Need help! How should I REPLACE this current RAID setup?

[whittech]

I am somewhat new to raid, and was hoping for some of your input.

I need to swap out the 2 hard drives (sata 80gb maxtor) that are in a server running on RAID1.

I notice when I hook the drives to an external computer, I cannot browse the C:\ drive, the operating system. It shows up but it locks up if i try to open it.
the D:\ or data partition, I can see and copy just fine.
The drives are extremely noisy, and I want to replace them with 2 400GB sata WD hard drives.

I have never replaced a RAID setup before.
What do I need to do?
Can I clone the drives to the new drives, and boot the Win2kServer OS that currently runs?
Do I have to set anything manually on the new drives? Do I need to format or initialize them in a different way?

How would you go about this?
RAID 1 is currently used. The server is used for a few client computers to connect and access a program database. It needs to be backed up more than 1 way daily.
Should I continue with RAID1? should I change this?

Remember I am new to the whole RAID scene but have no problem working with this stuff, and appreciate your help very much. Thanks

 

[whittech]

If it means anything, I think the Dell Poweredge 1800 server that I am referring to is HARDWARE RAID, configured in BIOS. what exactly is a software raid setup?

thanks!

 

[Waypo]

If when the drives are connected to a different system and lock up when accessing the one of the partitions that indicates data corruption. You didn't say if that happens with both drives but if it does then run chkdsk on them and see if it fixes anything.

Ghosting the 80s to the 400s should work fine and if one drive is unrepairable (assuming data corruption) and you can get the other to work, then just ghost the working 80 to both the 400s. They should boot up and allow you to continue running.