Raid 0 Transfer (ghost image)

I've read all the Raid posts can someone tell me if there is someway to image my current setup to a bigger Raid 0? I bought this box with two 120gb hard drives setup in Raid 0. I did a fresh install of Vista 64 with no bloatware and now have the software the way I like it. I'm switching to two 320gb hard drives as I need more room than the 240 I had. Is there some way to image my existing Raid 0 240gb to the new 640gb hard drives without doing a fresh install? Maybe someone has a step by step guide? Since I can't mount all four drives in the laptop at he same time how do I transfer the image to the new Raid config?

 

Acronis Trueimage will image RAIDs. I've done it successfully in the past. Make an image of your current RAID to an external single disk, set up the new RAID (blank) and push the image back onto it. Works like a charm.

 

So do I use the clone or backup function of Acronis? I presume I setup the Raid array on the new hard drives then boot from the external drive?

 

To anyone interested, here's our PM conversation with the solution:

 

ok.. now, can I copy my AHCI vista to an external image..then image that back to a RAID array? or, will this be a problem?

 

Hmmm... I do believe that you will be okay. A little alarm goes off in my head because of the fact that AHCI and RAID drivers are not the same, but this would realistically only be a problem in XP. In Vista, there are drivers already present for both modes. You will be able to clone the drive, create the RAID, and deploy the image to the RAID. When you boot Vista will install generic RAID drivers which you will have to update via installation of the Intel Matrix Storage Manager for the P45M chipset.

If by some bizarre happening this does not work, it IS possible with a little tweaking of the OS prior to creating the image. Even if something goes wrong, you still have an image of the single drive and will not have a problem putting that back to a single drive.

Happy cloning!

-Hep!

 

When you mention pushing the image to the RAID array, are you referring to the Intel Matrix Manager, that offers to backup from image when isntalling RAID arrays? (ctrl+i at boot)

 

No, I am referring to using Acronis TrueImage. I have no experience with using Intel Matrix Manage for drive imaging, however my suspicion is that it does not use the same images as Acronis.

 

Hmm.. pardon my ignorance, but my confusion is; If I image to an external HDD via USB.. then I reboot, erase the info on my 2 internals to make the RAID array, how the heck do I get the image from the external back to my 2 internal drives? I wont have an OS on them if I make the RAID array. Or, am I supposed to install an OS and then copy the image back from the external?

 

Acronis True Image is how; you have the image on your external drive then boot the computer with the ACronis boot CD which starts the Acronis program via DOS. Acronis then prompts you to restore and you point the program to your image file on the external drive. That's how it worked (flawlessly) for me but then again I was only copying a smaller Raid0 to a larger Raid0...

 

AHHH! Gotcha! Well hell, I may just switch back to RAID then. Didnt wanna deal with the headache, but haven't tried that route. Thanks to you both +rep +rep

 

I thought it would be a headache too, actually the Raid setup was brainlessly simple (Cntr I) and Acronis made it even easier. These days the right software makes setup so much easier...

 

Well, congrats

 

In short steps are:

1. Download Acronis True Image; run it and make backup of all files/partitions (it is the default setting) to external media. Not clone but backup image.

2. Shut down computer then remove old hard drives. Replace with new hard drives.

3. Restart computer and make sure Bios SATA set to Raid, then after boot screen and mem test at prompt press Cntr + I which puts you in Raid array setup.

4. Setup your Raid array. (Hardware Reference Guide p.52-57 very easy to follow)

5. Restart computer with Acronis boot CD.

6. Computer will start ACronis True Image and read all hard drives (including Raid, USB, or external SATA)

7. Chose the Restore function in Acronis

8. Point Acronis to the old Raid hard drives image you burned on the external hard drive

9. Point ACronis to the new Raid Hard drives as the destination of the image restoration

10. In my case (214gb) wait about 35 minutes.

11. Remove the Acronis Boot CD (or reset Bios Boot order to Raid hard drives

12. When Windows restarts you will have the exact programs, applications on your new Raid array you had on your old Raid Array.

13. In my case because I was using the trial version of Acronis True Image I had 600gb of new Raid with only 214GB of old Raid image and the rest unallocated. So I went into Windows Disc Management in Vista and allocated the remainder to another partition so now I have 214gb in one partition and 386gb in another.

Worked flawlessly. No bloatware, all apps and drivers work great, COD4 and Bioshock work great, 5.9 Windows Vista Experience for the hard drives. I then moved most of my video/song files to the larger partition.

 

carl's written a pretty good guide outlining the information I gave him + some of his own. Follow his steps and you should be pretty solid, just subsitute "old RAID image" to "old drive image"

 

I upgraded to larger drives and did these exact steps except I have the full version of Acronis and it gave me the option to change the partions sizes. I changed it to the full size of the disc and restored, but when my computer boots up it gets stuck on the windows welcome screen.

This is what I was trying to do with my machine http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=325789

 

Did you run the following commands in Vista before you made the image?:

bcdedit /set {current} osdevice boot
bcdedit /set {current} device boot
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device boot
bcdedit /set {memdiag} device boot

These remove Vista's security check for a specific hard drive.

 

I didnt know I had to run anything like that. Where do I run it? In the commad prompt or change Regedit settings?

 

Elevated (run as administrator) command prompt.

 

Ok I did that and didn't restore the MBR and it worked, Thanks.