Inspiron 3650, support raid?

Most of Dell desktop can support RAID configuration.  The fact that your system was shipped with Intel RST meant it's RAID ready.  You must have the drives connected in order to see the options in configuration.

For starter, you can learn more information of How to Configure Intel Based RAID on a Dell Computer.

thank you for the prompt response. I’m so glad you brought this up. Step 2 states: can you select raid in bios? If not, I’m sorry you’ll have to get additional hardware. But this desktop  comes with raid driver. So im thinking when i reinstalled windows it got rid of the raid option. Do you know where i could find the .inf file to load while installing windows, so i can use raid? I would love to use software raid, but it seems like i have to turn on VTD? Or raid in bios or something?

To activate RAID controller in your system, you must set SATA operation mode to RAID in BIOS settings.

This is Intel RST F6 driver to use while installing Windows Serial-ATA_Driver_7YGHK_WN64_14.8.9.1053_A06.EXE.

So, i did make progress, i do now have the ability to choose a driver. (the A06 driver has the option but A00 doesnt.) I still cant choose raid in bios, i have the newest version of bios. none of the drivers work: they say they don't work for my computer, and are hidden unless i opt ot see "not working drivers". I only have the option to use a AHCI driver to install windows. Do you think i should revert to an older version of bios or something? and my model of insipron doesn't have/need(?) the newer IRST driver, i have my service tag uploaded for drivers, and i didn't get the new IRST driver update, but i do have a irst driver, and i remember before clean installing windows many times, i had the option to choose raid. What should I do? i asked chatbots, everything, etc. Do i need to format my hard drives or something? can i run softare raid ro something? can i have more than 4 drives? i cant find any of this information, which is really odd.

Glad that you made some progress with the F6 driver.

The main question from your thread was answered, your computer supports RAID.

The additional question about adding more than 4 drives is negative.  You can open the machine side panel and verify to see how many of connection ports (SATA ports) you have, and the drives mounting spaces of where you will mount all the drives.  Those are the limitation.

For all the remaining questions, you may find the answer from the link on my first post.  As they are all related to configuring and setting up RAID on a Dell desktop.

I found out inspiron 3650 does not support raid in bios. I had to use windows storage spaces. My next mission is to see if a raid controller will work with this computer

Not sure what type of test led you to the conclusion but the present of IRST means it would support soft RAID (software controlled RAID).  The latest IRST driver for your system is Intel-Rapid-Storage-Technology-Driver_2WR4F_WIN64_16.8.3.1004_A06.EXE

The first, released driver didnt work, and the A06 driver driver work. And intels website says raid is not supported with this chipset. I would love to be wrong, but i haven’t found a single person to get it to work. 

I do not have access to a 3650, only relying on users provided information for diagnostics and assessments.  Inspiron desktop has always utilized the low cost software RAID managed by Intel Matrix on older models and Intel RST on newer ones.  If you were unable to create volume using Intel RST then my assumption must be wrong. 

As for hardware RAID solution, Dell consumer product lines are not built with support.  Beside servers and enterprises, Precision product line has optional RAID support and storage configurations to match.  But do post the result of your mission as it will help other users with similar goal.  Not support does not mean does not work.  Some OptiPlex users managed to run HBA cards in theirs.