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RAID Setup Procedure for Intel® NUC Kits

Content Type: Install & Setup   |   Article ID: 000021493   |   Last Reviewed: 01/09/2025

Software RAID technology allows the combination of multiple physical disks into one logical unit, or disk. You can use this technology for the purpose of redundancy, performance, or both.

All Intel® NUC products that have multiple drives allow for the creation of a software RAID. This guide shows the process for setting up software RAID using the SATA (AHCI) method and the PCIe (NVMe) method and provides resources to setup RAID in Linux*.

If you want to configure Intel® Optane™ Technology on supported Intel NUCs, see Installing Intel® Optane™ Memory on Intel® NUC Kits.

What's needed?

  • USB flash drive
  • The latest Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Driver Installation Software with Intel® Optane™ Memory or Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) User Interface and Driver, available on Intel® Download Center
  • Windows 7*, Windows 8.1*, or Windows® 10 64-bit* Installer
  • Drives (one of the following combinations):
    • One 2.5" SATA drive and one M.2 SATA drive
    • Two M.2 NVMe SSDs (supported by NUC6i7KYK only)
Notes
  • The capacities of the drives don't have to be the same, but the RAID volume will only be two times the size of the smallest capacity drive. For example, if your two drives are 256 GB and 128 GB, the largest size the RAID can be is 256 GB (128 GB × 2).
  • Both drives need to be either AHCI (SATA) or NVMe* (PCIe*). The two technologies can't be mixed.
  • If you're using Windows 7*, the Windows 7 ISO image should be written to your USB flash drive via UEFI. See the instructions in the Windows 7 UEFI Image Creation guide.

 

Caution
 Creating a new RAID, SATA, or PCIe, will format your discs and erase all content.

Visual BIOS for Intel® all 6th Generation products and earlier

SATA (AHCI) RAID
  1. Press F2 during boot to enter the BIOS setup.
  2. Click Advanced > Devices > SATA.
  3. Set Chipset SATA Mode to RAID.

    Chipset SATA Mode

  4. Press F10 to Save and Exit BIOS Setup.
  5. The system will reboot. Press CTRL+I during boot (repeatedly, if necessary) until the RAID Option ROM utility opens.

    RAID Setup for Intel NUCs-Create RAID Volume


  6. Select Create RAID Volume.
  7. Name the RAID volume.

    RAID Setup for Intel NUCs-Name RAID Volume


  8. Set the Strip Size.

    RAID Setup for Intel NUCs-Set Stripe Size


  9. Set the Capacity.

    RAID Setup for Intel NUCs-Set the RAID size


  10. Select Create Volume and press Y to confirm.

    RAID Setup for Intel NUCs-Create RAID Volume


  11. Exit the RAID Option ROM utility and press Y to confirm.

    RAID Setup for Intel NUCs-Exit RAID screen


  12. Install Windows*.
PCIe (NVMe) RAID
Note PCIe (NVMe) RAID is only supported via UEFI boot. Windows 7* must be installed via UEFI. For instructions, see a Guide to Create a Windows 7* UEFI Installer.
  1. Press F2 during boot to enter BIOS setup.
  2. Click Advanced  > Devices > SATA.
  3. Set Chipset SATA Mode to RAID.

    Chipset SATA Mode


  4. Enable M.2 Slot 1 RST PCIe Storage Remapping and M.2 Slot 2 RST PCIe Storage Remapping.

    Enable M.2 Slot 1 RST PCIe Storage Remapping


  5. Press F10 to Save and Exit BIOS setup.
  6. Enter BIOS Setup again, by pressing F2 during boot.
  7. Click Advanced > Devices > Add-In Config.
  8. Click Configure next to Intel® Rapid  Storage Technology

    Click configure


  9. Select Create RAID Volume.

    Select Create RAID Volume


  10. Name the RAID.

    Name the RAID


  11. Select which RAID version to use.

    Note Only RAID0 and RAID1 are supported.

    RAID


  12. Select the disks to be part of the RAID by pressing Enter on the disk, then selecting X. Repeat for the second disk.

    Select the disks


  13. Select the Strip Size and the Capacity.

    Select the Strip Size


  14. Select Create Volume.

    Select Create Volume


  15. Press ESC to exit and pressY to confirm.
  16. Press F10 to Save and Exit BIOS Setup.
  17. The Intel NUC will restart. Turn off the Intel NUC.
  18. Connect the USB flash drive or USB optical drive that has the Windows* installation files.
  19. Turn on the Intel NUC.
  20. At the prompt during boot, press F10 to open the boot menu and select the UEFI USB.

    Select the UEFI USB


  21. Follow the Windows Installation instructions.
  22. When you get to the Where do you want to install Windows? screen below:

    Raid Setup for Intel NUC Kit NUC6i7KYK-Where to install Windows screen

    Insert the USB flash device with the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology driver: RST_f6floppy_Win7_8.1_10_64_14.8.0.1042.zip.

    Note Make sure the driver is unzipped.

  23. Select Load Driver > Browse > USB drive > RSTxxxx Folder.

    Note The USB flash drive is the C: drive: for example, xxxxx (C:)

    Browse to folder


  24. The screen below shows if Windows finds the Rapid Storage Driver.

    >The screen below will be shown


  25. Select Next. It can take a minute or two for the driver to load.
  26. When the screen below displays, Windows is ready to be installed. Select Next to start the installation.

    Raid Setup for Intel NUC Kit NUC6i7KYK-Select disk to install Windows

RAID on Linux

Software RAID on Linux is supported on all Intel NUCs with multiple drives.

To create and manage a software RAID in Linux see the following links:

Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) in Linux*

Linux RAID for Kernel versions 4 and earlier

mdadm Manual page

Note To enable RAID on an Intel® NUC8i5INH or Intel® NUC8i7INH:
  1. Press F2 during boot to enter the BIOS setup.
  2. Click Advanced > STORAGE.
  3. Set SATA Mode Selection to RAID.
Then continue to step 4 of both scenarios above.

 

Note

If you connect additional storage drives to the base board, they can't be added to the same RAID0 or RAID1 volume as the built-in drive on the NUC Element.
More information is available in the Technical Product Specification.

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