Help - Cannot install W10 properly in a Dell note with Raid

Discussion in 'Windows 10' started by clalima, May 10, 2017.

  1. clalima

    clalima MDL Novice

    Jan 3, 2010
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    Moderator, if you think this should be mnoved...

    Well, I think I did something wrong and now can't revert.

    I was asked to install Windows 10 in a dell note that has 1 SSD + 1 HDD.

    When booting, the note was showing something with the raid setup, asking to press CTRL+L. I did, but wrongly setup a raid 0 with the SSD + HDD. The problem now is that I cannot access more than 60Gb (the size of the SSD) whenever I try to install Windows 10. And the original Windows 7 is gone (along with the recovery partition)

    I tried entering the BIOS, but for some reason there is nothing about Raid.
    Tried every other forum I know and from what I could find, there is nothing I can do, execpt call Dell and buy new recovery CDs (because the owner of the note does not have them anymore), disassemble the note and disconnect the HDD or MOD the bios.

    Do you gurus here know anything else I coud do to break the raid (or display the hidden bios options) to revert the drives to AHCI?
     
  2. pf100

    pf100 Duct Tape Coder

    Oct 22, 2010
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    Boot a linux usb flash and try using gparted to see if you can see the two disks and delete the partition(s). Also, it would be helpful if you'd say what model the dell is. They only make four thousand different models.
     
  3. clalima

    clalima MDL Novice

    Jan 3, 2010
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    I will try that. The model is a svt13115fbs
    Thx
     
  4. idmanager

    idmanager MDL Junior Member

    Jan 25, 2010
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    Reboot and press Ctrl +L again and delete the raid you built, then remake the raid with the ssd as a cache or boot into bios and change the boot option to turn off raid, then try and install windows again
     
  5. clalima

    clalima MDL Novice

    Jan 3, 2010
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    The problem is that ctrl+l ks not available. The dell bios has those features hidden
     
  6. Oz

    Oz MDL Expert

    Sep 1, 2009
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    It's Ctrl + i NOT L to enter RAID setup at boot
     
  7. Enthousiast

    Enthousiast MDL Tester

    Oct 30, 2009
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    How lovely for all those who try to be of help......
     
  8. Oz

    Oz MDL Expert

    Sep 1, 2009
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    Help? They clearly have no idea what they are doing, they are only adding to the problem with "FAKE" help ;)
     
  9. Enthousiast

    Enthousiast MDL Tester

    Oct 30, 2009
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    At least they are trying and learn along the road... and not any condescending tone...
     
  10. Oz

    Oz MDL Expert

    Sep 1, 2009
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    According to Goggledo, that is a Sony
     
  11. Espionage724

    Espionage724 MDL Expert

    Nov 7, 2009
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  12. Oz

    Oz MDL Expert

    Sep 1, 2009
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    Buy an Acer, ha, funny man.

    Ctrl + i is all that's needed.
     
  13. John Sutherland

    John Sutherland MDL Addicted

    Oct 15, 2014
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    #15 John Sutherland, May 12, 2017
    Last edited: May 12, 2017
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  14. pf100

    pf100 Duct Tape Coder

    Oct 22, 2010
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    #16 pf100, May 12, 2017
    Last edited: May 14, 2017
    You come across with a "holier-than-thou" attitude about how you're so smart and everybody else is stupid. I would call you a troll but you're not a troll, you're just not very nice.
     
  15. clalima

    clalima MDL Novice

    Jan 3, 2010
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    Sorry, the weed was good when I wrote Dell. Of course it's a Sony, it's a Vaio. Everything else remais the same. To all saying that I should press crtl+i or crtl+l, if that was available, I wouldn't had the issue.
    And yes, I want to remove the raid array, because the SSD has 60Gb, but the HDD has 500Gb. Now that I have wrongly setup the raid, all Windows sees is 60Gb.
    As soon as I am able to do that, I need to install WIndows and use the SSD as a "cache" drive using Intel RST software, as it was before with WIndows 7
    With that said, should I try the Linux solution or it will not work? If not, I think the cheapest way (without buyind sony recovery cds) is to disassemble the note book and remove the HDD. I think it will break the raid and CRTL+L will be available again (at least that is what I read on other forums)
     
  16. Espionage724

    Espionage724 MDL Expert

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    #18 Espionage724, May 13, 2017
    Last edited: May 13, 2017
    I'd try the Linux LiveCD. If the array is in-tact, Windows won't show the separate drives easily, but Linux will show the separate drives involved no problem. From there, wiping both drives out should remove the array.

    Here's how I would handle this:

    Boot a Linux LiveCD (Ubuntu recommended; you can also write it to a USB flash drive instead with ImageUSB)
    Open a Terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T)
    Type lsblk
    Note the /dev names for the two drives in the array (you can identifiy them from disk size), they might be /dev/sda and /dev/sdb
    Type sudo sgdisk --zap-all /dev/sda and sudo sgdisk --zap-all /dev/sdb (replace sda/sdb if they differ from lsblk ran above; this will wipe your drives)
    Reboot

    I don't know if RST can automatically re-setup the array on reboot, but if it can and does, then you'll need to try deleting the array with either rstcli64 from a Windows install USB, or mdadm from the Linux LiveCD.