AB 350 Pro4 w W10 on M.2 PCIe & HW RAID HDD

Objective: I want to install Win10 on the M2 and have RAID 1 storage via SATA RAID Hard Disks and the AMI RAID chip on the mobo.

Here is the current state:

• AMD RYZEN 5 2600
  
• ASRock AB350 Pro4 AM4 AMD Promontory B350
  
• CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4
  
• 2x WD 320 Gb HDD on SATA 1 and 2 ports
  
• 1xM.2 500 Gb PCIe in M2 slot
  
• SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7870
  
• Windows 10 install on USB
  
• AMI Mobo drivers on another USB freshly pulled from ASROCK website.
  

Reference: I have had this exact system setup with Win10 on the M2 working great and then at one point had Win10 on the RAID which was able to see the (then corrupted) M2.

Notes:

• I've tried all manner of combinations in the BIOS and have reset the BIOS.
  
• If I set Storage option to "Legacy: RAID" comes up and it shows the RAID and the M2 but the M2 is marked as "Legacy 500gb Offline (NA)". Using CTRL-R to access the M.2 only allows deletion - no other options work (see pics).
  
• If I set Storage option to UEFE then no RAID screen shows up.
  
• I have a set of pictures of screens and the build shared here [URL=https://photos.app.goo.gl/anNofjh3sJJuzNLeA]Photo link[/URL]
  
• When RAID is on and I go into Win10 setup I can see the USB and the M2 but once I start loading the drivers (and it often shows 3x"Bottom" drivers not 2 sets) then M2 disappears and the Controller option can take up to 2 min to finish. Sometimes I get the RAID sometimes I get nothing - and I NEVER SEE the M2 AGAIN.
  
• What I want is the magic path to install Win10 on the M2 AND have hardware RAID. what settings are needed in the CMS Module or what SATA ports on the Mobo or ??
  

Thank you for getting back to me.

If the system is set for RAID and UEFI then the M2 disappears when I go to load the drivers. If it is set to AHCI then all drives appear equal.

I do appreciate learning the path to the BIOS based RAID. I've searched and it seems our dear vendor ASROCK doesn't have one byte of information when you do a keyword search on their site using "RAID". Go figure.

I wonder why Tech Support pushed me to the CtrlR BIOS and refuses to read my configuration (M2 w Win10 and RAID for storage)?

SOLVED:

Exchange between me and John @ ASRock.

Please restart to do the RAID again, since the system have NVME M.2 drive.

·        Delete the RAID to begin with it started.

At this point the system was only doing RAIDXpert, I turned it off by turning AHCI off and restarted.

·        Enter BIOS and check SATA mode is Enable.

DRG - Check

·        Check the Storage OpROm is UEFI only in the BIOS, Boot, CSM. If not, please set to UEFI only.

DRG - Check

·        Save and exit.

DRG - Check

·        Enter BIOS,

DRG - I see both SATA3_1 and _2 HDD and the M.2_1 PCIE devices. Looks like a step was missed here - set SATA Mode to RAID MODE, exited

Enter BIOS again, Advanced, d[RAIDXpert2, Array Management, select Create Array to create the desired RAID 0,1 for drives on RAID configuration (select RAID level and select Physical Disk for drives that in RAID array). Note: Delete Array first before create new if Delete array is not grayed out)

DRG - RAIDExpert 2 is now showing, entered it. Create Array is dimmed, Delete Array is active, selected Delete Array,

Screen shows:

Array 1, RAID1, 320Gb Ready - Disabled
Array 2   Non-RAID 0kb. Offline - Disabled   (This must be the M2 drive)

Enabled Array 1

Delete Array(s)

Went through confirmation. Only shows what was Array 2 as Array 1 - 0Kb, Offline, went back "up"

Selected Create Array

Select RAID Level - RAID 1

Selected Physical Disks

Select Media Type : HDD (as these are 3.5" HDD)

Shows two Physical disks, each 320Gb. Enabled both.

Apply Changes (goes "up" one level)

Create Array (as I am accepting all defaults)

Inserted 32Gb USB w WIn10 installer

·        Save and exit.

DRG - Check

·        Insert the Windows 10 installation media disk.
DRG - Inserted my USB one step above so I wouldn't be fumbling during boot

·        Press F11 to bring boot device menu.

DRG - Check

·        Select the UEFI: Windows installation media disk

DRG - In my case "UEFI: SanDisk Cruzer 1.26 Partition 1

·        Begin install the Windows 10.

DRG - Check

·        Will show only NVME M.2 drive on the Windows setup, it is normal.

DRG - In my case Drive 0 Unallocated Space 465.8 GB

·        Install the Windows 10 on the NVME drive (not required install SATA Floppy Image yet).

DRG -
NOTE: Not installing these drivers immediately is an interesting twist. When I asked my buddies many thought you could do this after getting Windows setup. If i had this knowledge a week ago I would have been running a perfectly functional system - instead of re-installing a dozen times trying to figure this out.


Simply selected Drive 0 and hit Next (I will use a drive partition software later to break up my drive into 2 partitions)

·        After install the Windows 10, go to Device manager to install the SATA Floppy Image drivers one by one on the lise including one of the unknown device). SATA Floppy Image driver DL link: https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/AB350%20Pro4/index.us.asp#Download

SATA Floppy Image ver:9.2.0.70, Windows® 10 64bit, 363.64KB, 2018/10/16

DRG -
In my case Other Devices has two RAID Controllers listed. Selected top choice. right click, "Update drivers", selected 2nd USB with root directory containing a folder with just the Floppy drivers, AMD-RAID "Bottom". Selected lower choice, Right Click, and got AMD-RAID Controller (storport).

NOTE: Display changed. Where I was now shows "other devices" with two children "AMD-RAID Configuration SCSI Processor Device" and the 2nd child "RAID Controller". Further down under Storage Controllers there are four choices:

AMD-RAID Bottom Device , AMD-RAID Controller (Storport), Microsoft Storage Spaces Controller, and Standard NVM Express Controller.

·        After install all the drivers then restart the system,

DRG - Check

·        Run the disk manager to initialize the disk and create new volume to format the disk for using.

DRG - Check