Raid 0 installation

[mjkrist]

Hi,

I am trying to install Windows 7 64 bit on a Vista 32 bit system. The system is almost 3 yrs old but is still moderately powerful. The Vista 32 is on a WD Raptor 2 drive Raid 0 array. the mobo is an Asus P532 E-SLI. In addition to the Raid array, I have a WD Black 500GB drive D and a WD Mybook 500 GB on esata backup E drive. I am trying to use my Win 7 64 bit upgrade disk to do a clean install (required). It takes a loonng time to get to the drives screen. When it does, I only see the Mybook E drive listed, and of course the installer says that I cannot load the OS to that drive. I have the nforce drivers on a thumb drive and click on custom, the drivers load, but I still do not see any drives other than the E Mybook backup drive. I am ready to make some major compromises to get this thing done such as load to the 500 GB WD Caviar Black drive, but I don't see it as a choice. Also, I would like to be able to use the raid 0 data and array after Win 7 is installed. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[jedimasterben]

So you're wanting to keep all the data on the RAID array, but at the same time, use it for the new OS? Not really possible. Back up your data to the other two drives, delete the array in the BIOS, and then rebuild it and try installing again.

 

[mjkrist]

That's not what I meant to say. If I have to end up installing Win 7 on the single 500GB WD Caviar drive, I would then want to be able to access the Raid array as it is now.

 

[jedimasterben]

... d'oh!

That should work just fine, just be sure to only have one hard drive installed whenever you install Windows, as having more than one will mess up Windows' boot data. Once you've installed and rebooted once, then you can plug the rest of them back in.

 

[mjkrist]

Thanks...I will try it that way.

 

[mjkrist]

I disconnected my backup drive and downloaded the latest nforce drivers. I finally saw the raid array as a choice to install Windows 7. Wjndows seemed to load normally, but on the last reboot, Windows 7 desktop never appears. Same thing after a re-start. Just stays at loading Windows 7 splash screen.