Unable to install system in raid mode

[joeshiau]

Hi, I recently bought an hp Elitebook 8570w equpped with intel 24GB SSD cache. Due to some hardware issues, my laptop was sent back to hp repair center except HDD (I kept it). Now my laptop returns but when I plug-in my HDD back, it doesn't boot (BSOD). Now I try to manually install system (Win 7 Pro 64bit)and all the drivers. To enable SRT technology, base on the information in intel, I should switch the SATA mode to RAID in UEFI then install the system in my HDD. However, system is unable to installed in HDD (windows can not be installed in this disk) If I choosed RAID in UEFI. I also tried to first install system in AHCI mode then switch to RAID after the system in installed. But when I switched to RAID, it appears that "there is no boot device". Can anyone tell me if I miss any setting or the proper step to enable intel srt and install system? Thank you!

[SeanS]

Hey Joe,

Sounds like you don't have the RAID driver installed. The RAID driver does not come in Windows. You will need to download the driver from the Intel website. Make sure you get the most recent driver. Also if your interested in reading a little more about RAID you can check out JohnB's post here RAID. What is it? Do I need it?

Hope the helps!
Sean S

[joeshiau]

Hi Sean,

Thanks for your reply.

Actually I did manually load RAID driver when installing OS. However, even I did so, neither of drives (HDD and SSD) could be selected (they did appear in the windows setup and both showed as unallocated disk) to install the Windows (message like "Windows can not be installed in the selected disk).

Is it necessary to first do some setup in the smart responce technology rom and create the RAID volume before I install the windows ?

Thank you!

[Intel_Guru]

There are couple thing you need to consider:

1) If you have SSD, then there's no need for SRT.  SRT is a cache solution for regular HDD to make it as close as SSD performance as possible.  

2) Windows 7 is not supported in UEFI mode, only Windows 8 is.  So if you install Windows 7, you need to keep it in Legacy/AHCI mode

Regards.