ASRock H87M-ITX SATA Mode: AHCI vs. RAID

[marco1475]

Hi,

Over the weekend I built my new computer using the ASRock H87M-ITX motherboard (BIOS is up to date with version 1.50). I have three hard drives connected to the motherboard:

• 1x Samsung 120GB SSD (purpose: system disk) and
• 2x WD 4TB HDDs (purpose: RAID1 for data).

So far I am just mucking about with the BIOS and I haven't installed any OS yet. In fact neither of the three disks have anything on them - neither partitions, nor file systems - they are completely clean and empty. As expected when I let the boot process continue past the BIOS I get an error telling me to select a proper boot partition.

I want to set up the two WD disks in a RAID1 mirroring array using the motherboard's BIOS, but I'm having issues with that. In the BIOS's "Storage Configuration" (under "Advanced") I can select one of three values for the "SATA Mode Selection":

1. IDE
2. AHCI
3. RAID

When I select "AHCI" as the SATA mode, the "Boot Option Priorities" menu allows me to select "AHCI-P0 Samsung ...", which is the SSD. The two WD disks are available separately under the "Storage Device BBS Priorities" (where I can set the order of which disk the BIOS attempts to boot from first), but not under the "Boot Options Priorities" menu. So far this is what I expected.

However, when I select "RAID" as the SATA mode, I can create a RAID1 array using the "Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology" menu in "Advanced", but I no longer see the SSD in the "Boot Option Priorities". In fact I don't see any of my hard drives in the boot options menu.

Why can't I select my non-RAID SSD as the boot disk in the BIOS when I switch the SATA mode to "RAID" from "AHCI"?

Is the "RAID" SATA mode in the BIOS meant to allow me to use a RAID array as the boot disk and therefore allows only RAID devices in the "Boot Order Priorities"?

Thank you for any help you can provide.

Marek

[parsec]

Re: ASRock H87M-ITX SATA Mode: AHCI vs. RAID

When you created the RAID 1 array from the BIOS option, did you then restart the PC into the BIOS, and then discover the "missing" SSD from the boot order? If not, you must restart after changing to RAID mode, no drives will be recognized correctly until you start the PC in RAID mode.

RAID mode has nothing to do with boot order, and does not restrict the use of RAID arrays in the boot order. If you did restart after changing to RAID mode, and found nothing in the boot order, that could be caused by the uninitialized and unformatted drives, but I suspect the problem is simply not restarting after changing to RAID mode, that is essential. The same is true when changing to any SATA mode, as it really has not changed until the PC is restarted.

Regardless, boot order is meaningless when installing Windows. You'll be able to choose the target drive during the installation, which is independent of boot order setting in the BIOS. Boot order is simply where to check first, second, etc, for an OS or bootable media, it does not affect an OS installation.

There is another problem that will affect you later if you install Windows with your SSD and RAID 1 volume connected to the PC during the installation. Windows will put the MBR (Master Boot Record) on the RAID 1 volume if the SSD is the OS drive, a bad trait of Windows. Later if the RAID 1 volume is changed or removed, the PC will not longer boot. That can be fixed with a Windows repair, but it's much better to just have the target OS drive connected to the PC during the installation. Then the MBR will be put on the OS drive. You can just remove the power connectors from the HDDs during the installation.

[marco1475]

Re: ASRock H87M-ITX SATA Mode: AHCI vs. RAID

Thanks for your reply, parsec. I also appreciate the heads up about Windows, MBR, and RAID1 - I didn't know that and it will save me some trouble :)

When you created the RAID 1 array from the BIOS option, did you then restart the PC into the BIOS, and then discover the "missing" SSD from the boot order?

Yes, I did reboot the machine after changing the SATA mode. When I changed the SATA mode from "AHCI" to "RAID" I noticed that the "Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology" option in "Advanced" that the manual talked about wasn't there, so I realized that I have to restart the machine for any of these changes to go into effect. After I rebooted the machine and entered BIOS again the "Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology" entry was present, but the "Boot Options Priorities" didn't list any disks any more.

I am not a fan of how "newer" BIOSes (newer since the last time I built a computer, which was 2003) hide boot options that aren't currently available - think not being able to change the boot order between HDD and a USB drive as long as a USB drive isn't plugged it - but the fact that my SDD wouldn't show up once the SATA mode was changed to "RAID" scared me. I didn't check whether the RAID array would show up in the "Boot Options Priorities" after I created it, but it wouldn't matter anyway since I don't want to boot from it, but the SSD.

If you did restart after changing to RAID mode, and found nothing in the boot order, that could be caused by the uninitialized and unformatted drives

All of my drives are unformatted (not sure what "uninitialized" means in this case). Do you think it is possible that while "AHCI" SATA mode was able to detect unformatted drives, "RAID" SATA mode isn't (outside of the "Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology" panel) and that is the whole problem? When I booted from a Linux LiveCD it found all the drives correctly, so the OS install should be fine, I was just worried about not seeing anything in the "Boot Options Priorities".

Thanks again for your help.

[parsec]

Re: ASRock H87M-ITX SATA Mode: AHCI vs. RAID

Initialized is a Windows 7 and 8 thing. When you connect one or more new, unformatted drives to a PC with Windows 7 or 8, and start the PC, those drives will not be "seen" by Windows Explorer. That is, until you start Disk Management, and when it starts it will immediately prompt you to Initialize the new disk(s). But that really should not affect the boot order, since that is an OS specific thing, so that is not correct, I was wrong to mention that.

I'm not sure why your SSD was not shown in the boot order, and I understand why you were worried that it seemed to disappear. If you had cleared the CMOS/BIOS, and then changed to RAID and restarted again, your SSD might have appeared in the boot priority.

I have never seen a missing drive in the list myself, and I use RAID mode all the time.

[Phaze13]

Re: ASRock H87M-ITX SATA Mode: AHCI vs. RAID

Hi,

Over the weekend I built my new computer using the ASRock H87M-ITX motherboard (BIOS is up to date with version 1.50). I have three hard drives connected to the motherboard:

• 1x Samsung 120GB SSD (purpose: system disk) and
• 2x WD 4TB HDDs (purpose: RAID1 for data).

So far I am just mucking about with the BIOS and I haven't installed any OS yet. In fact neither of the three disks have anything on them - neither partitions, nor file systems - they are completely clean and empty. As expected when I let the boot process continue past the BIOS I get an error telling me to select a proper boot partition.

I want to set up the two WD disks in a RAID1 mirroring array using the motherboard's BIOS, but I'm having issues with that. In the BIOS's "Storage Configuration" (under "Advanced") I can select one of three values for the "SATA Mode Selection":

1. IDE
2. AHCI
3. RAID

When I select "AHCI" as the SATA mode, the "Boot Option Priorities" menu allows me to select "AHCI-P0 Samsung ...", which is the SSD. The two WD disks are available separately under the "Storage Device BBS Priorities" (where I can set the order of which disk the BIOS attempts to boot from first), but not under the "Boot Options Priorities" menu. So far this is what I expected.

However, when I select "RAID" as the SATA mode, I can create a RAID1 array using the "Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology" menu in "Advanced", but I no longer see the SSD in the "Boot Option Priorities". In fact I don't see any of my hard drives in the boot options menu.

Why can't I select my non-RAID SSD as the boot disk in the BIOS when I switch the SATA mode to "RAID" from "AHCI"?

Is the "RAID" SATA mode in the BIOS meant to allow me to use a RAID array as the boot disk and therefore allows only RAID devices in the "Boot Order Priorities"?

Thank you for any help you can provide.

Marek

Have you figured this out yet? I have the exact same problem!
Please share your solution, Thanks!

[marco1475]

Re: ASRock H87M-ITX SATA Mode: AHCI vs. RAID

Have you figured this out yet? I have the exact same problem!
Please share your solution, Thanks!

Sorry, I haven't. I decided to go with software RAID rather than the BIOS RAID, so I just left the setting in AHCI and created the RAID1 using my OS.

[Phaze13]

Re: ASRock H87M-ITX SATA Mode: AHCI vs. RAID

Sorry, I haven't. I decided to go with software RAID rather than the BIOS RAID, so I just left the setting in AHCI and created the RAID1 using my OS.

Thanks!

Not the answer I was hoping for. I may have to go that route as well.

[parsec]

Re: ASRock H87M-ITX SATA Mode: AHCI vs. RAID

At least part of marco1575's problem is (according to his system specs) he is using Linux. Unless Intel's RAID data format (SNIA standard) is also used by Linux, of course it won't work. Most mother boards don't have Linux RAID option ROMs in their BIOS, so their RAID is not supported.

What OS are you using?

[Phaze13]

Re: ASRock H87M-ITX SATA Mode: AHCI vs. RAID

At least part of marco1575's problem is (according to his system specs) he is using Linux. Unless Intel's RAID data format (SNIA standard) is also used by Linux, of course it won't work. Most mother boards don't have Linux RAID option ROMs in their BIOS, so their RAID is not supported.

What OS are you using?

I just noticed this in the UEFI Guide

"If you change SATA Mode after install of an operating system you might not be able to boot into OS normally. You should select SATA Mode prior to installing the OS"


Does this make any sense? Should I have selected SATA Mode (RAID) in the BIOS "UEFI" before installing the OS?


This sounds wack, but oddly enough may be my problem. If this is the case, this MB sucks (for me).


I noticed when you change SATA Mode to (RAID) in the UEFI and reboot back into UEFI all the drives are in RAID Mode. That's when the computer refuses to boot.



And this from Wikipedia - Advanced Host Controller Interface

Boot issues

[Phaze13]

Re: ASRock H87M-ITX SATA Mode: AHCI vs. RAID

Well, turns out the Intel H87 Chipset does not support what I want to do. It only has one SATA controller. I need a Z87 chipset.

[parsec]

Re: ASRock H87M-ITX SATA Mode: AHCI vs. RAID

Slow down dude, you are making mistakes because you're upset...

First your board and H87 chipset supports RAID just fine. Your board's download page has the Intel RAID drivers and utility, which are also on the board disk.

Second, it is NOT the board's fault that RAID must be selected before you install Windows. That is RAID 101 material, any and ALL mother boards made by anyone are exactly the same. Sorry to say, this is the classic RAID noob mistake, seen it a thousand times...

There is a Windows registry edit that can be done to change to RAID after Windows is installed, but I'm not comfortable suggesting that to you, particularly since you have not listed any of your system details.

The Z87 is only one SATA controller, as is the H87. Multiple SATA controllers are not needed for RAID.

[Phaze13]

Re: ASRock H87M-ITX SATA Mode: AHCI vs. RAID

Slow down dude, you are making mistakes because you're upset...

True!

that RAID must be selected before you install Windows

Not so sure this is true, see below.
-----------------------------------

Success with the ASRock H87M mATX RAID 1

1) Installed Win7 OS on SSD.
2) Formatted the 2 HDD's.
3) Booted into BIOS > Advanced Tab > Storage Configuration > SATA Mode Selection Select RAID
4) Save Changes and Close > Reboot > CNTL +i to select RAID Configuration > Configure RAID 1 for HDD's
5) Save Changes and Close > Reboot onto Bios > Advanced Tab > Storage Configuration > SATA Mode Selection Select AHCI
6) Reboot to Windows, only SSD drive is visible in widows.
7) Go to Disk Manager and a ONE 1.3TB unallocated HDD was showing. Right Click >New Simple Volume > Formatted
8) Boom New Volume (D:) shows in Windows
Profit!

Before after step 4 Windows wouldn't boot back into windows if I didn't set the SATA Mode Selection back to AHCI.

Also Step 7 would should TWO 1.3TB unallocated HDD's if I deleted the array before Changing SATA Mode Selection to AHCI in the BIOS.
Now when restart the computer I do not get a chance to CNTR +i for the RAID Configuration anymore (I did on my old set up) nor does it show the health status.

How do I know this worked?
The Properties for the new volume (D:) Disk Manager > Right Click > Properties is: Intel Raid 1 Volume SCSI Disk Properties
I'm still 20% uncertain.
Put two word documents in Volume (D:) powered down the computer, disconnected power and one SATA cable from one of the HDD's in the RAID. Powered back on computer and the word documents are in Volume (D:)
Powered down again same process with the other drive and the word documents are there.
So it is writing to both Disks.
I'm still 10% uncertain............

So what was the big hang up for me here. Seem I thought I had to leave the SATA Mode Selection in RAID after setting up the RAID. Guess it's just used for creating the RAID.

Thanks for the help!

[parsec]

Re: ASRock H87M-ITX SATA Mode: AHCI vs. RAID

True!



Not so sure this is true, see below.
-----------------------------------

Success with the ASRock H87M mATX RAID 1

1) Installed Win7 OS on SSD.
2) Formatted the 2 HDD's.
3) Booted into BIOS > Advanced Tab > Storage Configuration > SATA Mode Selection Select RAID
4) Save Changes and Close > Reboot > CNTL +i to select RAID Configuration > Configure RAID 1 for HDD's
5) Save Changes and Close > Reboot onto Bios > Advanced Tab > Storage Configuration > SATA Mode Selection Select AHCI
6) Reboot to Windows, only SSD drive is visible in widows.
7) Go to Disk Manager and a ONE 1.3TB unallocated HDD was showing. Right Click >New Simple Volume > Formatted
8) Boom New Volume (D:) shows in Windows
Profit!

Before after step 4 Windows wouldn't boot back into windows if I didn't set the SATA Mode Selection back to AHCI.

Also Step 7 would should TWO 1.3TB unallocated HDD's if I deleted the array before Changing SATA Mode Selection to AHCI in the BIOS.
Now when restart the computer I do not get a chance to CNTR +i for the RAID Configuration anymore (I did on my old set up) nor does it show the health status.

How do I know this worked?
The Properties for the new volume (D:) Disk Manager > Right Click > Properties is: Intel Raid 1 Volume SCSI Disk Properties
I'm still 20% uncertain.
Put two word documents in Volume (D:) powered down the computer, disconnected power and one SATA cable from one of the HDD's in the RAID. Powered back on computer and the word documents are in Volume (D:)
Powered down again same process with the other drive and the word documents are there.
So it is writing to both Disks.
I'm still 10% uncertain............

So what was the big hang up for me here. Seem I thought I had to leave the SATA Mode Selection in RAID after setting up the RAID. Guess it's just used for creating the RAID.

Thanks for the help!

The moment you changed back to AHCI mode from RAID, you had no RAID array. You cannot turn RAID on and off and have a RAID array working.

You might have been lucky with the RAID 1 array, since RAID 1 is mirroring, saving two copies of whatever files you have. Still not sure how you had copies of a file on both disks, since you never booted Windows in RAID mode, I have a hard time believing that, sorry to say.

If you have installed the Intel IRST driver package in Windows, the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver and utility ver:12.8.0.1016 from your board's download page, you'll have the Intel RAID utility that runs in Windows. You'll find an entry in Control Panel for Intel Rapid Storage Technology. Run that and see what it tells you about your RAID 1 array.

Of course the PC would not boot when you set the SATA mode to RAID, you installed your OS in AHCI mode.

[Phaze13]

Re: ASRock H87M-ITX SATA Mode: AHCI vs. RAID

I agree with you. I'm still not 100%. Although the files were written to both disks. I Adm copying a few hundred gigs of files over to the new volume from backup. When I get home from work tonight I will check again if they were written to both disks.

I also took a screen shot or two of disk manager, will try to post them add well.

Now maybe they are not in a true array RAID the files werw written to both disks. I noticed when I originally broke array before removing them from the old machine that they did not show up in windows after that on the old machine. I moved bith of them over to the new machine and the Volume showed in windows like one disk with all files there even though there were to HDD's. I believe this is because they were identical. I did not try writing any files to the volume to potentially see if it wrote to both disk.

I took one HDD out and the volume showed up just like when both were there. I did this for both (same) One at a time I formatted in disk manager, PT them both back in and had two new volumes with there own assigned drive letter.

That's when I started trying to create new RAID array on the new machine.

Fast forward to now. No the new drive volume that I created outlined above does not show up in the windows Intel Rapid Disk Utility for Windows (Red Flag). They did show up when they were assigned there own drive volumes earlier though.

So i'm sure you are right, they are not in RAID 1, but what's odd is the properties in disk manager list them as RAID 1.


Do you think I should have done or should do:
1) Set BIOS to RAID
2) Reinstall OS on SSD
3) Add 2 HDD's and create new RAID 1 volume

Thanks for your time and input. I would like this done correctly as there are years worth of photos I could potentially lose.

[parsec]

Re: ASRock H87M-ITX SATA Mode: AHCI vs. RAID

Glad to see you are still working on this! Sorry to not reply sooner, been doing... stuff.

More info, if you have not again formatted the drives in your RAID 1 array since you created it, the RAID "metadata" (data about the RAID 1 array, not the user data on the drive) is still on the drive, which is why Disk Manager sees it as a RAID 1 array.

All drives used to create a RAID array have special data describing what type of RAID (0, 1, 5, 10, etc) array that they are a part of, and other internal RAID information. That is what the Intel RAID software uses to deal with RAID arrays.

Depending on what OS you are using, there is a method of changing to RAID mode without reinstalling Windows. Here is a guide for that:

How to: Change SATA Modes After Windows Installation

Just remember, very important: Once you set your SATA mode to RAID, you must keep it that way or the RAID arrays will not work! That means if you do a BIOS update, or clear the BIOS, the SATA mode will go back to the default value (AHCI) and no RAID arrays will work. So any time you clear or update the BIOS, the FIRST thing you do when the PC restarts is go into the BIOS and set the SATA mode to RAID. I know, a pain in the buttocks, but that's the way it is.

This is another short guide for creating RAID arrays: How to: Set up RAID