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M.2 and RAID
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voight View Drop Down
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    Posted: 17 Aug 2015 at 1:31am
So, I'm looking to build a new HTPC. And right now, Asrock's Z97E-ITX/ac board is at the top of my list. However, I'm curious about how it handles SATA connections.

I do want a system that is able to handle RAID. But, as I recall from my desktop system?”which is built on an AsRock Z87 Extreme 6, in order to have a boot drive, DVD drive, etc.?”it needs to utilize two SATA controllers. The Intel controller is set up for RAID, and the Asmedia controller is used for boot, etc.

Looking through the manual for the Z97E-ITX/ac, it appears as if it only has an Intel controller.

So ultimately, my question is: can the Z97E-ITX/ac boot from an M.2 SSD, and still have a RAID array set up separately?
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parsec View Drop Down
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Yes you can use an M.2 SSD as your OS/boot drive, with the SATA mode set to RAID, and create RAID arrays from drives connected to the SATA ports.

Actually, you could do the same thing on your Z87 Extreme6 board. There is no restriction or limitation when using the Intel chipset RAID mode and having an OS/boot drive connected to the Intel SATA ports.

I've done this myself many times. Actually my standard configuration when I install Windows is to set the SATA mode to RAID. I then either use a single SSD as the boot drive, or create a RAID 0 array of SSDs and install Windows on either one. I've had multiple RAID 0 arrays on the Intel SATA ports, and the OS drive as a single SSD or RAID 0 array.

The only limitation on the Z97E-ITX/ac is if the M.2 SSD is a SATA type drive, then the SATA3_4 and SATA3_5 ports won't be useable, as their resources are given to the M.2 SATA SSD.

If the M.2 SSD is a PCIe type of SSD (Samsung XP941, SM951), then those SATA ports will not be used by the SSD.

I'm trying to think of a reason you could not use the Intel SATA ports in RAID mode for an OS/boot drive, so what am I missing?
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voight View Drop Down
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Ah, thank you, Parsec.

My question was based on my past experience with my Extreme 6.

Originally, I had set it up to use a boot SSD and an additional hard drive for mass storage. Well, after a few months, I replaced the HDD with a RAID array. Once I went into the BIOS and switched the mode of the Intel SATA controller from AHCI to RAID, the system would no longer boot. This was months ago, so I don't recall if it was an error at POST, or when the OS started to load.

All I know is once I moved the boot SSD to one of the SATA ports controlled by the Asmedia chip, everything was fine. So I assumed one SATA controller = one operating mode.

Good to know they can be mixed and matched.

Edited by voight - 17 Aug 2015 at 5:28am
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parsec View Drop Down
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I can explain why you had that problem with your Extreme6 board and RAID mode.

If you want to use RAID mode on Intel chipset boards (and AMD too), you MUST have the SATA mode set to RAID when you install Windows.

If you install Windows with the SATA mode set to anything other than RAID, like AHCI, if you later attempt to change the SATA mode to RAID, you will get an error and your OS won't boot. That is caused by a limitation of Windows in the way it installs drivers, and the use of RAID mode.

You found a work around, when you moved your OS drive to the ASMedia SATA ports. Were you then able to change to RAID mode with no drives connected to the Intel SATA ports, or was it simply moving your OS drive to the ASMedia SATA ports with drives connected to the Intel ports that allowed you to change to RAID mode?
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voight View Drop Down
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Originally posted by parsec parsec wrote:

I can explain why you had that problem with your Extreme6 board and RAID mode.

If you want to use RAID mode on Intel chipset boards (and AMD too), you MUST have the SATA mode set to RAID when you install Windows.

If you install Windows with the SATA mode set to anything other than RAID, like AHCI, if you later attempt to change the SATA mode to RAID, you will get an error and your OS won't boot. That is caused by a limitation of Windows in the way it installs drivers, and the use of RAID mode.

You found a work around, when you moved your OS drive to the ASMedia SATA ports. Were you then able to change to RAID mode with no drives connected to the Intel SATA ports, or was it simply moving your OS drive to the ASMedia SATA ports with drives connected to the Intel ports that allowed you to change to RAID mode?

Ah  ha!

And in answer to your question it was the latter. Once the SSD was moved over to the ASMedia controller, Windows booted, and the RAID array was found, and I was able to format it and assign a drive letter.

So I imagine that means once Windows booted up to the desktop, it was able to automatically update the driver for the Intel controller to RAID, and thus it started working.
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