Questions about GIGABYTE products > Motherboards with Intel processors
Building RAID 1 (mirroring) array on AORUS GA-Z270X-GAMING 7 - Part 2
shadowsports:
Greetings,
Sorry for the late reply.
A BIOS update is not needed, and will not help or change anything.
The issue is the Registry and the drivers windows is using.
See Below:
Let me start by saying this is not a Gigabyte issue. This behavior would occur with any newer hardware you were using.
Controller Operate Modes:
Although AHCI and RAID are similar technologies, the driver that allows each to operate is slightly different. In addition, starting with Windows 7 drivers for unused storage interfaces are set to disabled in the windows registry by default. This is why you see "Inaccessible Boot Device" when changing the controller operate mode from AHCI to RAID. (Prior to this) IDE to AHCI.
I hope you have a back up of your RAID data? Do you?
Another complexity was introduced when MB manufacturers integrated the RAID BIOS into the main BIOS of a motherboard. This added an additional layer to RAID management and recovery. Its not a bad thing, just something you need to be aware of and account for.
This type of "recovery" would normally be a 2 step process. The first step will be to get Windows 11 booting with the controller operate mode set to RAID, and the second RAID recovery. Typically, this would involve you creating a new array and restoring it from back up.
RAID1 is one of the more forgiving RAID levels, since both disks contain a full copy of the data. However, each time you make a change, or attempt to use a Utility (disk management / EZ-RAID, etc. new metadata can be written to the disks breaking the "RAID relationship" (simple terms). In light of the steps you have performed, its hard to say if you will be able to recover the data without some extraordinary measures. This is why I hope you have a back up.
Changing from AHCI to Intel RST:
This involves uninstalling the AHCI driver
Enabling the correct registry key for Intel RST
Restarting and making the changes in BIOS
(Note, the above is often a two step process. Step one, changing the controller operate mode, and step two setting Intel RST as the first boot device), even though it is a stand alone disk and not part of an array, it will be listed as the primary boot device. You might be able to do this in one step using F10 to save and immediately pressing <DEL> to enter BIOS again.
And finally, installing the Intel RST (RAID) driver on the subsequent restart
Considerations / Requirements for UEFI Boot:
CSM Disabled
UEFI Only
Disable any Legacy Boot Options (normally this happens when you disable CSM)
MBR vs. GPT
GPT is a better option, you can read about the differences using Google
Next Steps
Do you have a back up of your RAID data?
Disconnect the RAID array from the system for now
Make the changes to the system, registry and BIOS
Supply the Intel RST driver to the OS
I have read some articles where people claim to have been able to start in SAFE Mode after the AHCI driver uninstall and subsequent BIOS chage, then installing the Intel RST driver (which avoids) making the registry changes. I have never tried. Its also not something MS has documented
I use RAID quite often, but have not done a conversion for a long while. Doing so, including the conversion to GPT should not be taken lightly. Back ups are very important.
***EDIT
If you have initialized the RAID disk members in windows, you might have lost your data. Changing this to a recovery scenario.
Wish I had better news. One take away from this. Ensure you have a back up strategy implemented.
Hopefully this will help you get started. Others here might have more to add.
milleniumaire:
Hi shadowsports,
Thanks for the detailed response, there's definitely a lot for me to take in and understand before I try again.
To confirm, I do have multiple backups of the data that was on the RAID 1 array. I use Acronis Backup regularly, but as the array is used to store my data (not the OS or software), I also have copies of it all over the place (laptop, network storage, usb), so recovery isn't an issue, in fact I think I have tried three times now to create this array and each time it fails, I recover the data back to one of the drives so I can use it.
It took me a few days to notice the RAID 1 array had actually failed. Instead of both drives being made available as a single partition, I realised there were two partitions; one on each drive. Both were accessible, so at that point I took an additional backup of one of them, just in case.
My drives have been recently converted to GPT and I've changed the configuration to use UEFI boot. All this appears to be working okay. I did this as a pre-requisite to installing Windows 11, but don't intend to do that for some time yet, possibly never, given my i7-7700K processor isn't supported by the Windows 11 upgrade process and my GA-Z270X motherboard won't allow a new processor to be used! Damn Microsoft.
I confess, I'm a little concerned about uninstalling the AHCI driver as my PC will only boot when the BIOS SATA mode is set to AHCI. It always boots from the M.2 drive. If I were to remove that driver, doesn't this mean I won't be able to boot into Windows?
I assume when you refer to Registry changes, it is the uninstalling and re-installing the AHCI drivers that will fix this as opposed to using Regedit to make manual changes, which I try to avoid?
shadowsports:
Greetings,
Very happy to hear you have back ups. This takes all of the pressure off and will allow you to experiment and test without worry.
Try the SAFE Mode Option.
Use windows Tools for this
SAFE Mode.. use MSCONFIG > Boot Tab > Safe Boot
Now use Settings > Update and Security > Recovery > Advanced Start Up > Restart Now
Then select BIOS
Make your changes, F10 to save and exit
Windows will start in SAFE Mode
Install Intel RST Driver:
https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Driver/mb_driver_chipset_irst_17.2.11.1033.zip?v=0a7b26b10a15742d39676c1a958b3668
Use Advanced Start Up Option again, enter BIOS, verify settings are correct CSM Disabled, UEFI Only, Intel RST (M.2) as Primary boot device, F10 to save again.
When windows loads, Disable SAFE Boot in MSCONFIG.
Restart again and test. If you get a clean start, you can go back into the BIOS and create the array.
Let us know the result.
milleniumaire:
Hi shadowsports, thanks for the info.
One thing I'm not too clear on, is the inability to currently boot into Windows unless the BIOS SATA mode is set to AHCI. Changing this setting to Intel RST causes the machine to no longer detect the M.2 drive. Changing the setting back to AHCI and the M.2 drive is detected again and the PC can boot into Windows.
I'm not sure how your instructions will work around this issue. Installing an Intel RST driver may allow the RAID 1 array to be created (fingers crossed), but it won't change the fact that the M.2 drive is NOT visible while SATA mode is set to Intel RST.
It may just be that there are some missing steps after the driver is installed and the array created, that SATA mode needs to be changed back to AHCI to allow the machine to boot from the M.2 drive?
This is essentially what my notes say when I built the PC 4 years ago i.e.
- Change SATA mode to Intel RST
- Create RAID 1 array
- Change SATA mode to AHCI
- Boot into Windows on M.2 drive
- RAID array has been created.
I'm currently doing the same, except the RAID array never appears in Windows. Hopefully, this is due to the driver issue you are suggestion needs to be resolved by installing the Intel RST Driver.
Is it not possible to install this software through Windows, prior to changing any settings. Can Windows have a AHCI and Intel RST driver installed at the same time. Sorry if this is a stupid question, but this AHCI v Intel RST is something I don't really get and just seems to be causing me lots of issues!
shadowsports:
--- Quote ---
I'm currently doing the same, except the RAID array never appears in Windows. Hopefully, this is due to the driver issue you are suggestion needs to be resolved by installing the Intel RST Driver.
--- End quote ---
It is.
--- Quote ---Is it not possible to install this software through Windows, prior to changing any settings?
Can Windows have a AHCI and Intel RST driver installed at the same time. Sorry if this is a stupid question, but this AHCI v Intel RST is something I don't really get and just seems to be causing me lots of issues!
--- End quote ---
Greetings,
You cannot install a driver for unsupported hardware or operate mode. One driver for whichever mode you select.
The controller operate mode is not meant to be toggled between AHCI or RAID in order to complete a task. You either operate in AHCI with one or more stand alone disks, or use RAID if you plan have one or more disks (stand alone, and disk arrays) coexist.
You have a back up. What are your reservations? SAFE mode appears to work. Before you start, create Acronis Bootable Media, test that you can boot the system from it. When ready, give it a go.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version