M6600 Owners Thread

Yes - there is a registry setting that you change in Windows.

AHCI : Enable in Windows 7 / Vista - Windows 7 Forums

 

I don't think you can go from RAID 0 to two standalone drives without having to do a backup. I can't see any way that that would work. RAID 0 splits data more-or-less evenly across both drives, so reconfiguring to AHCI will leave you with two unRAIDed drives that each contain incomplete information. Nondestructive switching between RAID levels is doable on server-grade RAID controllers to an extent, but I very seriously doubt that you can break a RAID array (particularly a RAID 0 or RAID 5 array, RAID 1 you could probably get away with) on the M6600 and not have to reinstall your OS and all of your programs and transfer all of your data back over.

 

I think he was talking about going from the factory setting of Raid/IRRT with just one drive to AHCI.

 

Correct! 10/10! and yes you can get away with deleting RAID 1 on the M6400 and one ends up with 2 separate drives and the BIOS boots off one of them.

The context of my question is from last night and the ongoing eSata port not working with Dell notebooks shipped with RAID setting in BIOS.

Summary of yesterday's post: New Dell E6320. It can have only 1 HD yet factory configured with RAID HD in BIOS (and it does not ship with IRST software). Spent a week configuring this light-weight power-house to find out that, like the M6600 eSata port, its eSata port does not work* with BIOS set to RAID for HD.

So I'm looking into changing BIOS setting from RAID to AHCI for this single disk system. Any input on this?

*So far with external WD and Lacie but there are others. See previous posts for last 3 days for details.

 

Correct: Raid/IRRT to AHCI

 

I understood what you meant. Just search for "Windows 7 ahci registry". I posted a decent tutorial earlier.

Wish you were in NC. Would like to try and get that Lacie figured out.

 

Appreciated. Looks okay but instructions are not specifically for Raid/IRRT to AHCI so I'll wait untill I return mid-Sept to try this. I won't need eSata while travelling and maybe Dell will have a BIOS update that will fix this BIOS RAID inoperable eSata mess. Thanks again.

 

Appreciated

CA to NC with a 16 lb sharp-edged metal box would be a haul!
Not to mention airport security!

 

This is so off topic, but trust me, I travel with 3 laptops, 7 lenses and 2 camera bodies - I know security. My collapsable reflector is metallic and stops xrays. I have had two old school back of the hand pat downs in the last two years. Maybe if I am lucky I will get the new front of the hand "until we meet resistance" pat downs. I feel for the TSA people. They get paid crap and always seem a little embarrassed once they realize I am not a bad guy.

 

I just realized why E6320 would ship with Raid/IRRT. It would allow RAID 1 to external drive for rapid restore. I asked Dell to implement this for M6400 in 2008!

Problem is Lacie 4 Big Quadra is not seen via eSata on M6600 or E6320.
Also E6320 did not ship with any type of RAID BIOS that I can see, nor with Intel's RST software.

Assuming your external HD works with your eSata port can Intel's IRRT be used with M6600 if internal RAID 0 fails or is corrupted?
Anyone tried this setup on their M6600?

This is exactly what I wanted to do with the M6400 in 2008 but Dell said IRRT cannot be used on M6400 with internal RAID.