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cloning from IDE to SATA Raid 0 problem

O

oblivionx

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 9, 2004
Messages
112
I just installed a new Raid 0 array of 2x SATA 36.7GB Raptors. My current HD setup is this:

Primary IDE Master: WD 250 GB, 125GB partition 1 system, 125 gb partition 2 storage
Primary IDE Slave: WD 120 GB, 120 GB partition 1 storage

What I want to do is clone the 125GB system partition one onto the SATA Raid 0 array. The array is seen in windows as a logical drive, and it is bootable because I originally installed windows xp on it and it was working fine, but I didn't want to reinstall everything so I formated it and opted to go the clone route.

I'm following the instructions in this thread:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=728914

However, my problem is this, when I use True Image 7 for a HD clone, it clones the entire HD, not just the system partition, so obviously that wont work (system partition is about 45gb full, storage partition is completely full, so its trying to put ~160 gb on 74 gb). Therefore, I had to use the image route. What I did was make an image of my C: drive, then restore it onto the raid 0 array. I then shut down the computer, unplugged my regular IDE drives, and attempted to boot up from the array. I got all the way to the blue windowsxp screen, but before the login names slide in, the computer completely freezes.

Does anyone know what is wrong / have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Kevin
 
Update:
I unplugged both IDE drives, tried booting from the winXP cd, hitting f6 and installing the raid drivers, then clicking next to install windows, selected my old installation and hit repair and let it complete. This time, I actually got into windows, and it seemed to be "working" with the exception that nothing worked. The drive was still designated as Z: and cloned drive was C:, so none of the programs or anything would work. When I went into the registry to try forcing the Z: drive to C:, I noticed that my other 2 drives, even though unplugged, were listed in the registry. However, after switching Z: to C:, then restarting, I got the same problem as before - system hangs at the windows xp logon screen. It doesn't exactly hang, more like it doesn't do anything. I can move the mouse, but there is nothing to click since the logon name hasn't slid out yet.

I'm stumped again, I thought the winXP repair would do it.
Any suggestions?

Kevin
 
Originally posted by oblivionx
The drive was still designated as Z:
Kevin
Click to expand...

hence its not recognized as the system partition

for Parallel ATA\IDE the following order would be the drive letters
and Im not sure exactly how adding SATA into the mix effects that

-- Primary Master primary partition (and typically System Partition)
-- Primary Slave primary partition
-- Secondary Master primary partition
-- Secondary Slave primary partition
-- Primary Master extended partition with logical drives
-- Primary Slave extended partition with logical drives
-- Secondary Master extended partition with logical drives
-- Secondary Slave extended partition with logical drives
-- Removable media (CD-ROM) or other software driven devices with drive letters

of course that doesnt address the fact your allowed up to 4 primary partitions per HDD (or 3 with an extended and its own logical drives) :p

and How Windows 2000 Assigns, Reserves, and Stores Drive Letters

BASIC Disk - Drive Letter Assignment Rules
The following are the basic disk drive letter assignment rules for Windows 2000: (and XP ect as well)

* Scan all fixed hard disks as they are enumerated, assign drive letters starting with any active primary partitions (if there is one), otherwise, scan the first primary partition on each drive. Assign next available letter starting with C:
* Repeat scan for all fixed hard disks and removable (JAZ, MO) disks and assign drive letters to all logical drives in an extended partition, or the removable disk(s) as enumerated. Assign next available letter starting with C:.
* Finally, repeat scan for all fixed hard disk drives, and assign drive letters to all remaining primary partitions. Assign next available letter starting with C:.
* Floppy drives. Assign letter starting with A:
* CD-ROM drives. Assign next available letter starting with D:.

if its being recognized as a logical drive its on an extended partition too, it needs to be a Primary and Active to be a System Partition

I'll need to think about this before I venture any advice :p

you didnt mention anything about making the RAID BIOS bootable
or the mobo BIOS boot order
 
Sorry for the quick post but I am about to go to class, but as for your question:

The RAID bios is bootable, as I *have*booted onto the raptors, however, the first time I didn't attempt to clone (in which case the comp was working, I'd just have to reinstall a lot - though the system drive was H: and not C:), and the later times when booting onto the raptors there was always one or another problem, due to something messed up in the clone.

Boot order right now is usually set to floppy, cd rom, SATA. Right now it is floppy, cd rom, IDE1 so that I can use my computer.

Thanks
Kevin
 
latest update:

I removed all devices except the SATA Raid0, and I installed windows on it. Booted up fine, and the drive showed up as C:. Then I shut down, installed a secondary hard drive, and when I logged back into windows the secondary IDE drive was designated (properly) as D:. This drive had the image back up of my primary on it, so I attempted to restore the clone using TrueImage - the program shut down my computer and restored the clone before windows loaded up, however, when I got back to the windows logon screen same problem happened - computer freezes before the login names slide in. I then shut down and attempted to repair the windows installation by reinstalling over the current one, and after doing this, I was able to logon. However, I had the same problem as before - the SATA drives were designated as Z:, and nothing would work (since everything was meant for C:).

I am pretty stumped...anyone have any ideas?

Kevin
 
Based on some replies at storage review, I did the following:

I tried the latest version of ghost, but same problem, when I attempt to clone then start up from the cloned drive it hangs on the logon screen. I tried it in two ways:

One, I had all drives connected, then cloned to the new drive and attempted to boot from it. Didn't work when I attempted to boot from it, but when booting up from my old drive, the raid array was designated as Z: and had all the stuff on it.

Two, I removed all drives, booted up into the Raid array and installed windows. This insured that the raid array was c:. Once in windows, I shut down the computer and plugged in the new drives then booted up again - the raid array was still c: which was good. I installed ghost then attempted to do a clone from my primary drive (which was like D: or something at the time) over to the raid array, but as soon as I did that, when I tried to boot back up into windows same problem, login screen wouldn't slide in.

I have a feeling the problem has something to do with ASPI layers or something like that, like I have to put my raid isntall on some boot disk or something? I have no idea...here is what I am referring to:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ghost...613522725&src=w

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ghost...=&osv=&osv_lvl=



As for the Z: designation, I believe that is because when I booted up into windows after installing the array using my old drive (first time after I installed the hardware), I designated the Raid Array as Z:. It seems to revert back to Z: as soon as something messes up now, its like something in the registry says if its a raid array it has to be Z:.

I don't know if thats clear...gonna try a few more things in ghost tonight.

Thanks
Kevin
 
Originally posted by oblivionx
As for the Z: designation, I believe that is because when I booted up into windows after installing the array using my old drive (first time after I installed the hardware), I designated the Raid Array as Z:.
Click to expand...

Bingo.
I've never been able to push an image that used a different hard disk controller and had it boot.
If it was defined in Windows beforehand, it does what you said.
If it wasn't, I get the unaccessable boot device or whatever it says exactly blue screen.
So, how the heck can you get what you want?
Well, it's something that's no fun, and might already be impossible with what you've done.

You'll want to uninstall the driver for your RAID card. (If you don't, you'll just be repairing 'Z' drive).
Copy the partition from a DOS boot disk to the RAID array.
Shut down and unplug the other drive.
Boot to the Windows install CD (don't forget F6 w/the RAID drivers :) ) and repair your installation once it's on the RAID array.

I don't know of any other solution....
 
Mike, you are a genius.

I followed your instructions - first I deleted the RAID volume, then disabled and unplugged the two SATA drives. Went back into windows, uninstalled IAA for RAID.

After this, I unplugged my IDE drives, and plugged in the SATA drives, then created a new RAID volume. I started the winxp setup, but I aborted it after I created a partition and formatted it on the RAID array. Then shut down again, plug in IDE, boot into Norton Ghost DOS and do a partition to partition clone from my IDE primary partition to the Raid Array partition. After ghost finished, I shut down the comp, unplugged the IDEs and loaded into windows.

I was expecting the boot up error and was ready to reinstall windows, but it loaded right in and everything seems to be working fine. Noticeably snappier so far on the Raptors, and it seems to be working.

One small problem, the first time I booted up, I was about to shut down, but I got a blue screen then the comp turned off. It hasn't happened again, maybe it was a fluke - but should I reinstall windows to be safe? I also still need to plug my IDE drives back in as storage.

Anyway thanks for all the help, it's nice to finally have it working.

Kevin
 
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