z97 Extreme9 Raid issue

There is nothing wrong with your board or the UEFI version you are using. You just need to configure one thing in the UEFI correctly.

I assume you installed Win 8.1 with the SATA mode for the Intel Z97 chipset set to RAID, is that right?

If so, do this: In the UEFI/BIOS, go to the Boot screen. At the bottom of that screen is the CSM option. Click on that, which will bring you to the CSM configuration screen.

You'll see that CSM is set to Enabled, which it is by default. I don't know if your Win 8.1 installation was done in UEFI booting mode, and if your video source supports GOP, so keep CSM Enabled.

Below CSM, find the Launch Storage OpROM Policy which will be set to Legacy Only, the default.

Click on the Launch Storage OpROM Policy option, and select UEFI Only.

You're done at that point, save and exit the UEFI. You can then go directly back into the UEFI and you should see the Intel Rapid Storage Technology option displayed at the bottom of the Advanced screen.

If you did not install Win 8.1 in RAID mode, or this does not work for you, let us know and we'll take it from there.

Still no joy within Win8.1 or Linux. The Windows installer saw the raid drive, at least it showed a 2.7 TB drive, but once I install Windows, the raid isn't visible.  Neither the linux installer nor the OS itself could see the raid. 

Yes, the method of getting the UEFI IRST setup utility available is not intuitive. It takes some explanation about why it's like that, but that will not help you with your problem, so I'll skip that for now.

You didn't mention this, but after you create a new RAID array of any type, you must initialize and format it in Windows Disk Management. A new RAID array will not be recognized by Windows until it is initialized and formatted, that is not done during the array creation process.

When you start Disk Management (DM), it should prompt you to initialize the RAID array. You'll then see it listed among your drives in the DM list. Then you'll need to format it by right clicking on its entry, and following the prompts. After that, you will see the RAID 1 array in the list of drives in Windows Explorer.

Sorry, I did not know your level of experience with RAID arrays, and it looks like I could have saved you a lot of work and grief.

Did you install the IRST driver and software package, the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver and utility ver:13.1.0.1058 software in your board's download page, or on the driver disk? You don't need it to format the RAID 1 array in DM, but the IRST Windows application in this package allows you to check the status and administer your RAID arrays. There will be an entry in Control Panel for the IRST Windows application.

This software will also monitor your RAID arrays for any problems and display warnings if there are any problems. You can delete and create RAID arrays with this application. At the top of its display is a Help button. Clicking that will open a new window with all the IRST documentation that describes the capabilities and requirements for using IRST.

One more thing. When creating the array, did you choose a RAID 1 array, or did you select Flexible Data Protection (recovery)? There is a size limitation for the Recovery option, and your drives may be exceeding that limit. There is no limit for a non-OS RAID 1 array.

Let us know if all this solves your issues.

Great, glad it was something simple in the end.

First time with IRST RAID? You're doing fine.

I'm not a Linux person (have worked with Unix), so I can't tell you how your RAID 1 will work with Linux. The Windows IRST software won't work with Linux. I'm not sure the IRST RAID format (it uses the standard developed by SNIA) is compatible with Linux.

If you feel like it, I'd like to know how well it works with Linux.

FYI: Any UEFI/BIOS update or CMOS clear will reset the Intel SATA mode to AHCI. You must reset the Intel SATA mode to RAID in those circumstances before you boot an OS.

Booting (or failing to boot) in AHCI mode won't ruin the RAID array, just set the SATA mode to RAID and reboot.

The drives are not tied or related to any particular Intel SATA port, you can move the SATA data cables to different Intel SATA ports and the array will work fine. You could move the drives in a RAID array (non-OS volumes) from one Intel system to another, as long as the Intel chipsets are compatible.

When you decide to remove/delete a RAID array, save the data first, and then delete the RAID array with the IRST utility. Either the UEFI utility or the Windows IRST utility.

If you just remove the drives physically, the RAID metadata (data about the RAID configuration) will still exist on the drive, and Windows DM sometimes sees that as a system partition and won't let you format the drive. You can use the Windows Cmd prompt program Diskpart to run a clean command on the drive (in Admin mode) to remove that data. You'll have a drive that needs initialization and formatting after that. The IRST utility deletion of a RAID array is the simplest way to start from scratch with the drives.

Maximum PC has been running a series of articles on RAID for Windows and Linux. It's not particularly deep, mostly discussing the sotfware RAID features of the OS for each RAID type.  And giving a FAKERAID solution as well for dual booters like me.  You might find the series interesting.