You can't set to Raid0 as you need at least 2 drives for that, and it won't be stable - for example if you have 2 drives of 500GB when you install data half of it goes on one drive the other half on another drive.
So if any windows data is corrupt there is a chance you will need a complete reinstall of windows again.
Raid 5 also needs more than one disk.
I would suggest you switch to IDE/Raid mode (not Raid Array) but you will no doubt have to reinstall Windows again. But IIRC there is a registry setting you can set so you don't need to so it won't crash when you restart after setting.
Windows 7 install never does a full format when installing the first time, it sets the NTFS table and then quick formats (basically erasing any file header information that may be present on the drive), so why it couldn't do that I have no idea.
Try attaching the drive to another SATA port and try loading up normally and see if you get a BSOD again, if you don't obviously don't use that SATA port you used previously, if it does then try setting to IDE mode (you won't lose much speed at all) and then reinstalling windows with a full partition.
[Edited by DABhand, 7/11/2011 11:45:12 AM]
EDIT: I had a quick look in the registry what you need to find is this
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
Change the data in START from 3 (or 1) to 0
To get there goto START and in the search box type regedit and navigate to the above. And restart the PC and go into your BIOS and change the drive type to IDE/Raid and let it boot into windows it should install the correct drivers and ask for a restart again.
[Edited by DABhand, 7/11/2011 11:53:37 AM]
yes..u're right...for RAID 0 u need 2 drives and for RAID 5 u need 3 drives of same specs.
thanx DABs..i'll give ur suggestions a try and let u know how it goes.
Re-read what I said, I edited it for AHCI to IDE
Also under the same window which I just realised you have an Intel board, check for the headers
IASTOR and IASTORV
And change the START entries to 1 (from 0)
[Edited by DABhand, 7/11/2011 11:57:56 AM]
yup. got it. thanx. i just ran Sea Tools for the Seagate HDD and ran the Short Generic Test. it passed.
Why tempt fate, but if you must you will have to change the 3 registry settings from 0 to 1.
But since you could use a single partition on IDE mode and not AHCI mode why bother.
And so you know you are imagining the slowness :P
AHCI isn't much quicker than IDE mode, maybe a few MB/s but only a few.
Hot plugging is when you change hardware without shutting down a system, it is more common with USB devices of course on home PC's, but it started with servers with removable boards.
NSQ = Network and Systems Quality nothing substantial dunno why you would ask about it but hey :P
And the SATA cable is all you need for AHCI mode.
...nicely put. thanx DABs. u've given me some very crucial info. here's something else i needed to bring to ur attention. tell me what u make of it(i don't know if its significant or not or if its relevant or not to my BSOD problem).
there r 4 SATA ports with 2 slots each. from left to right: SATA5/SATA6, SATA3/SATA4, SATA1/SATA2, SATA_6G_1/SATA_6G_2(This one is Red in Color).
now my current 6GBs HDD Seagate Barracuda(and all my previous HDDs) and my DVD Drive r/were both connected to the SATA_6G_1/SATA_6G_2(The Red One). does anything seem off here to u? r they connected to the right connectors. or is the Red one specifically for some other HDD configuration?
The 6G ports are SATA 3 ports, im sure your DVD Drive is not SATA 3 so put that on any of the others. Although your HDD is SATA3 it won't hit those speeds unless you have a huge array RAID0 or RAID10 that would culminate to that speed, remember your drive is 6Gb/s not 6GB/s, true speed is just below 600MB/s if maxed out, but it will be fine if left on the 6G port.
The most common use for the SATA3 ports is for SSD drives.
A question about the NSQ did you mean NCQ instead? That is Native Command Queueing which is a clever bit of tech for SATA drives to be able to read data a bit quicker from drives.
yes..i'm sorry i didn't notice it up until now...its NCQ and not NSQ. currently my settings r set to IDE with single partition and no modification of the registry. so far so good. is that okay?
i'll move the DVD drive to another port and leave my HDD as it is. pls tell me about NCQ..using IDE settings...how can i use NCQ to speed things up a bit?