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April 14th, 2006 22:00

XPS 400 & Raid setup

I have an XPS 400 that came with a 80GB drive. I installed two 300GB's but, though they were recognized in the BIOS, the C: drive wouldn't boot.

I talked to a DELL rep that told me to buy a 500GB from DELL, and use RAID setup. (He said the 300GB was probably not compatible. Yeh, sure. ;-})

So, now I have a 500GB, a 300GB (gave the other 300GB to my son), and I have no idea how to setup RAID so the C: drive will boot. Do I just enable it in the BIOS for the boot drive, or both? (Windows XP Home recognizes the 300GB just fine.)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Donna :-)

4 Posts

April 19th, 2006 20:00

Hey, anybody out there?

I just got the 500GB from DELL, and when I installed it the BIOS came up with no RAID options.

Can someone help?

Donna

3 Posts

April 20th, 2006 05:00

At this site:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps400/

Download this service manual:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps400/om/WD741A02.pdf

Go to page 28 to learn how to set up your computer.  I'm guessing you never ran the Intel Matrix Storage Manager.

Good luck - I'll be doing the same in the AM!

4 Posts

April 20th, 2006 08:00

Thanks so much for replying, hmpc! :-D

Well, I figured it out. I left it on the default, which was "Use RAID...or...." (I don't think it's even using RAID.)

I had a small problem at first. Windows partitioned my boot drive as drive F:\ for some reason. (Strange.) But I went in and changed all the others (can't change the boot drive letter), and went back and repartitioned and setup Windows again, and it changed it to C:\.

It's all up and running now. (One 500GB, one 300GB and two DVD's [one DVD/RW].)

I plan on adding my extra 100GB as a third drive, but I have to wait until I get an extra serial cable.

Also, thanks for that link to the pdf. I downloaded it for sure, and will keep it handy.

And, good luck to you, too.

:-)
Donna
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