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Adding a new SSD or HDD to existing Non-Raid configuration
I recently bought a T3600 workstation which includes a PERC H310 raid-controller and 2 HDD's attached.First HDD is a 500 GB WD Caviar which contains Windows 7 and the other one is a 1 TB Seagate Barracuda.In windows these drives shown as drive C: and D:
My bios reports both drives are installed as Non-Raid.
Now I want to expand or change my system including a Samsung 750 EVO 500 Gb SSD and transfer Windows 7 from the exisiting drive to the new SSD and then use the SSD as bootdrive
connected to the raid=controller or directly to the motherboard,depending on which is fastest.
According to the bios I can't set any of the HDD's as bootdisk,but instead I can choose the Raid-controller,so my guess it the system automatically looks for the drive containing the OS.
When I tried to install the new SSD changing it with the "D"-drive,the system didn't boot and my screen showed a message like it was searching for a drives Mac-adress.
When I put back the original HDD,system works perfectly again.
So the question is; how do I add the new SSD to the system and then then make it "C"-drive containing Windows 7.
Can I just buy a new mini-SAS to SATAs-cable and connect all 3 drives at once on 1 cable (with 3 or 4 SATA connections) (both HDD's are now on 1 cable with 2 SATA connectors to port A on the H310) or can I connect the new SSD to port B on the H310 and make it work ?
I don't want to create a Raid-system,but prefer to use the 3 disks as non-raid.
DELL-Akshatha M
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November 3rd, 2016 06:00
Hi PAULDELLUS,
Thank you for reaching out to Dell Community Forum.
The SSD can be connected to raid card provided RAID drivers should be installed while installing OS on it.
If you prefer installing the operating system on the SSD, then you should also install the RAID drivers while installing the operating system on the SSD.
System should be in RAID on mode if the SSD is connected to RAID Card.
Can we know to which is the existing hard drives connected to i.e. directly to the motherboard or RAID card? What is the SATA operation set to?
If the current hard drives are connected to the RAID card, that is the reason for the system is booting through RAID card.
Please click my DELL-username and send me a Private Message with the Dell Service Tag number and your email address.
Note: please don't mention the service tag or email id on the public forum as it contains your personal information
pauldellus
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November 6th, 2016 12:00
It was almost as easy as I thought; first I connected the new SSD on a seperate cable on output B on the raid-card.Then I had to initiate and format the new SSD to make it visible in Windows.Then I used the Samsung migration-software to clone Windows from the HDD to the new SSD.I expected the new SSD would automatically become C (boot)-drive,but it didn't.So I disconnected the 2 HDD's and then the system booted as it should using just the SSD as C-drive.
Then I connected first 1 other HDD which became D-drive,and after the 2nd HDD which is now F/G-drive.
All 3 drives are now connected on 1 cable and which still leaves me room to add another drive on this cable to output A and probably 4 more if I use output B as well.
Even though I have a SSD installed now,booting up windows didn't really speed up,my guess mainly due to the fact that bootingprocess is using the raid-card and not directly from the SSD.
Anonymous
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November 7th, 2016 05:00
Hi,
Thank you for your reply.
Kindly private either me or Akshatha with the service tag and email address.
Thanks
Robin