Removing Raid O designation and installing a New SSD

[ray47]

I currently have a Dell Studio 7100 AMD 1090T with two 750 gb Baracudas in a Raid 0 configuration. My MOB is sata 2 only. I wish to undo the Raid and make them individual drives. I am adding a sata 3 card along with a new Samsung 830 256 gb ssd drive configured as the start up drive and working drive with the two other drives as storage drives.

Have never undone Raid 0 drives before. Any suggestions on how to proceed.

Thanks for all of your help!

 

[essenbe]

First back up all data on your raid configuration. When you break the raid you will lose all data. Break the raid from the same set up screen where you set it up. There should be an option to delete the array. Change the Sata configuration from Raid to AHCI. Then you will have 2 seperate drives. I would wipe them. Connect the Samsung to your machine, disconnect all other hard drives and reinstall Windows. After the installation is complete, re connect the 2 Seagate drives, and they will be independant drives. restore your data you backed up.

 

[ray47]

Thank you for your response. One other question, how does the Sata 3 card fit in? The new SSD will be plugged into the Sata 3 card and the other two will plug into the motherboard. Do you think that there will be any problem with labeling drives or other issues?

Again thanks for your help !!!!

 

[essenbe]

It depends on what type card it is. Most, I think, are pcie X 1 cards which means they fit into an X 1 pcie slot, but usually they can be installed in any pcie port. Turn off and unplug the computer, hold the start button down for 30 seconds. Just find the right pcie slot and remove the screw for the expansion slot in the back of the computer. Plug the card in and the backplate should line up with the expansion slot you just removed, the same as a graphics card. Screw the backplate down with the same screw that was in the expansion slot you removed. I wouldn't connect any hard drives to it. Plug the computer back in and restart. You should get a 'new hardware found' notice. Install the correct driver for your card. Shut down and connect the hard drive, restart and go to disk management to see if it is recognized. If you need help identifying the slot types, look at the card pins on the bottom and line them up with one that will fit. Maybe this will help.