GA-Z270-HD3 & GA-Z170-HD3: boot from M.2 NVMe with RAID enabled

[allenkt]

Hi there,

I have both a GA-Z270-HD3 and GA-Z170-HD3 and I am having the same problem with both: I want to boot from an NVMe SSD drive that is plugged into the M.2 slot while also having a RAID 1 configured on two HDDs attached to the SATA ports.

It seems that every time I change the SATA Mode Selection from AHCI to the Intel RAID mode, my M.2 NVMe SSD suddenly disappears from the Boot options! Even though it has disappeared from the boot options, I can still see the NVMe SSD listed as a "Non-RAID Physical Disk" under the "Intel(R) RST 15.5.0.2875 RAID Driver" screen (or equivalent on the GA-Z170-HD3).

Please let me know if there's any screenshots that would help debug this or let me know if this is simply a limitation of these boards that they do not allow booting from an NVMe M.2 SSD while also having the Intel RAID controller active...

Thanks!
Allen

[shadowsports]

Allen,
Greetings.  No limitations I am aware of. 

Let's stick with one system for troubleshooting.  Please provide your full system specs.  Also, is this an existing windows installation?  Meaning was it built and installed to an m.2 in AHCI mode and now you want to convert to RAID and add member disks to a different array?

If existing, how was the boot drive formatted?  MBR, GPT? Did you install as Legacy or fully UEFI compliant?

A seamless boot is not always possible after switching the controllers operate mode from AHCI to RAID, even though the drivers are similar. Member disks can be included/excluded from a RAID set and be the primary boot device as a standalone disk.  The only limitation being you must use "like" disks (same type of interface) for RAID.

I suspect this is related to drivers and/or Legacy mode, but need more information/history for a clearer picture. 

 

[allenkt]

Thanks shadowsports! This is a co-worker's computer, so it might take a few days for me to get the some of the info, since I'll be waiting for a moment when I'm free and they're not in the office.

That said, yes, you're correct in your understanding of the history and what I want to do...

Current state: An existing windows installation, with no RAID, on a single SSD which is plugged into the m.2 slot. It was built and installed to the m.2 in AHCI mode. I still need to find out details on how it's formatted or if it's Legacy or UEFI.

I want to: Add two new identical HDD via SATA and configure these two new HDD as a RAID 1 array. The m.2 SSD should remain as the boot device and should not be a part of any RAID.

All components being used in this computer can be found here:
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/Squirty/saved/hrCsYJ

Thanks again and I'll post back when I have more info about "how was the boot drive formatted?  MBR, GPT? Did you install as Legacy or fully UEFI compliant?"

Allen

[allenkt]

Hi again shadowsports,

I finally found out the last bits of information you were looking for:

The SSD that I would like to boot from is formatted as MBR. The Windows System Information window shows the BIOS mode to be "Legacy".

Do you have any ideas as to which one of these is the culprit to the problem? Is there any other information you might need?

Thanks again!
Allen

[shadowsports]

First step.
You need to make a back up of the existing install.  I would recommend Macrium Reflect (its free)

Work with the m.2 for now.

BIOS settings

Legacy mode is correct
Enable CSM mode
Disable Secure Boot for the time being

Drivers
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z270-HD3-rev-10/support#support-dl-driver-sataraidahci

Choose the correct SATA/RAID driver depending on the windows build 1809 or 1903.  After install, restart and enter BIOS.  Change the controller operate mode to RAID.   

You don't need to worry about making a mistake, you'll have a back up.

[allenkt]

Thanks shadowsports.

I finally had a moment when my coworker wasn't using their computer to try this out. I'm actually very lost on how to do any of these steps...

• How do I enable CSM mode on this motherboard? EDIT: I found this. It turns out I needed to change "Windows 8/10 Features" to "Windows 8/10" instead of "Other OS" before I could see the CSM mode option.
• How/where do I disable Secure Boot? EDIT: I found this as well -- but it seems like the option to disable Secure Boot is only available when CSM is disabled...
• How do I install the "Intel SATA Preinstall driver"? I believe these were the ones you meant. I had previously installed the Intel Rapid Storage manager before originally posting this thread, so a lack of this isn't the cause of the issue.

Thanks for your help with this!

Allen

[allenkt]

One last update: To my surprise, I found out that the Windows 10 Disk Management has an option to create a mirrored volume! I really don't have any need to use the Intel RAID controller specifically, so I've just gone ahead with the Windows mirrored volume option. This worked no problem.