Rapid Storage Technology
Intel® RST, RAID
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Intel RST RAID1. What does "Initialize" do?

DKim49
Beginner
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Hi,

I created a RAID1 volume using the option ROM, then installed Windows on that volume after having loaded the RAID driver in the setup program. In the option ROM as well as in the GUI, the volume status is shown as "normal", however the GUI claims that the volume has not been initialized. What exactly will happen if I choose to initialize the volume and what are the pros and cons of initializing vs. not initializing? According to the documentation, initialization is necessary to verify data. Does this mean that there is no redundancy when the volume hasn't been initialized and that data are only stored on one of the disks until the volume is initialized? Or does it mean that there is some level of redundancy, but if an error occurs, it won't be detected? Or does it mean that only the areas of the discs where files are stored are mirrored, but random garbage is not (but initialization will mirror this random garbage, too)? Or does it mean something completely else, maybe some combination of the above? Neither the docs nor Google could help me with this, but I hope that you guys can.

/don-kim

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Anonymous
Not applicable
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Initialize will format the RAID volume (create). If you already have information on your Hard Disk Drives, it is better to create a backup first. The chipset SATA mode in the BIOS needs to be on RAID.

Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (User Guide)

http://download.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/irst_user_guide.pdf http://download.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/irst_user_guide.pdf

Mike C

PDenn
Novice
9,169 Views

I have just read the user guide but this is also unclear to me. If I have an existing mirror raid 1 with data, but not the OS, and the volume has not been initialised ie because I created it in the BIOS rather than the Windows gui.

If I subsequently initialise the raid volume from the irst application doesn't delete the existing data ?

obviously I will make a backup but I would like to know the answer to this question.

Thanks

Paul

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Anonymous
Not applicable
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Hi Toomanylogins,

Initializing the RAID feature with Intel application is not going to erase the information, it will just verify the integrity of the RAID configuration.

Regards,

Mike C

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