Vista will not recognize an existing RAID

[Larry]

I am running a dual boot system, XP and Vista. See below for system
components.

I have been using the Windows XP OS with two RAID 1 arrays with no problems.
The arrays were created using the BIOS, and XP was installed with the Intel
RAID drivers (via floppy during initial setup). For the two arrays to
accessed (read/write) I found I had to use XP's Disk Management utility and
convert the arrays to "Basic Disks". I was not worried about the warning of
loosing data on either array as they were blank, no data.

I recently installed Windows Vista, and found this OS will not recognize the
two existing RAID arrays. I can not see either arrays with "My Computer" nor
with "Windows Explorer". Therefore I can neither read nor write to these
RAID arrays.

Please note my system has 6 hard drives. One for XP. One for Vista. Two
hard drives for the first RAID 1 array. And two hard drives for the second
RAID 1 array. The two RAID volumes store data only. I do not want to loose
the data stored on these two RAID volumes.

Under the Vista environment, Intel's Matrix Storage Manager sees the two
arrays as functioning normally.

Conversely, Vista's Disk Management utility sees these two arrays as
"Dynamic" and as "Invalid". A right-click on the disk icon gives the option
"Convert to Basic Disk". This option says that to continue will destroy all
data on the disk. This is something I do not want to happen.

I'm stuck. Can Vista be made to recognize the existing RAID arrays without
loosing the data stored on these arrays?


Vistaâ„¢ Home Premium v6.0.6001 Service Pack 1 Build 6001
Motherboard: P5K Premium with Intel P35/ICH9R chipset
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E6850 CPU @ 3.00GHz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. version 0504, 12/10/2007
SMBIOS Version 2.4
RAM: 4.00 GB

Description: Disk drive (320Gb hard drive)
Manufacturer: Seagate
Name: SG320_S1
Usage: Windows XP OS

Description: Disk drive (320Gb hard drive)
Manufacturer: Seagate
Name: SG320_S2
Usage: Windows Vista OS

Description: RAID 1 volume (2 mirrored 500Gb hard drives)
Manufacturer: Western Digital
Name: WD500_01
Usage: data storage only

Description: RAID 1 volume (2 mirrored 500Gb hard drives)
Manufacturer: Seagate
Name: SG500_02
Usage: data storage only

Intel Matrix Storage Manager v7.8.0.1013

 

[PaulB]

I'm not sure of how to resolve this but one thing I have done with RAID 1
arrays in the past was to break the mirror (remove one disk) and then
experiment with the remaining disk. If all works, then install the other disk
and rebuild the array. If not then you still can rebuild the array with the
removed disk back to normal using the XP system. (Intel rebuilds from the
lowest drive number,i.e. from disk 0 to disk 1 so you have to move the good
disk to the lowest position).

 

[PaulB]

On thing more, you did install the RAID drivers on the VISTA system, correct?

 

[PaulB]

Hi Larry,
You are welcome. I use a RAID 1 array with an Intel ICH5R and after
installing the XP drivers (none avaliable for Vista) it was usable in Vista.
I also only use it for data and not the operating system. I multi boot XP as
well.