Updating the mainboard for a RAID 1 setup
Updating the mainboard for a RAID 1 setup
The setup was originally done with built-in raid controls on the MSI B450I using two Seagate FireCuda 2TB drives. These drives weren’t bootable, just storage. The motherboard failed, so I had to replace it. Since MSI B450I is no longer in stock, I couldn’t recreate it exactly. I bought an ASRock B550 and now need a straightforward way to save the raid data without configuring it again.
Consider the RAID configuration on both your old and new boards. You might attempt to configure the SATA ports for RAID and check if the board recognizes the RAID data. If it doesn’t, you’ll likely have two disks that are duplicated. Since RAID 1 uses mirroring, this setup is common.
It should work without issues. Just enter your BIOS and switch the SATA setup from AHCI to RAID. If everything functions properly, you’ll notice the motherboard’s RAID controller details appear shortly after POST, showing the two drives in RAID 1. If it encounters an error or labels the array as 'not clean,' then according to @Robchil, your data is likely intact—your drives are just clones, though the exact method isn’t clear. It should be straightforward once you’re there.
Thank you for your clarification. Based on what you've shared, it seems you should configure your motherboard's BIOS for RAID before connecting the drives. RAID setup typically needs to be done during installation rather than after installing the drives. You'll also need to ensure the drives are properly connected and that the correct drivers are installed. Regarding the downloads, it’s likely the ASRock site has organized them into separate files, so gathering all three should work if you follow the instructions carefully. For a step-by-step guide, look for tutorials on configuring RAID on an ASRock B550, such as those found on trusted tech forums or official support pages. If you decide to skip RAID and just copy data afterward, that’s a simpler approach but may not preserve all settings. Be cautious with formatting the old drives if you’re unsure about the process.
You'll need chipset drivers and Raidexpert for AMD. The RAID feature should appear in the BIOS even without installed drivers, but you must install the chipset drivers first. Then use Raidexpert in Windows to manage it. If you connect the drives using standard SATA ports in the BIOS, they should both show up as clones. I recommend connecting only one drive to access its data. Although I haven't tried this on an AMD system, this setup worked for my RAID 1 backup/recovery. We used a boot drive with RAID 1 and replaced a drive after changes; if it failed, we swapped drives and added a new disk, letting it recover.