SMART array 642 does not boot from internal channel

[Pieter 't Hart]

Smartstart assist you in configuring the smartarray controller, poses some questions about what OS to install, servername and so on. AND asks the location (disk, partition. partition size, etc) where to install the os.
It does this so it can preformat the harddisk, and create a driverdirectory on it before asking for the os distribution disk. and perform the actual os-installation
when you follow the steps in the smartstart menu you will have the opportunity to chose the destination.

Smartstart assumes an empty system, so I can imagine (but not test myself at the moment) that when disks are allready partitioned, smartstart skips this step of creating/selecting a partition!

If that's so and you want to keep the data on array-a then you must not use smartstart, but boot from the windows-cd and use F6 to add support for the smart-array controller. You can install the proliant supportpack after the initial windows-installation.