x17 R1, SSD raid 0 error

Question

Hi, i have an alienware x17 R1 with 2TB raid 0 ssd. i recently had a problem with my alienware were i had « no boot device found » because of some error on my ssd. In order to fix that i tried to reset my pc to factory settings but i couldn’t succed so i ended up removing raid on my ssd from the bios. From there i tried to boot on some usb key that had windows on it but had error 0x80070057 and couldn’t remove any partition or create any. (i still had 2TO displayed on the windows recovery and on diskpart aswell at that point). from there i used the command prompt and selected the main disk that had 2TO displayed and cleaned it with diskpart. I rebooted my pc and could install windows but now i only have 1TO displayed instead of 2TO. Only one ssd is showing no matter what software (same in the BIOS) i use and even when i try to reset my pc again. i tried to change my ssd position to see if they had a problem (unplung one and let the other, switch their position). And it seems like both of them have 1TO with same things on it but i can’t have my 2TO back and can’t recreate the raid again. i probably messed up by removing the raid thing in the bios and i’m getting out of ideas on how i could fix that so if anyone has a similar experience or some clues on how to fix this please help me. If you need more informations please let me know. the storage is still set to raid on in the bios and if i change it, i have no access to my pc. both ssd seems to work if i unplug the other one i have access to my pc I used every dell tool to diagnostic my pc and they find no errors Thank you for reading and for help

crimsom · Accepted Answer

Hi @Mkeal thank you for sharing test results. In summary: Both PCIe SSD slots work, system board is not damaged. SSD card #1 is dead and cannot be recovered. SSD card #2 is good and functions as a single SSD OS (C:) boot drive, hopefully with everything intact.

Dual SSD RAID_0 is unreliable and an ultrafast single SSD is advocated as your OS (C:) boot drive.

Support for Alienware x17 R1 Storage says one of the slots supports M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe (could be slot SSD-1). Storage Devices: One PCIe4 and one PCIe3, Here. The Crucial System Advisor database has the the most recent tested storage options: Alienware Alienware x17 R1 | Memory RAM & SSD Upgrades | Crucial.com.

We recommend OS (C:) boot drive should be a single ultrafast 2TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe with 6600MB/s Read, 5000MB/s Write, or similar. Use Macrium Reflect Free to clone (copy) your existing 1TB OS (C:) boot drive onto your new ultrafast 2TB NVMe SSD. Clone (copy) should have inherited the modern GPT partition format so that BIOS enables UEFI boot list option. The OS (C:) boot drive should have large capacity so there is large empty space to allow intensive graphic games or applications to quickly unpack and use temporary files. Store personal files, etc. on DATA (D:) drive.

crimsom · Answer

Hi @Mkeal welcome to this free user-to-user Alienware laptop discussion forum.

Intel says BIOS RAID should always be enabled, irrespective of single or dual SSD (C:) boot drive.

Dual SSD RAID_0 shares data 50% - 50% on one and the other SSD. If Windows operating system works with just one SSD installed, you are correct, there is no dual SSD RAID_0.

Please clarify 1TO and 2TO acronym/abbreviation and meaning.

Please open Disk Management with both SSD installed, and share your Disk Management image in your next message. Thank you.

How to Open Disk Management (lifewire.com). 4 Ways to Take Screenshots on Windows 10 (lifewire.com). Look at message header and click on camera icon to insert image into message.

Mkeal · Answer

Hi, thank you for your reply.

sorry TO is the unit we use in my country it means TB so terabyte

Here is how it is displayed in the BIOS, disk management and diskpart listing :

the disk here was on raid 0 before and would display the size of the two ssd so about 1,8TO instead of the 953.8 GB we can see here

raid is still on

here is how the bios is showing i'm not sure if before all the troubles both SSD were displaying or not

here is the disk management

diskpart listingBefore everything happened it was displayed as about 1,8 TB in the disk management tool but after i removed the raid in the bios it only shows 953GB so the size of only 1 disk.

here is what i initially bought: 400-BLXT SSD PCIe NVMe M.2 RAID0 2Tb (2x 1Tb).

Thank you for your time,

if you need more please let me know

Mkeal · Answer

to clarify TO means TB -> terabyte

crimsom · Answer

Hi @Mkeal thank you for sharing all the additional information, especially images with commentary.

Please remember to conduct Hard Reset before removing or installing SSD card. How to Perform a Hard Reset on a Dell Computer | Dell US Removing the Base cover

With both SSD cards installed, BIOS should say both SSD-1 and SSD-2 slots are occupied. Please swap over the #1 SSD card and then the #2 SSD card into the SSD-1 slot and then then the SSD-2 slot. Then power-on and visit BIOS to see if SSD card installation is acknowledged. This should determine that both PCIe sockets are working or perhaps there is a bad electrical connection on one slot. It might help if the SSD cards were manually numbered during this test so that there is no confusion which SSD card was installed in which SSD slot. Record these tests and results, and if Windows operating system opens.

With both SSD cards installed, Disk Management should list both SSD slots occupied.

Alienware x17 R1 with Base cover removed

John harper · Answer

I found this one of the solution:Capture an image backup of the entire RAID virtual disk, destroy the RAID virtual disk, boot into your imaging application's bootable recovery environment, and restore the image onto one of the physical SSDs. Macrium Reflect is a popular disk imaging/cloning application, and it has a Free version that would be suitable for this purpose.   Check if this helps.

Mkeal · Answer

hi @crimsom thanks for all the help you provide,

here is what i did :

unplug battery and press power for 30 sec then reboot -> nothing changed 1 ssd detected
switch both SSD -> seems like only one of the SSD is detected and the other one seems dead

initial image. SSD n1 is the one on top, SSD n2 is the one at the bottom