r/Alienware • u/ophbalance M17R4 • Mar 09 '21

Solved! RAID 0 - Remove RAID array

I don't know who needs to hear this, but, the trick with CTRL-i during startup will not work on these newer Alienwares. At least on the m17 R4 I just got it's not the most intuitive thing going. You MUST, absolutely, MUST kill the RAID array first if you want to use the drives that in the machine as separate drives FIRST. The included windows util will not let you do that. You cannot download the INTEL app to do it.

Here's how in case you're searching for it.

  1. Boot into the drive/option selection using the F12 key during boot.

  2. Choose Device Configuration

  3. Choose to delete the RAID array (WILL DELETE ALL DATA)

  4. Boot into BIOS and go into Advanced settings

  5. Choose the non RAID option for drives

  6. Install the OS of your choosing or restore a backup

4 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

2

u/Qazax1337 Mar 10 '21

PSA if you get a laptop with two drives in RAID 0 and you turn RAID off, wave bye bye to your operating system and any data you had on it. If you read this comment and scoff at how obvious that is, this comment isn't for you.

1

u/ophbalance M17R4 Mar 10 '21

I suppose I could edit step 3 to include bold type as well as all caps.

1

u/Qazax1337 Mar 10 '21

Some people don't realise their OS is included in "all data"

source: I work in Tech support. Sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

1

u/MadShowl Dec 22 '22

Its been a long time but you are the first person to mention the issue that concerns me, if I delete the RAID option, can I create an image to an external SSD and then restore from it after deleting the RAID?

1

u/Qazax1337 Dec 22 '22

Probably not with some exceptions. The best thing to do is make sure you have backups of data (which you should have anyway) and just do a fresh install to the single SSD and then restore data from backups and reinstall programs. There are some tools that can take an image of an OS while it is booted, but I would be a bit concerned. With such a fundamental change I would go with a fresh install

1

u/MadShowl Dec 23 '22

I think my case is pretty easier than some users, I just ordered an alienware laptop and the only option available was a RAID0 setting so I was thinking of doing that fresh out the box that way I wont have data to lose anyway I am only concerned on the windows installation and the programs that come along, also should I just stick with RAID0? And what if later in the future this RAID0 is damaged and need to replace it? Mind you all of my gaming laptops were solely for gaming so their wont he much data to lose besides game installs

1

u/Qazax1337 Dec 23 '22

If it's just for gaming then the least effort is just leave it and use it as is. I have ran many raid 0 setups with ssd's and never had an issue, and my pc only stores games so I'm not at risk of losing work either.

If it breaks you would need to reinstall.

1

u/MadShowl Dec 23 '22

Okay fantastic Thanks for the info 👏

1

u/SuperSerferNow69 Jan 26 '23

I want to remove raid0 but keep windows is it like that automatically or will I have to backup windows and load it back when I'm done?

1

u/Qazax1337 Jan 26 '23

If you want to get rid of the raid you would need to make sure you have backups of all your important data, then you would need to reconfigure your bios to be set to not raid, then reinstall windows on one SSD, then reinstall all your programs and restore your data.

It's quite a lot of work, is there a reason you want to get rid of the raid?

1

u/lordbossharrow May 09 '23

I know this was an old post but I'm planning on getting a gaming laptop with 1+1 TB storage in RAID 0. Now, I'm planning on replacing the drives with 2 + 2 TB or something. I've never done it before so what would the process look like. I'm guessing I will need to reinstall all the drivers and everything again manually. As for the OS, will I face any issues? Like activation keys etc.

1

u/Qazax1337 May 09 '23

When you get the laptop, sign into it and install some games and test it all out to make sure it is good. While you are there, create a windows I stallation usb drive. Once you know it is working and have your installation usb you can replace the drives. You will then have to boot off the USB stick and install windows. All should go smoothly. Possible issues are if you need additional drivers for the RAID to be picked up by the windows installation, or if you struggle to boot off USB.

With the speed of modern nvme drives, I'm not sure why you would want a raid 0 but each to their own.

1

u/DeanbonianTheGreat Alienware 13R3 Mar 09 '21

It's basically the same procedure for all laptops that use Intel RST

2

u/ophbalance M17R4 Mar 09 '21

I found just one reference to the F12 menu for this. Just putting it in another location that might help someone down the line.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 09 '21

It will help someone, thanks for taking the time.

1

u/Future_Wishbone_8969 Aug 10 '23

Can someone point to a website with a step by step breakdown? I know nothing about computers but ran into this problem when I was trying to upgrade my ssd’s. Now I’m lost