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Problem Installing RAID0. Please Help!

1451 Views 10 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  the_beast, 
T
Motherboard: Foxconn a7da-s - Latest BIOS
RAID Controller: Onboard
HardDrives: 3 x 750 GB Western Digital Black
Operating System: Windows 7 and I tried Vista

Yesterday I tried to setup a RAID0 with all three drives but I kept getting the same error when I tried to install windows: "Windows could not prepare your computer to boot into the next phase of installation." So I thought that was because one of my hard drives had an operating system on it previously. I deleted the RAID0, removed the suspected drive, and setup the two new drives in a RAID0 without the older drive. I was able to install windows without a hitch. So today, I deleted the RAID0 then used the WD drive utility to write zeros to all 3 drives it took approximately 2 hours per drive. Then I checked each drive, none of the reported any errors.

So I thought great, no problems. I setup the RAID0 back with all 3 drives, installed windows, it copied everything, and at the exact same spot which is after everything is done and it is going to reboot it says "Windows could not prepare your computer to boot into the next phase of installation."

By now I am pulling my hair out. So just now I installed the original suspect drive, and one of the drives that installed fine into a RAID0. They installed Windows just fine as well. So it appears that there is some problem with having three drives in a RAID0.

Please help....I am so very tired..... please.....
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I
When you create a RAID 0, it destroys all info the disks, regardless of it having a OS on or not.

I suspect you have one complete partition (ie. all 3 drives) and what windows is saying, that the total size of the array < 2TB, is not bootable.

Try to make a smaller partition in the RAID, instead of use all the drive, only select say 100GB, then install Windows.

This will fix the issue you are having. It's not the fault of the drives, it's the size of the total partition size.
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billbartuska
Quote:

Originally Posted by TH421 View Post
Motherboard:...I deleted the RAID0 then used the WD drive utility to write zeros to all 3 drives

LOL...That did nothing but fill he drives with unreadable data.

Your issue is boot sector(s), and writing data to the drive doesn't do anything to a boot sector.

I've run into this problem many times when setting up raid on drives that previously had an OS installed. What I do now is to use XP's Recovery Console to run fixboot and fixmbr, and then format the disks (NTFS). Then setup the array and install the OS. A few times I've had to go all the way back to FDisking the HDDs, then formatting.

Vista and Win7 don't have a Recovery Console function, and though I have never done it, I would assume that their "Start Up Recovery" provides the same functionality.

Wait, I found this article that look like it's what you need.

You can use the Bootrec.exetool in the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) to troubleshoot and repair the following items in Windows Vista:

* A master boot record (MBR)
* A boot sector
* A Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store

Note When you are troubleshooting startup issues by using the Windows RE, you should first try the Startup Repair option in the System Recovery Options dialog box. If the Startup Repair option does not resolve the issue, or if you must troubleshoot more steps manually, use the Bootrec.exe tool.
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T
IdPlease, thank you very much. I made a 50GB partition and I was able to install on the 50GBs. I cannot see my remaining 2TB though. Although this is much better than having no OS. I cannot thank you enough.
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I
Quote:

Originally Posted by TH421 View Post
IdPlease, thank you very much. I made a 50GB partition and I was able to install on the 50GBs. I cannot see my remaining 2TB though. Although this is much better than having no OS. I cannot thank you enough.
Your welcome.

You can make a second RAID on the remaining of the drive(s). Just enter the RAID BIOS as before, and then select Create Raid. Select the drives, and then you can make it as big or as little as you like.

Once done, reboot into windows then goto admin tools/computer management and select the partition to format. A quick format is adequate rather than waiting a long while for it to do a full format.

Glad you got it sorted, nothing worse than trying to install your OS and your not sure as to why it not work.
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T
2
Excellent! Here are the results!
LL
LL
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I
You have a nice seek time there, and good drive throughput.

Beats my seek... Off to do some tweaking .. lol
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T
Quote:

Originally Posted by IdPlease View Post
You have a nice seek time there, and good drive throughput.

Beats my seek... Off to do some tweaking .. lol
He has a lot more platters than you (9 vs your 4), so the actual number of tracks he is using is much lower, giving lower access time.
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I
Yeah, I know he running 3 disks compared to my 2. Impressive tho, non the less .. for mechanical drives.
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T
Thanks again. I was pleasantly surprised by the access time, but I thought there would be more throughput on the average.
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T
Your controller is letting you down there. Go Intel, with an ICH10R onboard, and you will see faster and more consistant speeds.

What are your current array settings though? There may be a few little tweaks you can make (don't worry - replacing your cpu & mainboard is not a must-do upgrade...
).
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