# Can I convert Raid back to SATA?



## potatan (Oct 7, 2004)

Hi folks,
Just bought a load of stuff, and had similar problems installing WinXP as detailed in this thread: http://www.techsupportforum.com/showthread.php?t=12704 

However, I managed to get it going by using the RAID Makedisk utility for both controllers, and pressing F6 when Windows is installing.

Now I have a couple of Raid arrays, both with just one disk in each. One has 160Gb in Raid 0+1, with one disk only, the other 80Gb disk is on the other Raid controller in the same config.

So, as I never actually wanted Raid, only high speed SATA, is it possible to convert it all back, without losing the data on the disks?

Many thanks in advance

Potatan

Antec Sonata
ASUS A8V Deluxe WiFi
Radeon X800 Pro
Athlon 64 3500+
2 x 512Mb Corsair matched 3200


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## ksteiger (Oct 3, 2004)

You can't possibly have a RAID array with one disk. A RAID array requires at least two disks.


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## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

Check in you bios to see if you have raid enabled, if so set it to NO, with one disk as stated before you shouldn't be running raid,

IDE Configuration screen in bios

Onboard IDE Operate Mode= Enhanced
Enhanced Mode Support On= S-ATA
Configure S-ATA as RAID= Yes ( This should be NO ) 
Serial ATA BOOTROM= Enabled ( this should dissapear )


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## clintfan (Sep 4, 2003)

Hi potatan, and welcome to the forum!




> I have a couple of Raid arrays, both with just one disk in each. One has 160Gb in Raid 0+1, with one disk only, the other 80Gb disk is on the other Raid controller in the same config.


I agreee with ksteiger, the "R" in "RAID" stands for "Redundant", and with only one drive, there's really no redundancy. So although a controller utility may let you set it up, you're not really getting what you think you are. BTW, "RAID0+1" requires 4 disk drives just for the array. Did you mean each controller looks _logically_ like one disk, but you really have 6 physical drives in your PC?




> IDE Configuration screen in bios:
> Onboard IDE Operate Mode= Enhanced
> Enhanced Mode Support On= S-ATA
> Configure S-ATA as RAID= Yes ( This should be NO )
> Serial ATA BOOTROM= Enabled ( this should dissapear )


Although this is correct for Intel ports on a P4P800-E, potatan has an A8V Deluxe. The BIOS screens there are a lot different, and it doesn't have this nice Intel screen or features.

This mobo offers RAID0 or 1 or JBOD on the VIA VT8237 Southbridge, plus ht usual RAID0 or 1 or 0+1 on the Promise PDC20378. There is no BIOS field to control RAID/non-RAID mode in the VIA except for the Advanced- Onboard Devices Configuration- OnChip SATA BOOTROM field, but the Promise has the Advanced- Onboard Devices Configuration- Operating Mode field. I think the Onchip field just controls whether or not you can run VIA RAID and get into the VIA RAID offline utility. But I don't know if you can still use those two VIA SATA ports in non-RAID mode, or even at all, if you Disable this field.




> as I never actually wanted Raid, only high speed SATA, is it possible to convert it all back, without losing the data on the disks?


Well that's the real question, isn't it? If indeed you have a single physical hard drive on each controller, not the 6 hard drives which would be required to actually do what you said you've set up, then my answer would be a resounding "maybe some of it". 

I have a hunch that none of your drives have _really_ been set up as RAID, and thus they might indeed be readable as non-RAID drives. That said, you might still have driver issues which could prevent success.

For the Promise, if you turn off RAID mode in BIOS you will need to install the Promise ATA driver instead of the FastTrak RAID driver you probably already installed. If the Promise is just a data drive, you might get lucky there, and be able to read the disk. You would need to try a precise sequence, namely:
1. boot Windows.
2. replace FastTrack driver with ATA driver in DeviceManager.
3. shut down and switch BIOS Operating Mode to "IDE Mode".
4. Reboot.

If your OS is on the VIA, I really don't know what to say there. I think there's only one set of VIA drivers for the SATA, and those are clearly RAID drivers. If you turn off the SATA BOOTROM in the BIOS, I really don't know what will happen, but my guess is you'll probably get a BlueScreenOfDeath (BSOD), as Windows tries to load the driver it loaded last time, for the controller of your boot device, which suddenly no longer identifies as a RAID controller.

I doubt you can uninstall the VIA RAID drivers, and I'm not sure the SATA ports would still work if you did. So I think to use those ports you're stuck with whatever the driver package provides. A reinstall of the OS might be a lot less painful actually.


In summary I think at a minimum you're looking at backing up any important data that you have, then giving it a try with the Promise. I think the Promise, since it actually _advertises_ support for non-RAID operation, might actually work. With the VIA, I have no idea... you'd just have to try disabling the SATA BOOTROM in BIOS and see what happens.

-clintfan


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## potatan (Oct 7, 2004)

*Thanks for all the advice*

Thanks for all the helpful advice.

I have 2 physical disks, one 80Gb which I have the OS installed on, and one 160Gb partitioned into two 80Gb drives for Data and Programs.

Each disk is on a different controller, one on the VIA and one on the Promise, leaving a spare connector on each Raid controller. My thinking for this was a slight performance gain as the <swap file and OS> and <programs and data> would both be on different controllers and spindles, reducing contention.

I never actually wanted anything configured as Raid, but thought I must have had to install the Raid controllers to do what I wanted to do.

The thing is, it's all working fine - I'm just wondering if I'm introducing some extra hardware / OS layers in disk access that I don't really need, and if I am, can I safely remove those "layers"?

I'll take some screen shots and post back in a bit.

Thanks
Potatan


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## potatan (Oct 7, 2004)

*Screenshots*

Well, I've taken a load of screenshots, perhaps these with my previous post will explain what is happeneing, and what I want to do.

pictures here: http://www.zerodanger.com/a8v

Thanks in advance
Potatan


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