SATA RAID1 on PCI RAID Controller

[ncotton]

I have a standard pre-installed Win XP desktop, I have added an adaptec PCI raid controller.

I installed the raid controller drivers on the windows disc whilst on the SATA bus (not through the raid card)

I then connected both the new and the pre-installed discs to the raid controllers' 2 channels. I built the raid array and set it to mirror based on the pre-installed disc as the source.

When the machine boots, the newly created array is detected and shown on the boot info, but about 2 seconds after the windows loading logo comes up, the system reboots.

If I take the original disc of the raid controller, and attach it straight to the MoBo SATA controller, then windows boots fine, and the raided drive shows up as an extra drive in Windows Explorer.

Can anyone help?

Hope this Helps.

Neil J Cotton
njc Information Systems
Systems Consultant

 

[wahnula]

I installed the raid controller drivers on the windows disc whilst on the SATA bus (not through the raid card)

As I understand this, you are trying to create a RAID 1 array by taking the current OS disk, connecting it to the adapter card along w/ another drive, and trying to create a RAID 1 array. While this may be possible with a data array, it is not likely w/ a bootable array. This is how I would do it and have done it in the past. If I misinterpreted the problem please let me know.

Image (clone) your existing OS HDD to anther HDD that will not be a member of the array. I like Ghost 2003 but Acronis is good too. Boot to the cloned drive, and see if the PC boots with it, check all functionality. If good, remove the drive and set aside. Install the two drives for he SATA array. In RAID BIOS, create a RAID 1 volume, this will format both disks. Install the stashed clone drive and set as boot drive. In Disk Management, initialize the array, then clone the single drive to the newly-created array.

Tony