MSI Gaming M5 - M.2 as boot with RAID0 for storage?

[jnick]

I previously had a Intel RST Raid1 array setup for my storage drives. A simple 1TB mirror. Tonight, after making sure the system was stable and the M.2 is performing as it should, I attempted to get my array setup again. I simply connected the two SATA drives and enabled RAID instead of AHCI.

The minute I did this, the array was visible and appeared to pick up right where it left off. However, at that point, I can no longer boot off of the M.2 drive. As a matter of a fact, the BIOS won't even see it. The minute I change everything back to AHCI, the M.2 comes back, but of course, my RAID array is non-existent.

Is there a secret combination of settings the enable the M.2 as a single boot drive and then the two SATA drives as RAID storage?

For what it's worth, I'm using M.2 slot 2, which is at the bottom of the board.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[rastaban]

Is there a secret combination of settings the enable the M.2 as a single boot drive and then the two SATA drives as RAID storage?

For what it's worth, I'm using M.2 slot 2, which is at the bottom of the board.

My guess is that you have run into a conflict of SATA lane allotment. Once AHCI is enabled for your M.2 SSD, it takes a SATA port away from one of the RAID1 drives so the array drops out. This is a typical implementation of M.2 SATA because they are all sharing PCIe lanes through the chipset (you can look up chipset Flex-IO for details). Your manual on page 34 lists combinations of which ports are allowed to be used in combination with M.2.

 

[jnick]

Figured it out! Found the solution by following the steps someone else used in Windows 10 to change from IDE to AHCI. The same worked for AHCI -> RAID. I'm not sure if I can link to that forum, so I'll just post the method from the author "toobad":

1. Run Command Prompt as Admin
2. Invoke a Safe Mode boot with the command: bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal
3. Restart the PC and enter your BIOS during bootup.
4. Change from IDE to AHCI mode then Save & Exit.
5. Windows 10 will launch in Safe Mode.
6. Right click the Window icon and select to run the Command Prompt in Admin mode from among the various options.
7. Cancel Safe Mode booting with the command: bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot
8. Restart your PC once more and this time it will boot up normally but with AHCI mode activated.
9. Bask in the reflected glory of being a total Windows 10 God