Alienware 17R3 PCIe SSD Raid 0

I installed two 500GB Samsung PM951 PCIe SSD's and configured them to run RAID 0 with IRST.

The Win 10 Pro OS is not installed on the RAID 0 configuration, but is running off of a separate SATA SSD.

BIOS is in RAID, otherwise this would not work.

Benchmark bellow:



My questions:

1.) Why is the write speed SO SLOW??? Should be at least Sequential Read: Up to 1050 MB/s / Sequential Write: Up to 560 MB/s.. Read speed is amazing (tripled), but write speed is less than half of the advertised speed on a none raid volume?! How can I fix this?

2.) Has anyone figured out a way to actually install the OS on the RAID 0 volume?! I have been trying to do this for the last 2 days, and every time I hit a wall. Don't even know if this is possible.


Called Alienware Tech support at least 5 times to ask them how to install the OS on a RAID 0 volume. Don't waste your time, they say this is not supported at all on the 17R3.

 

Software conflict? Do you have Intel Rapid and Samsung softwares both running at the same time? They could be conflicting?

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Thank-you, that was exactly what the problem was! Deleted Samsung software, rebooted, and got this:





Now for the ULTIMATE QUESTION: Does anyone know how to install the OS on the RAID 0 volume?? This seems to be the million dollar question. Currently the BIOS doesn't seem to make this possible.

 

Are the m.2's not being recognized during the windows installation? ie...the volume not showing up to be able to select it to install Windows on?

If so, you may need to allocate the m.2's first. Click on my signature where it says Samsung 950 Pro and it'll link you to my thread where it'll have instructions to allocate the drives so that they show up to be able to select them.



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I have read that thread MANY times lol hoping for the right clue.. The problem is the m.2's are never recognized during windows installation because the BIOS has to be in RAID. Cannot switch to AHCI because RAID won't work that way, and the only way windows installation sees the m.2's in RAID 0 is by leaving the BIOS in RAID & installing to a separate SSD. So I'm obligated to install to a regular SSD.

I am now attempting to clone the regular SSD to the m.2 RAID 0 config in hopes of getting this to work... Can't think of anything else. Will update on the progress soon.

 

OMG YESSSSSS!!! CLONING WORKED!!!

I used Macrium Reflect to clone the SSD the OS was on to the m.2 RAID 0 config. Perfect results!! Very lengthy process, but OMG so worth it! As far as I know this is the only way to get the OS installed on the RAID 0 config due to BIOS limitations. You have to leave BIOS in RAID.

It took a couple of days, but I am proud of figuring it all out on my own. Hope this helps some of you out!

If anyone else out there knows of an 'easier' way to install the OS on the m.2 RAID 0 please share it.

 

Have you tried downloading the RST F6 drivers from Intel and putting them on your Windows install USB stick? You should then get an opportunity to load them during the Windows install process, letting you see the RAID array.

I'm thinking of blowing away the factory OS install this weekend, so will give this method a try myself. I won't be using a RAID array, but will have the system set to RAID mode (which is how it came from the factory).

 

Yes, I have tried that MANY times. For some odd reason (unknown to me) whenever I tried to load the saved Intel drivers during the windows installation process, the drivers NEVER show up on the USB.. I removed the USB, tested on another machine to make certain the drivers are in fact saved on the USB and they are of course.. Windows Installation setup process does not detect the drivers when I attempt to open the folder the drivers are saved in, it is always empty. This drove me NUTS!!

 

This is what I am getting with the OS on RAID 0:


After cloning my RAID 0 config shrunk to half the size, but is getting RAID 0 performance so clearly it is working because the SSD I cloned the OS from is unplugged.

Any ideas as to why the RAID 0 drive shrunk so much??

 

Evidently after the cloning was done, the software cloned the drive for the exact same amount of space the drive being cloned had:


Hmmm, how do I just extend the unallocated space to be part of the main C: drive.?. Is that possible now?

 

UPDATE: I extended drive C: and expanded it to occupy unallocated space successfully, turning it all into just the one partition. I noticed that windows search function wasn't working properly, it was extremely glitchy so I re-installed the OS from scratch on the RAID 0 drive from within the desktop. This fixed everything, and now the machine runs perfect.

I hope someone out there finds an easier way to complete this installation; and if anyone does please keep us informed. This process is VERY time consuming to configure properly, but well worth it if you have the time and patience.

Cheers.

 

Double Post.

 

I think you just need to extend the partition (right click)

 

Yeah thanks, already did that, then had to re-install the OS again. Now everything is perfect.

Can't believe how complicated they made setting up and installing the OS on the RAID 0 volume. It's as if they did it intentionally.

 

iirc a rep said that it's a gaming machine, raid is not necessary

 

What a stupid answer he gave.. Many of us edit 4K video content regularly. RAID helps a ton.

 

can anyone confirm whether or not TRIM works on SSD RAID0's? If not, I dont see the value of doing it.

 

double post

 

The latest version of Intel's Rapid Storage Technology is supposed to support TRIM on SSD RAID-0 and RAID-1 arrays. The AW 17 R3 comes with this, so TRIM should work as expected.

 

Ok I confirm as well, RAID0 works with TRIM! Got 2 Samsung Pro 950s in RAID0 going

 

Maybe you don't remember but Dell skipped the whole raid functionality in first Aw models after the 2013/14 line. They started to use Aptio bios and denied raid. Good it's back for those who prefer Raid.

 

Oh I remember lol since I owned all of those machines.. It just pisses me off that they decide what our choice/options should be. Let the customer decide and for the love of God learn how to make a proper BIOS. We have to jump through so many hoops to get it working the way we like it.

 

Double post.

 

the aw18 or 17 didn't have raid?

 

Dell stopped Raid functionality first with their AW <Echo> models.

 

AW18 has RAID 0, the 17R2 does not. One of the main reasons I got a 17R3 is for the Raid 0 & Thunderbolt 3.