I have a 3 TB drive formatted with the GPT partition style. I use it for data on my Windows 7 PC. I've made the drive accessible via the mount point D:
My motherboard's HDD controller mode has been in RAID for some time. Recently I tried switching from RAID mode to AHCI mode in the BIOS, but after booting, the GPT partition on the 3 TB drive disappears and Windows wants to initialize it.
I'm about to migrate to a new motherboard (and therefore a new hard drive controller) and am wondering:
- Why does Windows want to initialize my disk when I switch to from RAID to AHCI (non-RAID) mode in the BIOS?
- How is GPT partition type related to the type of hard drive controller selected in the BIOS?
- How do I "back up" the GPT partition data so that I can switch to AHCI mode on my existing motherboard in case my new motherboard doesn't suit my needs?
One last note: I have Regedited MSACHI's and something else's Start value to 0
from 3