Hi Fernando,

Could you give me a hint what is the right way to move from AHCI to RAID on X99 board, which has just one bootable SSD? In future I plan to replace my current SSD with a pair of new ones, and configure them in RAID 0. And I want to switch to RAID prior to installing the new SSDs.

Current single SSD is imaged with Win 10 Prof, which has inbox storage controller driver installed. This driver allows the system to boot and run smoothly in AHCI mode. If I simply switch to RAID in MB's BIOS, the system won't boot, and I guess it needs SATA RAID driver installed prior to going to RAID mode. So, in AHCI mode I try to install 15.x family driver (13.x, 14.x), but it immediately reports 'platform not supported'. Then I try to install enterprise family 5.x driver, and it completes OK. But it installs AHCI driver, not RAID, and when I switch to RAID in MB's BIOS, the system won't boot. I also tried to manually install RAID driver pointing to iaStor.inf file, but it suggests installing RAID SAS (SATA mode) driver, which finally does not work either.

Is there an automated installer, which in AHCI mode installs correct RAID driver for X99 chipset SATA controller + compatible RSTe software?

Best regards,

Andrei

Fernando, thank you for the comment!

Your reference to 2 chipset SATA controllers on X99 puzzled me a bit... My understanding was that on my X99 board (which is MSI X99A Raider) there was only one SATA controller provided by chipset. According to MB manual, it handles 10 SATA ports, where ports 1-6 support IDE, AHCI, RAID, while 7-10 support IDE and AHCI. Could you share a link to read more about the controllers you mention?

Yes, my final goal is to have bootable RAID 0 of two SSDs. But for now I want to keep my single SSD and just to move from AHCI to RAID mode. My understanding is that the only thing I need to do is to install correct Intel SATA RAID driver instead of inbox ACHI driver. The SSD is plugged to SATA1 port, which I guess is "normal RST"?

Best regards,

Andrei

Fernando,

I cannot believe that natural and reasonable upgrade of the system from AHCI (1 bootable SSD) to RAID (bootable volume stripped across 2 SSDs) must be so complex. Actually, I will have to cold install Windows on newly created RAID volume, re-attach old system SSD and spend hours migrating applications, data, and settings accumulated over months to new system volume. I do believe there should be way to force install RAID driver on the old SSD in AHCI mode, then boot from it in RAID (it should be detected as non-member disk), then simply clone this old SSD to the RAID of two. I will experiment with that in the coming days.

Anyway, thank you for the instructions, they will be my last resort!

And, if we have 2 SATA controllers with X99 boards, does it mean we have 3 separate drivers in 5.x (4.x) RSTe package: standard SATA AHCI driver, standard SATA RAID driver, sSATA AHCI driver? If yes, then can I install just sSATA AHCI driver without touching driver for standard controller?

Best regards,

Andrei

Hi Fernando,

Just to close the topic -
It did not take me long to force install SATA RAID driver on my single system SSD in AHCI mode. I did it through 'Update driver' in Device manager, and at 3rd attempt I picked the right controller type from the options list (cannot recall which one exactly). It installed driver for the 1st controller (standard SATA), which allowed me to restart, set RAID for the 1st controller in MB's BIOS, and boot successfully. Now, in RAID mode, I discovered that one of 13.x RST family driver was actually installed, and I immediately upgraded it to the latest 15.5 driver. I did not touch anything for the 2nd controller, and it still is handled by inbox MS driver, but I do not plan to use ports 7-10 and do not care about that. What I did not manage to do - install RST(e) software. I tried all versions from 15.x family and one from 14.x family, but installations quit silently in the middle. Never mind, I can live without this nice application.

So, I want to point that migration from ACHI to RAID on X99 board is absolutely possible without whole system re-installation, which in my case will do take time. It is a really fast way to boost disk performance of the PC. The only thing that is needed - this great site with the driver packs. Thank you for the excellent resource!

Best regards,

Andrei