How to disable RAID-0

I have paid for an AW M17X R3, and am awaiting delivery

Unfortunately since DELL AU will not give us end-users any chance of modifying/scrimping on the machines...i am stuck with paying for 2x750GB HDD in RAID 0 (amongst other useless stuff...McAfee/8GB RAms, a 19*10 display ...which i could've done without to decrease the cost of the RIG)

thing is i never used/ intend to use RAID, and as DELL goes...we can't disable RAID

so how does one disable RAID...and reinstall OS onto 01 HDD, and will the factory discs allow that?

qs as a sidenote...since i have been tacked to 32Bit for the longest time ever...all my relevant programs are...yup 32Bit.......is there a way to install a 32Bit OS along side a 64Bit as a redundancy/ backup

PS this is my first ever performance PC, i have been a Desktop man..hand-built 'em, but ever since i moved to Oz and been on the move i have been with a DV5, and now with the money saved .....wanted to give myself the gift of an AW...so all of this RAID stuff i don't get/don't care)

 

1. Reinstall OS: The AW disc is nothing else but a bog-standard Windows 7 Setup CD that can only be installed on AW machines. It does not do some fancy restore to factory conditions. The applications disc is similar in that it just contains all the programs that were pre-installed on the laptop.

You just need to turn off RAID in the BIOS (simple either AHCI or RAID, switch to AHCI operation mode and deactivate the RAID) and set the boot HDD to whatever one you wish to install Win 7 onto.

Then you just put the AW operating system disc in and install it just like you would on any pc system. I gather you know how thats done?

2. 64 bit vs 32 bit: a common misconception about 64 bit operating systems in 2011 are that 32 bit software does not run or does not run smoothly on 64 bit systems. This is WRONG. Windows 7 64 bit is perfectly capable of running all 32 bit software. AND running it JUST as fast as on a 32 bit system. You will not encounter ANY compatibility issues (thats what the compatibility mode in win 7 is for, it also has an XP emulator in case you REALLY don't want to let go of xp...) with your progs. I myself run Win 7 64 bit and almost exclusively use 32 bit progs (ie games and also 32 bit photoshop, office 32 bit premiere 32 bit etc. actually). Not once did I encounter slowdowns, incompatibilities etc.

You will not notice the difference basically so DON'T do a senseless dual boot. The only meaningfull dual boots should be between windows and linux/unix/other weird and rare OPs, not 64/32bit.

Also consider this: None of the Alienware control software and pretty much all the drivers for your M17x are written for native 64bit windows. a 32bit OP would run into driver issues as these will NOT work on your 32bit windows. I did manage to install 32bit Win 7 once, but it took me a long time to cobble together all the drivers from like 10 different websites!

 

Well I think its doable without purchasing additional software:

1.Create complete restore images to USB or DVDs using AlienRespawn
2. Then restart the computer and hit control + I to access the raid controller configuration and destroy the array. You can rebuild the volumes there from that same interface as seperate disks.
3. Use your AlienRespawn discs to restore the factory image.

DO NOT change the disk operating mode in the BIOS. Windows will BSOD otherwise. Your system will work fine with the BIOS set to RAID even though you don't actually have the disks in an array anymore; this is fine because Intel RST prefers this mode of operation. AHCI will give you no advantage because of the way the storage controller operates; RAID and AHCI are identical in performance on this controller. Intel RST even has TRIM support for raid SSDs that are not part of an array.

I know there's much discontent with Dell defaulting the BIOS to RAID instead of AHCI, but really there's no real tangible advantage to switching to AHCI mode even if you have a single disk on this particular storage controller. The reason why Dell ships the computers in RAID even if it is only equipped with a single drive is to maximize the compatibility with future upgrades using the Intel RST

Consider this upgrade scenario: You purchase your system with a single drive from Dell, its configured in RAID even though it has a single disk. Later on you want to upgrade to RAID0. Simply add an identical drive and run the Intel RST wizard from within Windows to upgrade to RAID0 without data loss or reboot. Open diskmgmt.msc and extend the newly RAIDed volume. Pretty awesome, foolproof RAID upgrade.

SSDs that are not part of an array still get TRIM. Many hardware enthusiasts and even Dell technicians are unaware that Intel RST prefers this and that its actually designed to make future upgrades ridiculously easy. There was no stupidity involved in shipping all R3s in RAID mode.

TL DR: Leave your drive operating mode in the BIOS as RAID even if your disks are not in an array. The R3's storage controller doesn't live in the world where AHCI is the preferred configuration for non-array drives.

 

Hey Shadow or anybody else,
Your upgrade scenario to add a disk for RAID makes sense.
But.....what if I wanted to add a second hard drive and NOT have RAID? Are there any steps, or would it just be plug and play?

 

Just plug and play. Intel RST prefers this. Don't fuss with drive operating mode. Its in RAID for your future convenience with absolutely no performance issues for drives that are not part of an array.

 

Haven't but skimmed through the thread - As the others say to physically stop the RAID delete the array and just leave SATA to RAID and it'll work fine.

Scottie - Your HDD (assuming you don't want to install windows on it) will be plug and play without issues. If you want to install windows you're obviously going to have to do that.

 

Yeah that's a good point I forgot to mention; you may need RAID drivers during Window's install if you're going with a clean install.

 

so guys...the R3..is here...yaaaay....

now ... i deleted the RAID in the CTRL+I, but now when i try to restore from the RESPAWN disc it just says that i need 1.3 GB of space (meaning it likes them in RAID) so how do i go about it..

Steps in how i deleted the RAID
A04 bios (in RAID Mode)
CTRL+I initially and then went into to delete RAID partitions
deleted and drives showing up as independents..in BIOS.....master HDD selected as boot up HDD

but i cannot restore the backup from the DISCs/ recovery partition

 

guys please help... ihave this laptop in front of me and can't do jack with it....cuz RAID's gone....the RESPAWN discs will not recover the OS as they need to go onto RAID.....please tell me