How do i switch from raid 0 to single drive with new operating system

[jonorth]

We have two disks in raid 0. We want to get rid of them, as they are failing and install a single hard drive with Windows 7. We currently have Vista installed. There are no files I need to copy, just want to start with a fresh operating system. How do I go about this? Can I just remove the old hard drives and replace with the single hard drive and install Windows 7 on it, or is it more complicated than that?

 

[HugoStiglitz]

its qute simple

Remove the Old HDD's

go into your motherboard bios (assume its onboard raid)
change your SATA mode from RAID to AHCI

fit new drive, install windows as normal.

 

[Lutfij]

@ jonorth - welcome to the forums!
can we have full system specs? since this may or may not be a RAID array from your mobo's chip.

and i'd say go to bios - switch to AHCI from RAID and then power down, remove failing HDD's. Replace with new HDD and proceed to windows 7 installation.

 

[jonorth]

We have an Alienware Area-51 7500 computer. The motherboard is an Alienware approved NVIDIA nForce 680 SLI motherboard. The system drive in an Extreme Performance (RAID 0) - 320 GB (160 GB x 2) SATA 1.5 Gb/s 10,000 RPM 2 x 16 MB cache. We currently have Vista Home Premium on it. I want to replace the RAID with a Western Digital Velociraptor 600 GB SATA III 10,000 RPM with 32 MB cache. I want to install Windows 7 on it. Do you need anything else? Appreciate the help on this board. Hopefully this is something my husband and I can do.

 

[Lutfij]

ofcourse! its something your teenage child could do as well , provided he follows the instructions.

680sli board huh...chances are you might need to install chipset driver during windows install.

1|open case side panel
2|locate the HDD's that are in RAID 0
3|go into BIOS and select SATA configuration as AHCI
4|power down
5|replace raid drives with the new 600GB drive
6|power up - insert win7 install disk+follow steps to install.
7|x86 if you have 2~3GB's of ram - x64 if you have more than 3GB's of ram

you know, come to think of it - if its a 680sli board i think it could be the chipset is failing on to have a glitchy raid 0 array

more here:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=60042
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=868731&mpage=1


a lil more reading leads me to think that all nvidia chips/controllers are dodgy lil buggers
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=64219

hope all this helped

 

[jonorth]

@ jonorth - welcome to the forums!
can we have full system specs? since this may or may not be a RAID array from your mobo's chip.

and i'd say go to bios - switch to AHCI from RAID and then power down, remove failing HDD's. Replace with new HDD and proceed to windows 7 installation.

I ran the SMART self test and one disc did fail. I just want it to last 10 more weeks until I can get all my bowling stuff done. The secretary software I use is PC only, and while, I have a mac, I don't want to put Windows on it. We will be putting in a single drive instead of the RAID 0. I appreciate the help. Just one more question: When I install Windows 7 on the new disc, will the chipset drivers I may need for the 680 SLI board be included on the installation disc? Also, in step 7, I'm a little confused. We have a 32 bit system. What is x86? It's the processor, right? And then do I choose 32 bit? Sorry, three questions.
Thanks for the help.

 

[Lutfij]

will the chipset drivers I may need for the 680 SLI board be included on the installation disc?

you're better off getting the latest chipset drivers from nvidia site.

We have a 32 bit system. What is x86?

As the term became common after the introduction of the 80386, it usually implies binary compatibility with the 32-bit instruction set of the 80386. This may sometimes be emphasized as x86-32 to distinguish it either from the original 16-bit "x86-16" or from the 64-bit x86-64. Although most x86 processors used in new personal computers and servers have 64-bit capabilities, to avoid compatibility problems with older computers or systems, the term x86-64 (or x64) is often used to denote 64-bit software, with the term x86 implying only 32-bit.

from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86


hope these help.

 

[jonorth]

will the chipset drivers I may need for the 680 SLI board be included on the installation disc?

you're better off getting the latest chipset drivers from nvidia site.

We have a 32 bit system. What is x86?

As the term became common after the introduction of the 80386, it usually implies binary compatibility with the 32-bit instruction set of the 80386. This may sometimes be emphasized as x86-32 to distinguish it either from the original 16-bit "x86-16" or from the 64-bit x86-64. Although most x86 processors used in new personal computers and servers have 64-bit capabilities, to avoid compatibility problems with older computers or systems, the term x86-64 (or x64) is often used to denote 64-bit software, with the term x86 implying only 32-bit.

from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86


hope these help.

Thanks so much for the help. I actually have the latest chipset drivers as I updated them last week. I am learning a lot about computers at least .

 

[Lutfij]

oi wait, if you've updated to the latest chipset drivers...thats on your existing HDD right? if your remove the raid 0 array all your data is essentially gone - meaning your updates as well. if you've downloaded them drivers through an FTP site/as a standalone update than burn it onto a disk which you may use in case you decide to make a clean install of windows.

best thing microsoft came out with in win7 is the seamless integration of old and new parts.

install HDD, install windows 7
hook up internet+run windows update and get the latest drivers via windows update.