Why Windows needs RAID driver?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nime
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Nime

While in DOS level all drives are visible/accesable why Windows cannot
use RAID disks and asks for necessary drivers? Especially during
Windows installation.


If I format a RAID partition as FAT I may install DOS : ) What's wrong with
Win?
 
While in DOS level all drives are visible/accesable why Windows cannot
use RAID disks and asks for necessary drivers? Especially during Windows
installation.


If I format a RAID partition as FAT I may install DOS : ) What's wrong
with Win?
Click to expand...

The RAID chipset (and the BIOS firmware that supports is) offers one of
the four operation modes.

1 - RAID
1a - AHCI (for SATA) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahci
2 - ATA / Native IDE / Legacy IDE / Compatibility
3 - Automatic (RAID/AHCI or ATA?)

The first modes 1/1a utilizes the RAID chipset and its performance and
security features, but needs windows drivers.

The others will work OK without drivers or the above benefits by
emulating the command interface of ATA.
 
I wonder why Windows cannot use generic RAID driver if it's necessary
like video card. Then it may update the specific driver. Imagine that a mouse
recognized in DOS but not in Windows. Isn't it silly?
 
Nime said:
While in DOS level all drives are visible/accesable why Windows
cannot use RAID disks and asks for necessary drivers?
Especially during Windows installation.
If I format a RAID partition as FAT I may install DOS : ) What's wrong
with Win?
Click to expand...

It does ask for drivers during installation (Press F6 if you need to install
a third party SCSI or RAID driver):
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/installxpnew1_3.htm

What's wrong with watching and following directions when you install? :-)

I have not - as of yet - had any major issues installing Windows (2000, XP,
Vista, 7, 2003, 2008, etc) on various RAID setups. I wouldn't expect (or
want) some generic driver that *might* work with somehting as complicated as
the Windows operating system anyway - I would prefer (in all cases) to have
the latest and best driver the actual manufacturer (*and supporter) of the
product in question had.
 
Good question, let me explain:

If you install Windows on SATA, later you cannot turn to RAID (single disk)
or vice versa. On Intel's site:

----------------
If your RAID controller is not enabled, enabling the RAID controller is not recommended or supported when a SATA hard drive is the
boot drive. Enabling the RAID controller may cause an immediate blue screen with an 0x0000007b error code, followed by a reboot. If
you wish to enable it, you will need to reinstall the operating system.
----------------


I can see if at first SATA enabled then turn to RAID, Windows cannot recognize the disks then BSOD occurs.
But why I cannot turn a single disk from RAID to SATA? Strange, the disk is accessable and Windows boots,
starts, it's logo waves, then unexpectedly reboots.
 
Raid & Sata are two entirely unconnected items of hardware
Not all raid controlers support single disk (jbod)
Raid does not require sata, or vice versa
It depends on the raid controler as to how you configure a sys.

Nime said:
Good question, let me explain:

If you install Windows on SATA, later you cannot turn to RAID (single
disk)
or vice versa. On Intel's site:

----------------
If your RAID controller is not enabled, enabling the RAID controller is
not recommended or supported when a SATA hard drive is the boot drive.
Enabling the RAID controller may cause an immediate blue screen with an
0x0000007b error code, followed by a reboot. If you wish to enable it, you
will need to reinstall the operating system.
----------------


I can see if at first SATA enabled then turn to RAID, Windows cannot
recognize the disks then BSOD occurs.
But why I cannot turn a single disk from RAID to SATA? Strange, the disk
is accessable and Windows boots,
starts, it's logo waves, then unexpectedly reboots.
Click to expand...
 
Nime said:
Good question, let me explain:

If you install Windows on SATA, later you cannot turn to RAID (single
disk)
or vice versa. On Intel's site:
Click to expand...


The comparison is SATA -vs-- SCSI,....not SATA -vs- RAID

RAID with a single disk,...by definition,...is impossible. The "A" in
RAID,...means "Array",..which by definiton means more than one.

A single disk can only be a "Non-RAID Volume". It can run from a RAID
Controller but the controller will operate as a SCSI Controller or a SATA
Controller,...but not as a RAID Controller,...at least with respect to that
one drive. You can easily mix RAID Volumes and Non-RAID Volumes on the
same Controller on the same BackPlane.

--
Phillip Windell

The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,
or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.
-----------------------------------------------------
 
DOS accesses disk through interrupt 13. This will include any ROM chip on a
RAID card or RAID-enabled mobo, so the process is transparent to DOS, which
thinks it's accessing an ordinary disk no matter what.

Windows, OTOH, uses direct access to the disk-interface hardare. Reason it
does this is that int13 is not particularly fast. Since Windows bypasses any
interface-specific ROMs in so doing, it must be told in literal terms -by
installing a special driver- how to address the RAID array.

The same is also true with SATA, if this is operating in AHCI mode.

Hope this clears things up.
 
Thanks Anteaus - and it's Antaeus : ) - that was the expected answer. I wish there was a
way to emulate int 13 in Windows if there is no driver, if the drive is listed in BIOS, DOS, etc,
Windows should use it, no matter how it can.
 
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