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How to Migrate a Vista x64 C: Partition from RAID1 HDDs to an Intel X25-M (G2) SATA SSD?

idata
Esteemed Contributor III

BACKGROUND

 

I have a Dell Precision T3400 running Vista x64 Ultimate SP2 and the latest Dell Flash BIOS A11.It has two Western Digital 500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s hard disks configured in as RAID1 managed by an Intel ICH8R/ICH9R Raid controller.The dual HDDs are logically partitioned into C: and B: drives.I have Acronis True Image Workstation and take regular snapshots of my C: drive and have created a bootable CD-ROM.But, my C: partition is only 60 GB and has only 2 GB of free space remaining and I need to increase its size. So, I purchased a 120GB Intel X25-M SATA Solid-State Drive (SSDSA2MH120G2K5) and installed it into the empty 3.5 inch HDD bay.I connected the SSD to the power cable and plugged the data cable into my empty SATA-4 slot on the motherboard. PROBLEM  My BIOS does not recognize the SSD as a SATA device. I need step-by-step instructions on how to get my system to recognize my new SSD and I'm hoping to get answers to the following questions along the way:
  • How do I made sure my HDDs are still a RAID1 pair after the migration?
  • Do I need to unplug my HDDs from ports SATA-0 and SATA-1 before connecting my SSD?
  • Do I need to connect the SSD to port SATA-0?
  • Do I need to enable ACHI in the BIOS? If so, how and when?
  • When do I use Intel's SSD Firmware Update Tool to upgrade the SSD firmware?
  • When to install the Intel SSD Toolkit with its SSD Optimizer to get TRIM-like garbage collection under Vista?

BIOS Settings

Currently, my six SATA ports are allocated as follows: SATA-0 = 500GB Western Digital HDDSATA-1 = 500GB Western Digital HDDSATA-2 = TSSTcorpDVD-ROM TS-H353BSATA-3 = TSSTcorp DVD+/-RW TS-H653BSATA-4 = Intel X25-M SSD (unrecogized)SATA-5 = not used SATA Operation is set to RAID Autodetect / AHCI = RAID if signed drives, otherwise AHCI The boot sequence is set to: 1. Onboard or USB Floppy Disk (not present)2. Onboard SATA Hard Drive (not present)3. Intel ARRAY4. Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive5. Onboard Network Controller (not present)6. USB Device My Windows Vista x64 SP2 registry entry for [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci]Start = 0x00000004 (4)
6 REPLIES 6

idata
Esteemed Contributor III

I decided to return my SSD and get a new one. I'm guessing the first one was defective. Thank you for your help, Duckieho.

idata
Esteemed Contributor III