HP ENVY initial RAID setup deleted, accidentally wiped hard drive?

[AmishLou]

I was trying to see if I could find an option to change my new laptop's SATA controller to AHCI, but I should've checked more thoroughly online before attempting anything new in the BIOS.  It seems that these laptops are automatically in AHCI?

My laptop had a 1TB SSHD and a 24GB flash Hard Drive Acceleration Cache configured in RAID 0.  With my minimal knowledge of RAID, IDE, and AHCI, I thought that removing the RAID configuration would give me an option to change the hard drive controller to AHCI.  Without thinking, I "deleted" the RAID volume, and I think I may have completely wiped my new hard drive and OS, including the recovery partition. 

When I startup the laptop, I get the "boot device not found 3f0" error, and f11 does not work to try to go into the recovery mode.  The hard drive test still passes both items.  I've just now ordered USB recovery media from HP, but I'm not sure if there's anything else I can do?

I don't exactly know how the Hard Drive Acceleration Cache works, but my main question is why would a single SSHD be setup in RAID 0 from the factory, and if there's a good reason, how do I set it up again after reinstalling the OS from the USB media?

After screwing up my OS, I've played around in the BIOS to re-setup the RAID0, but I'm not sure I have it right.  I remember the strip size was set to 128kb, but I have no idea what the "Capacity(MB)" used to be or what I should set it to when I create the new RAID?

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks.

Ryan

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Ryan:

Your notebook's bios is set to RAID by default, not AHCI, and the setting cannot be changed.

It depends on what model notebook you have, as to what mode the BIOS is set to. 

I don't know how or why it is that way either, and don't know anything about those hybrid drives.

It must have something to do with performance and interoperability with the mechanical portion of the drive and the ssd portion.

AHCI can only address one drive while RAID can configure two drives to act as one.

Hopefully using the recovery media will make things right again, but if not, please read this article about getting your HDD's configuration set correctly.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-pavilion-notebooks/676213-definitive-guide-clean-install-os-mssd-...

[AmishLou]

Paul,

Thanks for the reply.  I have an HP ENVY 15j100 Quad edition.  So there's no way to change the BIOS out of RAID, even after I've deleted the RAID setup? 

Will I have to be on the phone for hours to get a hold of someone deep within customer support to be able to answer "how or why it is that way?" 

Because I'd be fine with setting it right back to the way it was, but I don't know exactly how it was to begin with.  Is there a way to talk to the people that set these computers up and initally install the OS and BIOS settings?

Ryan

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Unfortunately, I do not know who you can talk to that would have the technical and hardware engineering experience to explain the whys and wherefores.

I would recommend you set the BIOS to its defaults before using the recovery disks.

You will never be able to change the drive controller setting from RAID to anything else.

Customers who like to have that kind of flexibility should purchase a business notebook which will have those BIOS options.

But please explain to me what was your reason for wanting to change the BIOS from RAID to something else?

RAID in your model can do anything AHCI can do--and more.

If the reason you wanted to change the setting to AHCI was to add a true solid state drive, then you have nothing to worry about, because starting with the Intel Series 7 chipset, TRIM support has been added via the Intel RST software for RAID configurations.

Your model has the Intel Series 8 chipset, one generation newer than that.

[AmishLou]

I am new and inexperienced with RAID, and read a few articles about changing the controller from IDE to AHCI improving your read/write speeds for SSDs.  Having a SSHD, I assumed AHCI would be faster as well.  Just today, I switched the BIOS controller settings on my desktop PC which has had an SSD boot drive for a couple years to AHCI.  I assumed it would be just as straightforward with my new laptop, but it surely was not.

I did not understand that RAID is as good and even better than AHCI from the few IDE to AHCI articles I read. 

I am interested about the trim command with the Intel series 7 chipsets, because my desktop has an old core i7 920, with a 120GB true SSD, and apparently has been running in IDE mode forever, so I'm not sure if trim has been working or not on it.

I will set it back to RAID0 with the new recovery USB, but I have one more question.  I did not receive a Windows 8.1 product key with the laptop, and I'm wondering how I'm supposed to install the new OS with the recovery USB, unless the $50 I paid for the USB was essentially for another product key that comes with it?  Thanks again.

Ryan

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Ryan:

Everything you read was correct about SSD's and TRIM only being supported for drives in AHCI mode until the advent of the Intel Series 7 Chipset.

Now, RAID mode is just as good for that purpose if your desktop or notebook PC has an Intel Series 7 or newer chipset and has the latest version of the Intel RST software.

TRIM was not working on your desktop PC until you changed the BIOS setting to AHCI.

The W8 product key is now encrypted in the BIOS in a further attempt by Micro$oft to combat software piracy, and the illegal use of OEM product keys on other PC's.

In the meantime, while you wait for your recovery disks to arrive, you can download this plain W8 x64 OEM ISO file and use that to reinstall W8 on your PC and you can experiment with configuring it to work properly.

This file will work with the product key in your BIOS.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0W9PBigPy94aVJWSndyTFNFMzg/edit?pli=1

Use this tool to make the file bootable onto a 4 GB flash drive or DVD.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool

Happy New Year!

[AmishLou]

Wow, thanks a lot for the links and your help.  I'm guessing that once my recovery software arrives, I'll have to erase W8 that I'm downloading from you and clean install 8.1 from the recovery USB?  I don't quite understand how you can have a copy of W8 that matches the product key on my BIOS?

Lastly, if TRIM hasn't been working on my SSD for the last 2-3 years when I thought it was, what does that mean for the life of my SSD and can I do anything now to help it?  Out of 120GB, it currently has 40GB free, so it's never been all the way full.  I remember reading plenty of articles from the Windows 7 forums trying to get the boot SSD install right, but I'm not sure how I missed the AHCI in the BIOS. 

Happy New Year!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

All the product key is looking for is an OEM version of W8.  That is what the file is, and when you go to install it, the product key will just populate the spaces where you used to type in the product key.

If the installation file passes muster with the product key, the installation will continue.

You can either leave W8 you installed on the PC, or you can use the recovery disks to factory reset the PC.

I like the clean installs, free of the unnecessary trial bloatware that comes with so many consumer PC's.

It is hard to day what effect running your SSD in IDE mode had on its life, because once you changed the setting, the SSD "cleaned" itself of junk.

So maybe it had little effect since the SSD is now running optimally, and will continue to do so.

[AmishLou]

Paul,

Ok, I guess I misunderstood  just how the product key in my BIOS works.  I was actually holding off on installing the version of W8 that you let me download, just because my rush delivery recovery media is supposed to be here tomorrow, and it seemed pointless to install your clean W8 if I was just going to have to format the drive and reinstall with my recovery media (and bloatware). 

To make this even more clear, I can use your version of W8, and if a product key populates automatically when the spaces pop up and the installation continues, I will then get a plain vanilla W8 with no bloatware, and that product key will be the one that is supposed to go with my laptop, since it's hidden somewhere in the BIOS? 

Next question would be, since my laptop came with W8.1, how will I be able to update to W8.1 after install?

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi, Rayn:

I didn't realize you were getting the recovery media rush shipped.

When you order by regular mail, it can take up to 10 days, so unless you are bored to death, then I would just wait until your recovery media arrives tomorrow.

Yes, you are correct.  The file I gave you is just a plain vanilla version of W8 and it will have no programs of any kind other than what W8 ships with.

The product key in your PC's BIOS will work with that file and the recovery media you get.

You still may want to DL that file and make a bootable DVD just to have it for future use.

After you install W8, you get the upgrade to W8.1 from the Windows Store.

It may take a couple of hours to show up because some kind of update needs to run before the W8.1 update shows up in the Windows Store.

You won't have to look for it.

It will be prominently displayed when you click on the windows store.

You will be able to upgrade to W8.1 with either the plain W8 ISO file, or your factory HP installation.