Studio XPS 435MT - Adding 2nd Drive - Need to configure system using Raid 1 (Mirror)

Hi Kevin_99,

This section of your manual 

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

should provide the information you need. Your system should have the Intel Matrix Storage Manager already installed. Be sure to follow the instructions for the Intel RAID utilities.

Thanks for the manual reference.  I can't believe I missed that.

How  can I check to see if the software is installed. I don't see it in the installed applications. As I indicated in my initial posting, I had to work through a system recovery.  Would this software have been reinstalled during that recovery process or is that something that needs to be done independently?  I also indicated that I had upgraded my system from Vista to Windows 7 Ultimate.  Will that make a difference in the software I need to make this work?  Dell's site only shows support for Vista.  Should I look at downloading a more current version from Intel?

Thanks again...

Here is the download.

Thanks again for your timely response...  I'll give it a go!

Here's hoping you can help again...

I went into the system setup and attempted to change the setting form ATA to RAID.  Once I made the change, and exited the setup, the system flashed something that looked like drive info but cleared the screen before I had a chance to read what it said.  I like the fact that the computer is fast, but this was really quick.  The bad thing was the computer wouldn't boot into windows with this setting changed to RAID.  Any ideas?

Thanks!

I forgot to add...

I have two 1TB Seagate Drives installed.  The second drive was previously formatted with two NTFS partitions.  Do these old partitions need to be deleted or does the drive need to be reset in someway before I can proceed.  Drive 1 (SATA 0) currently has (4) partitions will this have an impact on configuration?

Thanks again for your help!

Well... as I reported earlier, I had some problems when attempting to change the BIOS setting to RAID.  The boot failed and windows had to be repaired.  Not quite the results I was in hopes of.

What I saw flash after the initial reboot was the Matrix Storage Manager Option ROM user interface.  This wasn't displayed long before the Dell screen returned and the system start-up began.  After this failed I changed the setting back to ATA and restarted the system again.  During that attempt I got the error on windows start-up suggesting that I do a start-up repair.  After wiping my brow.... I decided to leave things alone until I gain some additional insight as to why this happened.

You thoughts and/or insights are sorely needed...

Through various searches of the web I came across several articles that suggested one must  "enable the AHCI driver in the registry before you change the SATA mode of the boot drive."  Even though the AHCI drivers are available via the Vista and/or Windows 7 install, they must be enabled to allow the system to boot properly. Once you're able to boot to windows, the AHCI driver is installed.  After another reboot, you can proceed with the installation of the Intel Matrix Storage Manager and begin the migration of data to the second RAID1 volume.

If any one is interested, here is something from Microsoft - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

Simply doing a Google search on "ahci windows 7" will produce several articles referring to the registry changes that need to be made prior to switching the Dell BIOS to RAID.

My system is currently running the data migration process which shows it will take a little over 4 hours to complete for the 1TB drives.  I'm hopeful that this completes successfully.

Thanks!

I followed the advice in this and other threads to install a Corsair Neutron 240g in my dell studio xps 435mt.  This went surprising well - I had been rather intimadated.  

Below I've listed an overview of the steps to provide help and assurance - google the keywords in each step for greater detail.  A couple of postings indicated that complicated work-arounds are needed - they are over-stated.  As long as the follow the correct order and used the Paragon software this is actually not that difficult.  Glad I went ahead despite my tredpidations

Lots of discussion about TRIM, RAID, AHCI, & IDE in the forums.  Don't worry about these issues.  Just follow the steps below  - that will get you the drivers and AHCI - and all will work out.  Just make sure you do the FIX first or you will run into boot problems.

1. Backed up to an external hard drive and made a boot CD.

2. Ran Microsoft Fix it 50470 to make the registry changes.  Must do prior to next steps.  support.microsoft.com/.../922976

3. Installed the Intel controller (download and install Intel Matrix Storage) and drivers.

4. Enabled RAID (F2 during reboot)

5. Installed the SSD (C Drive) in the 0 slot and moved the HD (F Drive) to extra slot.  The 3.5 bracket provided by Corsair doesn't match the frame - I ended up using tape to supplement the bracket as suggested in another forum.

6. Used Paragon to migrate - worked like a charm - worth the $20.  Did not move music, video, photos, or documents to leave maximum space on SSD.  Migration takes a couple of hours.

7. Changed boot order to make sure SSD was first. (F2 during reboot)

8. Defined the location for documents, music, photos, videos (eg right click on My Photos and move location to F Drive where my photos are now located).

9. Made sure Media Center knew where libraries were located - it took a while for MC to re-index photos, etc.

10. Adjusted settings on a few programs that pointed to C for data when data was on F.

My system is working great.  Many thanks to all that helped.