I've been running BitLocker and using a RAID controller for years - beginning with Windows 7. I think this problem started showing up with Windows 8.1? Although I may have run into problems while on Windows 8 and forgot about those?
I have a number of computer systems setup with an SSD boot drive and am using a RAID1 controller for a secondary HDD. This RAID1 controller does not require a driver. There is a SATA cable that goes from the Motherboard to the controller. And then two SATA cables that go to each of the two HDDs that make-up the RAID1 array.
For some reason (I've not been able to pinpoint why) Windows 8.1 occasionally treats the RAID controller as a removable disk drive. This has been causing me headaches with the backup software (Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials). The problem is that most of the time when someone logs on they're a Standard user and I had to add some things to get the HDD to automatically unlock. But because of this anomaly the backup software often does not see the HDD and drops it from the list of drives to be backed up.
The company that makes the RAID controller had two different versions of hardware. One version only supported RAID1 while another version also supported RAID10 and RAID5.
Recently I bought a 2nd RAID5 version of the hardware as I thought the RAID1 version was somehow not working correctly. But when I installed the RAID5 hardware recently Windows 8.1 and/or BitLocker still thinks the HDD is a removable drive. Given I already had a computer using this same RAID5 hardware (SSD boot drive and RAID1 HDD) I am puzzled why this isn't working.
The motherboard was configured for AHCI and Secure Boot when I initially installed Windows 8.1. I know some motherboards have an option to setup the SATA ports as hot swappable. I don't believe I turned that option on, but when UEFI is in use this Intel motherboard doesn't seem to provide me the F2 option during boot to get into the BIOS configuration? So I was unable to double check whether or not the SATA ports were configured as hot swappable or not.
There are two things that are puzzling me -
a) Given these RAID controllers do not use a driver from the point of view of the Motherboard and Windows I wouldn't think that Windows (and/or BitLocker) should see the HDD any differently than the SSD. Both should look like fixed drives?
b) If, for whatever reason, Windows can somehow detect the HDD is on a RAID controller then it is puzzling why I'm getting inconsistent results. One one computer Windows 8.1 and BitLocker see the HDD as a fixed drive while on another computer, using the same type of RAID controller, the HDD is detected as being a removable drive.
These two computers have different brands of Motherboards (and different types of CPUs). The one I'm having trouble with is an Intel motherboard and the other is an Asus motherboard. But I wouldn't think that should make any difference to Windows 8.1 and/or BitLocker?
I'm trying to find a way to stop Windows 8.1 and/or BitLocker from identifying the HDD as removable so that I can eliminate the problems I've been having with the backup software.
Thanks for any insight you can pr