SSD's not working for installing OS - Help!

[Deleted]

Hi,

I have just brought a new Motherboard and CPU and my SSD's use to have the OS installed on them in a RAID format. I then loaded up the new computer but it said the OS was missing. Because of this RAID setup I thought that must have been the reason as the SSD's RAID configuration was handled by my old motherboard which was replaced. So I tried to reinstall Windows 8.1 on an SSD but the Windows 8.1 installer could only detect 1 of the SSD's even though my computers BIOS says that they both were loaded correctly, and the other SSD says an error message as shown in the screen shot:



Does anyone know what this might be and/or how to fix it? Thanks for reading.

[Deleted]

So whats the capacity of each of your ssd's? Did you check on new mobo if they are setup as raid?

[Kujako]

Any chance you have the two SSD's setup as a RAID-1 in the motherboard BIOS?

[Tradewind]

Did you reinitialize the raid array on the new motherboard? Is it using the same raid controller?

and the obvious, why use SSD's in RAID anyway? There is pretty much zero advantage.

[Drutt]

I'm guessing you might have configured as RAID 1.

[Deleted]

So whats the capacity of each of your ssd's? Did you check on new mobo if they are setup as raid?

They are 256GB each and no they are not in RAID on the new motherboard and still when they were on the older board I could still install an OS on them.

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Did you reinitialize the raid array on the new motherboard? Is it using the same raid controller?

and the obvious, why use SSD's in RAID anyway? There is pretty much zero advantage.

Exactly but when they were in the old PC setup they were. I just got a new board and so did not think they were in RAID any more as it was a new board and it showed up funny as if they were separated except only 1 drive was being registered in the Windows 8.1 setup menu as shown on the screen shot.

They are 256 each and together if they were in the RAID still it would have shown on that screen shot that the free memory was 512GB. I did a fresh format and deleted the partition and created a new one with max memory only letting me go to 256 so it was definitely only seeing one and still got the error..

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I do not want them in the RAID any more like they were in the older setup and did NOT configure them into a RAID setup on the new board.

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I could not find in the BIOS the RAID settings for the "asus sabertooth z97 mark 1 motherboard" and the instructions are out dated and misguiding :/

[Tradewind]

You could always go ahead and install Windows and then go into the Disk Management MMC and see if it shows up in there. If you're not worried about the RAID aspect anymore, then there's nothing stopping you as of yet from moving forward at least to that point. Then its just a matter of diagnosing why windows is or isn't detecting the second ssd.

[Deleted]

You could always go ahead and install Windows and then go into the Disk Management MMC and see if it shows up in there. If you're not worried about the RAID aspect anymore, then there's nothing stopping you as of yet from moving forward at least to that point. Then its just a matter of diagnosing why windows is or isn't detecting the second ssd.

I cannot just install Windows 8 on the one that was detected because it shows an error even when I reformat it:
"we couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one." as it shows on the screen shot which is why I cannot use my computer at the moment and I do not want to install the OS on any other driver shown on the screen shot as I do not want to loose any data on them. I also only want to use the SSD to have the OS on.

[torment3d]

I cannot just install Windows 8 on the one that was detected because it shows an error even when I reformat it:
"we couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one." as it shows on the screen shot which is why I cannot use my computer at the moment and I do not want to install the OS on any other driver shown on the screen shot as I do not want to loose any data on them. I also only want to use the SSD to have the OS on.

You don't HAVE to format a drive to install an OS, so if you wanted to get the computer working in the mean time just select one of your other drives and install the OS without first clicking "Format". As for your problem, I couldn't really give you any clues unless I was troubleshooting it myself but you should run through some simple steps yourself, just search tomshardware.com or something and I'm sure you'll find a comprehensive guide.

[Deleted]

They are 256GB each and no they are not in RAID on the new motherboard and still when they were on the older board I could still install an OS on them.


I do not want them in the RAID any more like they were in the older setup and did NOT configure them into a RAID setup on the new board.

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I could not find in the BIOS the RAID settings for the "asus sabertooth z97 mark 1 motherboard" and the instructions are out dated and misguiding :/

There you are - both SSDs remember they're part of a RAID1, but you're new Board doesn't so the info which Windows8 installer is getting from your BIOS is only one SSD (shown on your Screenshot) and this(the SDD) says "No, you're not allowed to install anything on me cause I'm part of a RAID1"


Refering to the Manual (sorry I'm not allowed to post Hyperlinks in lack of postings...): Page 3-55 you've to reconfigure both SSDs to RAID1 again and then you should be able to install Windows on it.

Or deactivate the RAID1 and install your OS on one of them.

[Deleted]

There you are - both SSDs remember they're part of a RAID1, but you're new Board doesn't so the info which Windows8 installer is getting from your BIOS is only one SSD (shown on your Screenshot) and this(the SDD) says "No, you're not allowed to install anything on me cause I'm part of a RAID1"


Refering to the Manual (sorry I'm not allowed to post Hyperlinks in lack of postings...): Page 3-55 you've to reconfigure both SSDs to RAID1 again and then you should be able to install Windows on it.

Or deactivate the RAID1 and install your OS on one of them.

Thank you, I will try that now! I just cannot seem to find the option as the guide book says go to the "SATA Configuration" page in the Advanced page in the BIOS but that no longer exists. I will do some investigating

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Thank you guys, that was the problem. It as on RAID even though the BIOS said RAID was not enabled because it was a new board which did not know what the old board had done. That was confusing

[skitszo]

do you need raid? raid is just for reduncy for back ups?....isn't that more a business and server set up? I never use raid for personal computing. and once its configured raid man is it a pain....

but if your trying to install a new install only hook up one hard drive; check BIOS settings and configure the raid out. then delete partitions at the install screen till everything is unallocated.

I've read some situations that you need to install a Bios or driver update for the hard drive but thats not to often.

[Deleted]

Thank you guys, that was the problem. It as on RAID even though the BIOS said RAID was not enabled because it was a new board which did not know what the old board had done. That was confusing

You're welcome. The "tricky" part is, that HDDs configured as RAID still remember that no matter if they're used on a new Board or not.