Intel RST upgading to SSD's

[RDLouks]

I have a Dell Studio XPS 9100 running a RAID 1 Array, Intel RST, and 2 1Tb Hard Drives. I have not had any failures but one of the drives is beginning to make some noise, I would like to upgrade the current Hard Drive(s) with SSD's. What would the best way to do this without loosing my Data or programs.

[Sebastian_M_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hello RDLouks, 

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.   

Just to confirm, you have a RAID1 array made of 2 HDDs of 1TB each, and you would like to change the HDDs of this RAID1 for SSDs, is that correct? If that is the case, please follow these recommendations: 

1. The RAID 1 has redundancy so you will not lose any information, however; you can try to back up everything just in case something goes wrong. 

2. You will need to access Intel® RST ROM Interface by pressing Ctrl+I while the system is posting. Inside the ROM, set one of the drives to non-RAID (I will recommend starting from the one that is making noises). 

3. Then, replace the HDD with the new SSD drive, this will set the RAID to "degraded" mode.  

4. After that, you will need to go inside Windows, and use the Intel® RST user interface to rebuild the RAID from the new SSD using the following steps: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005775/technologies.html 

• Turn on the system. 
• Click Start. 
• Click All Programs. 
• Click Intel. 
• Click Intel® Rapid Storage Technology. 
• Click Rebuild to another disk. 
• Select the replacement hard drive and click Rebuild. 

Then, you will need to repeat the above steps for the remaining HDD if you would like to replace it as well.  

Regards, 

Sebastian M  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[RDLouks]

Thanks for the quick reply. I have ordered the drives, and will give it try as soon as they arrive. Will let you know how it goes.

[_Adam]

Hi Sebastian!

Sorry, I know this is an old thread.  But, I'm wondering if you can expand on #2 in the instructions -- specifically, how to "set one of the drives to non-raid". 

I can see a "Reset disks to non-RAID" option.  Will selecting it provide another option to specify one drive, or does that basically break/delete the array?

Also, the link to the steps now goes to a generic marketing page.  Is there an updated url?

Thanks!

[AlHill]

@_Adam   Start a new thread for your self, fully explaining your problem.

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Maybe Windows 12 will be better]

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello RDLouks,  

Thanks for the reply. 

We will be looking forward to hearing back from you, please feel free to give us any estimated time so we can follow-up with you on this matter. 

Regards,  

Sebastian M  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[RDLouks]

Thanks for all the help. Just a quick follow up, replacing the mechanical drives with the new Crucial SSD's went flawlessly. It took about 3 1/2 hours to rebuild the first SSD from the mechanical drive and less than 2 1/2 hours to rebuild the array from one SSD to the other. While I did not time it the boot process is much faster now now and programs load an run much faster. 

Again, thanks for the assistance. 

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello RDLouks,   

Thanks for the update. 

I am glad to hear that you were able to replace the drives. Based on that, we will proceed to close this inquiry. 

If you need further assistance or if you have any additional questions, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored.  

Regards,   

Sebastian M   

Intel Customer Support Technician