Reinstalling Windows with seperate RAID 5 Array


Recommended Posts

Hi all,

I'm in need of little help here as I'm not entirely comfortable with RAID arrays and their foibles.

Currently in my desktop I have:

1x OCZ Vertex 2

5x Samsung 1TB drivers running in RAID5 controlled by:

ASUS P67 Rev 3.1

The Vertex 2 was used as a C drive, with al programs etc running off of it, and the RAID array being used for general storage use.

My Vertex 2 has just totally died, and I've got a Samsung 840 Pro to replace it with.

However I'm wondering what steps I should take when reinstalling the OS?

Should I disconnect the RAID array? Disable it in BIOS and re-enable it after I'm done installing Windows 8 onto the 840?

And finally, I'm assuming that all of my data on the RAID array is still there and secure? My top priority is of course maintaining that data!

Thanks for any help you can offer, I'm happy to provide any more info you may need.

Cheers.

Windows shouldn't touch the array as far as I know? Once the driver loads it should detect there is an existing filesystem on there and do nothing with it.

My guess based on the size variances between the RAID and the "C Drive" - The OS is not configured to be hot swappable and thus re-installing as long as the RAID is running within the same setup - everything should be fine.

Of-course, IF this is not a production enviroment - You could do as you described and simple disable the RAID. Might be over-kill but it is a sure-fire way of making sure nothing happens to the data.

So far I have done nothing regarding install, the 840 is in, and I'm ready to go but a bit worried by these conflicting answers!

Will having them unplugged have any negative effect?

Also, should I have SATA mode set to AHCI or RAID in my BIOS, it was previously set to RAID.

My two options as far as I can tell:

1. SATA Mode to RAID, all drives connected and fresh install on to the 840, or

2. SATA Mode to RAID, RAID array disconnected, and then plugged back in after install.

My priority is protecting the data on the RAID array, formatting and playing around with the C drive is of course now of no concern to me.

I'll be installing Win 8 64 Pro, the same OS as was on there prior to failure, with no other hardware changes.

Thanks for the help so far everyone!

Also, the RAID array is hardware controlled, not software.

Like so:

Unplug the power on the RAID array.

Install Windows. Get into Windows and fully set up.

Power down, replug the power for the RAID array.

Power up, enjoy your raid.

Even if I am wrong (and I'm not) this is the safest way to do it, and if anyone has objections to this idea other than it's a waste of time, feel free to pipe up.

I lost a RAID array to the issue I described. I made a topic on this forum, but I can't find it (might have been trimmed?). I lost my Windows install to a USB3 driver issue that corrupted the install. Reinstalled with the RAID array driver present. It read my disks, and then overwrote parts of the drive setting up an install (due to not finding a file system). Just like what we are talking about here.

I'm legitimately asking people to pipe up if I am wrong.

  On 19/01/2013 at 18:16, WA7ER said:

2. SATA Mode to RAID, RAID array disconnected, and then plugged back in after install.

That will work and you can also make sure the SATA ports are connected back in the same order but thats not really important for a working array.

Disconnecting the array first because installing the OS on another drive with SATA set to RAID insures windows don't installs the OS boot on the array with windows on the other drive.

Excellent, all done following articuno's instructions, here's my steps so far:

Unplugged all drives.

Installed Win 8 with just the SSD connected, fully updated through Windows Update, and installed all drivers etc from the ASUS download page

Replugged all drives in exactly the same order, booted into Intel RST and seen the following: http://i.imgur.com/inf769z.jpg Which all looks good, so my data is still sat there.

However when I boot into Windows I do not see the array as a drive, and neither do I see the disks in Device Manager, is there something I need to do for Windows to 'Discover' them?

if the data on the array is life and death data, disconnect them while installing windows, reboot, enable the array/controller and let W8 load up drivers for the new controller/raid array and off you go.

I leave my RAID0 array enabled any time I reformat, but its just game data n cache, user files are on my NAS.

in device manager, do you see the RAID controller? if not re-run Scan for hardware changes from the Action menu.

you should see something similar to below (but 5 RAID5 devices)

devmgr.jpg

  On 19/01/2013 at 21:25, WA7ER said:

Excellent, all done following articuno's instructions, here's my steps so far:

Unplugged all drives.

Installed Win 8 with just the SSD connected, fully updated through Windows Update, and installed all drivers etc from the ASUS download page

Replugged all drives in exactly the same order, booted into Intel RST and seen the following: http://i.imgur.com/inf769z.jpg Which all looks good, so my data is still sat there.

However when I boot into Windows I do not see the array as a drive, and neither do I see the disks in Device Manager, is there something I need to do for Windows to 'Discover' them?

  On 19/01/2013 at 21:25, WA7ER said:

Excellent, all done following articuno's instructions, here's my steps so far:

Unplugged all drives.

Installed Win 8 with just the SSD connected, fully updated through Windows Update, and installed all drivers etc from the ASUS download page

Replugged all drives in exactly the same order, booted into Intel RST and seen the following: http://i.imgur.com/inf769z.jpg Which all looks good, so my data is still sat there.

However when I boot into Windows I do not see the array as a drive, and neither do I see the disks in Device Manager, is there something I need to do for Windows to 'Discover' them?

Go into Disk Manager and see if they are there, they might be 'offline' or need a drive letter assigning to the array.

  On 19/01/2013 at 21:31, Mando said:

if the data on the array is life and death data, disconnect them while installing windows, reboot, enable the array/controller and let W8 load up drivers for the new controller/raid array and off you go.

I leave my RAID0 array enabled any time I reformat, but its just game data n cache, user files are on my NAS.

People don't really need to do this, he could of easily just left the driver part out of it and installed Windows 8 to the new SSD then installed the drivers. As long as he isn't booting off the RAID array itself, it's fine. You only need to install the drivers during setup if your going to install to the array itself.

  On 19/01/2013 at 21:36, Tony. said:

Go into Disk Manager and see if they are there, they might be 'offline' or need a drive letter assigning to the array.

People don't really need to do this, he could of easily just left the driver part out of it and installed Windows 8 to the new SSD then installed the drivers. As long as he isn't booting off the RAID array itself, it's fine. You only need to install the drivers during setup if your going to install to the array itself.

Sorry should have been a bit more precise, I didn't mean in windows install start up, I meant if he had controller disabled in bios before installing W8. Once W8 was fully installed and he rebooted n enabled it.

I personally would have left it all enabled and let W8 setup see it in initial install time, what I always do on my own rig and exactly what I do with LUN mapped drives on SAN arrays presented as RAID volumes on rebuilds of servers. Never been an issue yet.

the raid config data is held and owned by the controller, same with the volumes in the raid container, windows will read it form that and not mess it up.

Indeed, I didn't install any drivers during Win 8 installation, allowed it to do it's regular thing seeing as I only had the one drive enabled.

I have the latest Intel RAID drivers installed, and also the latest Marvell SASA controller drivers, I'm a bit perplexed as to why it's not just appearing as I had anticipated!

(This is my first build using RAID in case you couldn't guess :p)

Indeed, in BIOS I see the 5 separate individual drives, in Intel RST I see the complete array, is there another time during boot I should see the array listed?

Here are the only two screens I see during the actual boot process:

http://i.imgur.com/OxysUeV.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ySBdKxW.jpg

"Unplugged all drives.

Installed Win 8 with just the SSD connected"

So you booted the computer and powered on the array controller with ALL the drives unplugged - don't you think the array controller might notice that it booted up and all its disk were offline? I am quite sure it would mark them OFFLINE when that happens, and your array is not valid any longer.

Now you should be able to go into the controller and get them back online again.. But there would of been no freaking reason to unplug them in the first place.. You might do that with single drives if you your not sure you could tell which one is which on an install. But I would be pretty sure you could tell the difference between a SSD and a raid 5 array to which one you wanted to install too.

Good luck - its quite possible you blew up the array when you unplug all its drive and then boot the controller -- what do you think its going to think happened to its disks??

  • Like 1

I doubt it blew up lol - you might of meant this as a dramatic way of saying uninitialized. It can take quite some time for the re-initialization process to complete. If I pull a hot swappable disk on one of the older units - it could take up to 3 hours before the new one is back online. A flashing light indicates the drives status.

The controller should be able to re-init off of the disks based on the fact it's identified them as being disk members.

It ought just read the damn thing in theory. I've done it before with Intel controllers.

At the very worst it might require a resync.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Apple Intelligence can now analyze your iPhone's screen, offers live translation by Aditya Tiwari Alongside iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and new AirPods features, Apple announced some stuff for Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2025. A highlight of the latest announcements is that developers can now access Apple's on-device foundation models, which power Apple Intelligence, to enhance their apps. Apple's Foundation Models framework enables developers to create AI-powered features and experiences that can also operate offline. "The framework has native support for Swift, so app developers can easily access the Apple Intelligence model with as few as three lines of code," Apple said, adding that the access is offered free of charge. Apple has introduced several new features for the general public. For starters, the new Live Translation feature works across Messages, FaceTime, and phone calls, using "Apple-built models that run entirely on device" to translate messages from one language to another. In other words, the feature can translate written text in Messages into the recipient's preferred language and display translated live captions while still hearing the speaker’s voice in FaceTime. Meanwhile, the translated text is spoken aloud on regular phone calls throughout the conversation. Visual Intelligence can now access a user's iPhone screen to answer questions and take action on the content being viewed on the screen across apps. Users can ask ChatGPT for details on specific objects and what they're looking at on their screen to learn more. They can also search Google, Etsy, and other supported apps to find similar images and products. Visual Intelligence can also identify events displayed on the screen and suggest adding them to the user's calendar. The updated Genmoji feature lets users mix emojis and combine them with text descriptions to generate something new. They can change expressions and adjust personal attributes, such as hairstyle, to match the latest look when making Genmojis inspired by their friends and family members. Image Playground has been updated to support new styles generated by ChatGPT, such as oil paintings or vector art. When users have a specific idea in mind, they can use the "Any Style" option. Apple Intelligence also powers the Shortcuts app, using on-device processing or Private Cloud Compute to generate responses that feed into the rest of the shortcut while maintaining privacy. For instance, Apple explained that "a student can build a shortcut that uses the Apple Intelligence model to compare an audio transcription of a class lecture to the notes they took, and add any key points they may have missed." Apple is integrating its AI features into more apps with subsequent OS updates. The Wallet app can now summarize order tracking details from emails sent by merchants and delivery carriers. It lets users check their full order details, progress notifications, and other details. In Messages, Apple Intelligence can suggest where a poll might come in handy, and users can create backgrounds to fit their chats using Image Playground. The new Apple Intelligence features are available for testing on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro through the Apple Developer Program. By the end of the year, Apple's AI suite will support more languages, including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (traditional), and Vietnamese. You can read about Apple Intelligence in the official announcement post on Apple Newsroom.
    • Absolutely. Glass widgets, tabs, docks, Rainmeter, MicaForEveryone (gorgeous full glass explorer windows), etc. some of us never left the glass ecosphere. I actually hope this encourages MS to put those Acrylic/Mica/Glass hooks back into the OS as an option. It doesn't have to be the default, but some of us would love the choice.
    • I had deleted the folder after installing the update and then re-created the inetpub folder. Ran the script today even though the folder exists, it does some minor changes to the permissions and to the order of some.
    • Creating 1,250 jobs...in order to destroy two orders of magnitude more.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Rookie
      CHUNWEI went up a rank
      Rookie
    • Enthusiast
      the420kid went up a rank
      Enthusiast
    • Conversation Starter
      NeoToad777 earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • Week One Done
      VicByrd earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Reacting Well
      NeoToad777 earned a badge
      Reacting Well
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      471
    2. 2
      +FloatingFatMan
      268
    3. 3
      ATLien_0
      256
    4. 4
      Edouard
      200
    5. 5
      snowy owl
      180
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!