Help,Reverting back from RAID ARRAY (x99 Extreme4)

Extend Volume, Backup FIRST !

thetoons wrote: Hi THank you for your time. I had successfully set RAID 0 of (2x1tb Mushkin SSDs) via using Intel Rapid Tech App, (Used ASRock's Controller Switcher to swith to RAID mode and set up my Raid Array with Intel's APP) I had to add one more drive (identical that was already installed and running) however when I tried to add using Intel App even though it seemed like it successfully 'Migrated' with correct Drive size coming up on Intel App, for some reason It never updated the size from 2xDrives to 3 on Windows 'This PC' when it lists all the Hard Drives, So I got really irritated. I decided to just delete the Raid Array so I went back into Intel App, and deleted that Raid Drive. and restarted thinking that I would be able to see all 3 drives separately after formatting them in Win 10. Nope! It didn't happen, after few restarts, nothing, so I thought I messed something up, I opened the case, and unplugged all the SSD connections from the motherboard. (only left m.2 internal SSD chip installed as all the windows and programs are on that to boot from) I did that and windows 10 rebooted, but when I tried to go back into Intel Rapid Tech App, it said numerous times An Unknown Error Occurred so it can't be started. So I went ahead and uninstalled the application from Control Panel. and also went back to UEFI and switched the drive from RAID to First AHCI, and then IDE (That's what it said on Intel Rapid Tech APP's Read me File for manually uninstalling) However I would be able to see on Device Manager, "IDE ATA / ATAPI" controller listed after reverting back to IDE or AHCI mode. Nothing! it is not listed on Device Manager, I thought thats what it supposed to go back to on Device Manager?  My question is; is it because currently there are no other SATA plugged SSD Drives, is that why On Device Manager thats not listed. (only m.2 internal drive is installed)  or WHICH may be WORSE, DID I MESS SOME DRIVERS or HARDWARE?? I am supposed to get this 3 SSDs on Raid 0 back up but I wanted to see your feedback on this stage before I try to do more potentially Harmful Actions Going Forward. Please Help! Thanks,

Your hardware was not damaged, or damaged by the addition of the third drive. It seems that RAID 0 array is not your OS drive, but... you might need to install Win 10 again.

I'm not 100% sure what happened in your situation, but now that we have M.2 SSDs (what M.2 SSD are you using?), we have learned a lesson about the IRST RAID software.

That is, if we do not have any SATA drives connected to the Intel SATA ports, yet we are running Windows from a non-SATA drive (NVMe SSD), the IRST software does not function as we assume it will. We've never been in this situation in the past, and Intel might not have considered

Also, how the IRST software does react to the no SATA drive situation depends upon the scenario we present to the IRST software. I'll explain.

I was in a basically similar situation myself, using an M.2 SSD for the OS, with no other drives connected to the PC. During a Win 10 installation, using RAID mode (you ARE maintaining RAID mode in Storage Configuration, SATA Mode? You must set that yourself, always), I tried to install the IRST F6 driver. It failed. Same thing if you try to install the Windows IRST software without any SATA drives connected, the installation fails. Who ever saw that before? But how could we until we began using non-SATA M.2 SSDs.

Regarding nothing in Device Manager, the Intel RAID controller will ONLY be listed under Storage Controllers, well below the IDE ATA / ATAPI entry.

IMO, uninstalling the IRST software was a mistake, or at best not necessary. Or I should say changing the SATA mode just caused confusion. Your registry entries for IRST may be screwy now.

Fortunately, the Win 10 native Intel IRST driver installs by itself. That can be updated later with the Windows IRST software.

Why your SSDs did not appear in Win 10 is weird. If you deleted the RAID volume, my only idea is the SSDs died together for some reason. I doubt that happened, but you never know, I hope not!

Do this, get back into RAID mode in the UEFI/BIOS, if possible. You might need to use the ASRock tool again, but you MUST set RAID mode in the UEFI immediately after using the tool. If you can't get RAID mode to boot, you may have a Win 10 installation in your future...

Replace all cables to the SSDs. Look for the SSDs in the UEFI. You could do either a secure erase or a diskpart command "clean" on the UEFI. Install the Windows IRST software.

If the IRST software seems to not work, I don't know what else to tell you but to install Win 10 again. Set to RAID mode before you install it.