd's, 1 SSD, two boot priorities, help me simplify.

Ok, so I'm the oddball. Truth be told I was clueless when this all started and now barely have a clue.

Scenario:

Built new computer with raid 0. OC'd a bit, everything is great yay!

Decided I wanted to add a SSD to the mix. Primarily for two games and my two most important work programs that do a lot of data collection.

Unbeknownst to me, when I added the SSD I kinda screwed the pooch by configuring my setup. All I did was add the SSD, install win 7, install the 4 programs I wanted, and off I was.

Now every time I want to run a program thats on the HDD's I have to reboot, go into bios, set boot priority to the HDD's in raid 0, and switch over. Kinda a pain obviously. As well I now have two computers in terms of program licenses like anti virus, etc.

Pretty much a pain in the rear obviously.

What I want to do:

I want to set up like people normally would in this case with the SSD having the OS, my two work programs, and running everything else off my HDD's raid.

Being as I now have all this data on my hdd's, ssd, etc, How do I go about accomplishing this?

My thoughts were to copy all programs on my ssd to an external HDD or storage device or whatever. Then wipe my hdd's (how do I do that?), and reinstall the programs thru my ssd-win 7 to the hdd's like normal, and add the saved previously saved stuff from the external device back onto the E; drive in this case.

Sounds like I'm going to be spending a day of loading stuff up but I dont want to make it 3 days because I went about it wrong.

Reply to Bigfishy

anyone plz? I just got an external delivered from newegg today and would love to get this nice new computer set up the right way.

Reply to Bigfishy

here a link that may help you
http://www.overclock.net/ssd/66473 [...] ndary.html

Reply to nfimich

Hey thanks for the reply.

Problem with link above is that assumes you are starting with new build. I've added my SSD. Yes I did it poorly by adding it and installing windows whilst I had windows on my 2x hdd's in raid. But I'm trying to correct that without a complete redo of everything.

I bought an external last week. moved all the things I wanted to save off the hdd's to the external.

Now my problem is that when I try to "format" my e; drive(hdd's in raid), I get an error of unable to do because stuff is running in e;drive and I cant figure out what is running.

Reply to Bigfishy

I had a similar issue. In Win 7, click start, right click "my computer", select "manage",
on left column select disk management. Right click on your raid drive, select "delete volume" for any partitions on disk, then format disk. All should be clean. Then right click and select "make partition active".

Reply to jockey

tried this, but upon rt clicking on my e; drive (hdd's in raid) the delete volume is grayed out.

Below is what it looks like, the red type is my description of each drive.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Reply to Bigfishy

Try "mark partition as active" first, then re-follow previous steps. I recall having to do that to activate some of the other disc options. It might enable "format" option also.

Message edited by jockey on 12-01-2010 at 10:40:30 PM

Reply to jockey

bah humbug, that didnt work either.

Reply to Bigfishy

Well, I guess 12/1/2010 wasn't a lucky day. First snow in Il. doesn.t mean much anymore.
Bigfishy, I will try to mimic your problem to help you find a solution.
If that doesn't work, a Musky Hunt will.
Edit question:
Is your raid set thru the bios, or is it a third party add-on?
In the meantime, use the F12 boot option for disc priority start-up. No need to enter bios.
Some way, some how, some body here at Toms' will have the answer.

Message edited by jockey on 12-02-2010 at 08:51:34 AM

Reply to jockey

Jocky: Apologies I didnt see your response.

1. what is a Musky Hunt? (I'll google it and find porn I'm sure) ** found it here: http://www.muskyhunt.com/ looks fun

2. My rais is set thru the bios.

3. Sorry, I dont get ya on the F12 boot option. You mean it will bring me to resetting disc priority if I hit it during boot up? (seems like I know we've seen F12 flash thru the screen countless 1000's times, just never paid attn to it).

Message edited by Bigfishy on 12-04-2010 at 03:31:28 AM

Reply to Bigfishy

When you posted your screenshot above, were you booted off of your SSD or Raid drive?
You need to be booted from SSD to access "format" option in disk manager for your raid drive.

Reply to jockey

yes I was on the ssd

Reply to Bigfishy

Try booting from your raid drive with the ssd disconnected. Then see what disk manager lets you do. (Power off first)

Reply to jockey

SO your saying disconnect my sata and power to the ssd and boot up?

Reply to Bigfishy

Yes. You don't have to remove it, just disconnect the data cable.
Seems there might be an issue with system files on the raid drive linked to the ssd.
Hope this works. If so, reconnect ssd and boot as normal.
I can't get my system to mimic your issue, so I'm doing the "try something else that won't harm the system" approach.

Reply to jockey

Assuming it allows me to format the raid drives when I boot to them as above, you are saying to go ahead and do that then right? Format, then reconnect sata/power to ssd, boot to ssd, and I'll finally be set?

Edit: Yes, I'm sure there is something linked to the ssd & raid drives as you mention. I just cant figure out what.

Message edited by Bigfishy on 12-04-2010 at 08:33:18 PM

Reply to Bigfishy

Assuming it does, yes. Did everything save to your external OK?

Reply to jockey

It looks like at least your page file is still on the raid. I'm trying to recall what else win7 moves to a nonSSD drive.. temp files

Have you tried simply deleting and recreating the raid in the raid config utility during the boot up? or is there data you need to rescue first?

Reply to popatim

I backed up everything I needed to the External already just fine.

Sadly, I actually tried moving the pagefile to the ssd to see if I could reformat the hdd's then.

Unfortunately upon rebooting the BOOTMGR could not be found.

I wasnt able to recover from that.

The only good note is that during a new windows install I was able to format the HDD's and install OS to SSD.

Unfortunately, I probably created a little bit more work for myself than was needed. Now the drudgery of reinstalling all the software, finding passwords, etc. Most of that has gone well, it just takes time.

I do want to say thanks to those that tried to help me. Every time I pose a question I learn something new. This was no exception.

Reply to Bigfishy

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