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XPS 8910 Additional HDD for backup
I've installed a second HDD for backup purposes. When I press F2 to go into setup, everything but the date and time is shaded and changes cannot be made. I noticed that the drives are shown as a RAID configuration, not AHCI. Can I safely change from RAID to AHCI? I attempted to make the change but the warning was scary! What other actions can I take to allow me to enable the second drive? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
dabjarnson
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November 8th, 2016 11:00
For whatever reason, disk management is working today! I was able to select the new drive, format it and assign a drive letter and go from there. I installed the Acronis backup software and successfully created both a backup and recovery startup thumb drive. So what changed? I have no idea. Prior to today, I couldn't select the new drive to do anything with it. Perhaps a Windows update that occurred?
Whatever - thanks to all of you that took the time to respond. It's this kind of support that make the forums valuable. Happy computing all!
Mary G
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November 3rd, 2016 16:00
Open Disk Management instead to carefully format the drive to NTFS and assign it a name and recognizable letter designation like Disk R or anything at the end of the alphabet to keep it from changing. Leave Raid setting alone since UEFI Secure boot is different. Right click on the Start button to access Disk Management to see all the drives. The new drive should show as Disk 1 since disk 0 is the boot drive.
RoHe
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November 3rd, 2016 18:00
If you have a 32-GB SSD drive used as cache drive, BIOS has to be set to RAID. So don't change to AHCI.
I don't know the BIOS options on this model, but look at the SATA ports listing and make sure the one where the new drive is connected to the motherboard is enabled. (Assuming that's an available option.)
Then follow Mary's advice to format the new drive and assign a drive letter...
EDIT: Even if you see a physical SSD drive inside the case, it won't be visible to you in Windows. The cache drive is only used by the OS to store files for quick access, so users aren't allowed to access it like they would any other drive.
dabjarnson
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November 4th, 2016 13:00
First, thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, in Disk Management, the drive shows but I can't do anything with it. It does show a small red symbol indicating, I thought, that the drive isn't formatted. The system knows the drive is there but that's about it. If you have any other thoughts, I'd love to hear them. Thanks again.
RoHe
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November 4th, 2016 17:00
Are you logged in to an account with Administrator privileges?
What size is the new drive?
Is it assigned a drive letter in Disk Management?
Exactly what red icon does it show? Is it a red X (or maybe white X on red background)?
If you right-click the new drive listing in Disk Management, do you get an option to initialize and/or format it?
You can try formatting it from a CMD prompt window. Read this. Just make sure you know which is the right drive to format. :emotion-5:
dabjarnson
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November 5th, 2016 10:00
To answer the questions in order. Yes, logged in as an Administration. New drive is1 Tb. I cannot assign a drive letter to in in Disk Management. Small white X on a red background. I get no options when right clicking on the drive. Thank you for your thoughts on this problem.
RoHe
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November 5th, 2016 17:00
Which SATA port is the new HDD connected to? Double check the connection at motherboard and at the HDD.
Try formatting the HDD from a CMD prompt window using diskpart as explained at the link in my previous post.
dabjarnson
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November 6th, 2016 10:00
The drive is connected to SATA port 3. I may have an approach that will work. The new drive is for backup and the application I'm going to use is Acronis True Image. I believe the application may allow me to assign a drive letter and format the drive. Sound reasonable? Thanks again.
RoHe
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November 6th, 2016 11:00
SATA 0 should be the boot HDD, so what (anything) is on SATA 1 and 2, if the new HDD is on SATA 3?
You could try putting the hew HDD on a lower number SATA port by swapping in the data cables between drives. Just don't move the SATA cable for the boot HDD or for any SSD drives. And you may have to reset BIOS after swapping cables by removing the motherboard battery and pressing/holding the power button fpr ~30 sec, before reinstalling the battery, so BIOS sees the changes.
Be sure to copy down all BIOS settings first because removing the battery resets everything to the default settings which may not be right for your particular system.
Don't know if Acronis will help if the drive has that red X in Disk Management, but I guess it's worth a try...
dabjarnson
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November 7th, 2016 09:00
I should have been more specific about the SATA ports - the new drive is in position 3 which is SATA port 2. Port 0 is the boot drive and port 1 is the SSD. Since I can't seem to make changes in the BIOS, I think I'll download the Acronis software and seeif it may solve the issue. Thanks again for your assistance.
RoHe
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November 7th, 2016 10:00
Post back and let us know if Acronis solves the problem.
Meanwhile, I'll ping my Dell tech contacts to see if they have any recommendations...
RoHe
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November 7th, 2016 13:00
There's always the question whether you just got a bum drive. Any possibility to try installing it in a different PC to see if it can be formatted there?
Here's what my Dell tech contact said:
Before adding the drive, the main BIOS screen should look like this:
Advanced screen SATA Operation is RAID On =
Boot screen Boot List Option is UEFI, Secure Boot is Enabled, Boot Option #1 is Windows Boot Manager =
#4 Blue SATA 1 = Optical drive
#5 White SATA 2 = Hard drive
#6 Black SATA 3 = Hard drive
#7 Black SATA 4 = Hard drive
#8 M.2 SSD
RoHe
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November 8th, 2016 14:00
Glad you got it sorted.
Guess the Microsoft gods took pity on you - this time ! :emotion-5: