raid controller questrion

[ThePiston]

I have a 4-port SATA raid controller I just bought. It says on the box that I should be able to use it with a raid and non-raid HD on same controller but I can't get it to do so. I've created a Raid1 array with 2 identical HDs and then connected my main Windows drive alone to one of the 2 remaining ports but it won't boot to the Windows drive.

 

[BenchZowner]

If by saying "but it won't boot to the windows drive" you mean that windows do not get past the loading screen ( possibly a Blue Screen occuring during loading ) it's because your windows installation is using the original SATA Controller drivers ( if you just moved your HDD from another SATA Controller without re-installing windows ).

If you're saying that you cannot find how to select the HDD ( containing your Windows installation ) as the primary boot device, then please give us more info.
Which SATA RAID Controller are you talking 'bout ?

 

[ThePiston]

The raid controller will not recognize the drive at all so it won't boot... it says there is no suitable boot drive. I'm pretty sure I have to signify the boot drive as a "pass-through" or "JBOD"device which means it is not raided but doing so will erase all the data on the drive so the instructions tell me. So, it doesn't look like I can simply attach an old non-raid drive ot this controller without losing all the data on it... that's what you get when you pay $19.99.

 

[BenchZowner]

Setting the SATA-RAID Controller for JBOD mode whilst having a HDD connected shouldn't result in data loss ( unless that's a really crappy-cheap'o card with stupid BIOS ).
Isn't the controller allowing you to set the card to JBOD mode without having any HDDs connected ?

 

[ThePiston]

It's a Silicon Image BIOS - you can select either BIOS or normal BIOS. The Raid BIOS instructions say that the only way to get a drive to not be raid is to designate it 'JBOD' or 'pass-thru' and the data will be erased.