Need Help with my Raid please!?

[DoggyDaddi]

Got an Abit KV-7 and currently have my O.S. on a Maxtor 40gb ATA-133 7200rpm drive on SATA-1 (using an adapter). However, I just ordered 2-160gb Maxtor SATA's, and plan to move my OS onto them using Raid 0+1....

My only problem is.. how do I transfer my O.S. ONTO those 2 drives once they are set up under Raid 0+1? Does Windows XP Pro have an option or program for doing this?

I can't find anything for it.. but I'm hoping its as simple as moving the 40 gb to Primary IDE Master, and installing the 2 new drives, then booting up to the 40, setting up the 2-160's, and then just copying the files over manually? Since I've never used RAID before.. I would like to verify first please?

 

[Iconz]

Norton GHOST, should be available with SystemWorks Pro (at least it was a couple years ago). That will transfer an identical copy to the new drive. But, as came up yesterday, you may have problems re-activating XP. Here is a link to that thread to get activation back up-- http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=727065

 

[Ice Czar]

in addition Maxtors diagnostic (PowerMax) has a rudimentary clone utility, and there a two on the Ultimate Boot CD ISO Freeware (g4u & HDClone)

but I use Ghost as well, it provides by far the most control and features (if you invest the time to learn the switches)

Radified Ghost Guide

 

[lansens]

Drive Image7 is also a good choice and does support raid. I noticed that you want to run 0+1. You will need a total of four disks to run 0+1. You can run either 0 or 1 with 2 disks. 0 = striping, this is used for increased performance. 1 = mirroring, this is used for data redundancy.

 

[Ice Czar]

Originally posted by lansens
Drive Image7 is also a good choice and does support raid.

No it doesnt, Powerquest was just bought by Symantec (owner of Ghost) and neither Ghost or Drive Image officially support RAID arrays

Software RAID > Q: Does Drive Image 7 support Dynamic Disks?
A: Drive Image 7 does not support imaging Dynamic Disks

Hardware RAID > Q: Can Drive Image 7 image servers?
A: Drive Image 7 does not support imaging servers. Drive Image 7 supports Windows XP Home and Professional, and Windows 2000 Professional. To create images of servers, use the enterprise-level product V2i Protector.



to image Hardware RAID arrays youd need PowerQuest V2i Server Edition

V2i Protector Server Edition Overview
PowerQuest V2i Protector is a real-time disk-based system and storage backup solution designed to capture and encapsulate all server files and configurations in one easy-to-manage backup file. Utilizing PowerQuest’s Virtual Volume Imaging (V2i™) technology, backups are created to a SAN, NAS or RAID array without interrupting user productivity or application usage. Quickly restore failed systems to a specified point-in-time without taking hours to manually rebuild servers and restore data from tape backup. Using PowerQuest V2i Protector, perform a full system restoration, a complete bare metal server restoration or restore individual files and folders in as little as minutes.
$995

Ghost compatibility with RAID

Situation:
This document describes the compatibility between Ghost and computers that use RAID.

Solution:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before you begin:
Symantec does not provide technical support for imaging RAID drives, regardless of whether the drive uses software level RAID or hardware level RAID. Successfully imaging a RAID drive is dependent on the specific computer model, driver controller, hard drive, and RAID implementation. Symantec provides the following information only as an aid to cloning RAID drives. This information is a suggestion only. It is likely to work only in limited circumstances. Symantec does not provide support for the following information.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ghost and RAID
Ghost is not compatible with computers that use RAID. That is, Symantec Ghost 8.0 and earlier, and Norton Ghost 2003 and earlier, do not support RAID controllers on computers that are being imaged. In addition:
Ghost does not work with software level RAID.
Although Ghost might work in some limited circumstances with hardware level RAID, Symantec does not support using Ghost for cloning hardware level RAID drives.
Ghost does support cloning drives that have had RAID removed, such as after you break a mirrored set.

Ghost and hardware-level RAID systems
Although it is not a supported feature, Ghost can sometimes create and restore images to hardware level RAID systems if you load the appropriate DOS ASPI driver to support this. Load the DOS ASPI driver when you create the image file and again when you restore the image file. DOS ASPI drivers can usually be obtained from the RAID hardware manufacturer. For other ASPI driver information, see the document Information on ASPI drivers.

Notes on getting Ghost to work with hardware RAID systems
Use similar hardware: Restore the image file only to a computer that uses the same hardware as the source computer. Because the operating system needs the drivers for the array, the drives will be inaccessible on the destination computer unless the hardware is the same.
SCSI or IDE: Ghost's ability to work with RAID arrays is not dependent on whether the array uses SCSI drives or IDE drives.
Mirrored sets in Windows NT: To clone mirrored sets in Windows NT, break the mirror, run Ghost with the -NTIID switch ( -ntiid ), and then recreate the mirror using the Windows NT Disk Administrator. Note that duplexed disks are a type of mirrored set. See the document Cannot migrate Windows NT mirrored or striped sets to larger drives.
Mirrored sets in Windows 2000/XP: Symantec Ghost 7.5, 8.0, and Norton Ghost 2003 support cloning a mirrored partition in Window 2000 and Windows XP provided that the source partition is on a Dynamic Disk and the image is restored to a Basic Disk. The restored partition is not mirrored. See the document Ghost compatibility with Dynamic partitions.
Restore the partition rather than the disk: In some situations, Ghost may be able to restore a partition from a disk image when Ghost cannot restore the disk image.

that said some RAID levels and controllers can be imaged with Ghost and Drive Image, but other just wont, I run a RAID 5 and neither will work, Drive Image is comparitable to Ghost when it comes to imaging RAID arrays they just dont confess to it like Ghost does, just completely avoid the reference in their documentation at one point the site did say it didnt support RAID straight out and then it disappeared
Ive contacted them directly on this issue, as mentioned Ive never Imaged the data from my RAID 5, I first need to transfer i9t off and then Image it, and with that level of work, you might as well just make Hard Media Backups, actually my RAID array is useful for holding and restoring Ghost Images

 

[lansens]

Sorry about the "support" comment. What I should have said was, I use Drive Image 7 to back up and restore my array. RAID 0 with to 36GB Raptors on a Promise controller. Sorry again for not being clear.

 

[Ice Czar]

not a problem, its just that once upon a time (when I was a n00b)
I read a similiar comment and then spent alot of time trying to make it work ...unsucessfully

the Ghost disclaimer is pretty accurate, for a RAID 1, simply break the mirror and image, sometimes RAID 0 works, sometimes it doesnt, Ive never heard of anyone successfully Imaging a RAID 5, 3, 30, 50

and Im not sure about 10, 0+1
(you wouldnt want to image both anyway)

 

[DoggyDaddi]

Ok.. this is all well and good, but it's not exactly what I was asking

I have my OS set up on a 40gb Maxtor ATA-133 7200, which is on SATA-1. I plan to move it to Primary IDE Master, and while booting from it, set up a RAID 0+1 on an identical pair of Maxtor 160gb SATA drives newly installed to both SATA-1 & SATA-2.

After the raid is set up for the SATA, I need to know how to transfer my existing OS from the 40 to the 160's... and then boot from them.

How would Ghost help me with that? Do I simply make an image of my 40 TO the 160's after they are formated and ready to go? Would it be bootable then?

 

[Ice Czar]

actually it addresses it directly

however I missed something in your first post
how do you propose to setup a 0+1 on 2 drives?
it requires a minimum of 4

you can either 0 or 1 but not both (in hardware)
are you talking about a mixed hardware\software RAID?

Software RAID = Dynamic Disks (in Windows)

 

[DoggyDaddi]

Oh.. ok.. I missread the manual.. my bad

This board can only support RAID 0/1 which I gues means 0 OR 1, not 0+1... my bad.. [sigh]

Reason why I ask.. is I have Norton Systemworks Professional 2002 w/ Ghost installed, and I cant sem to figure out how to do the image thing.. and the docs arent exactly usefull in the help section

Originally posted by Ice Czar
actually it addresses it directly

however I missed something in your first post
how do you propose to setup a 0+1 on 2 drives?
it requires a minimum of 4

you can either 0 or 1 but not both (in hardware)
are you talking about a mixed hardware\software RAID?

Software RAID = Dynamic Disks (in Windows)

 

[Suicidal Insanity]

I have transferred my os fine multiple times by just booting into an os on a other HDD, copying my old os into a folder, booting my old os and copying the folder to the new drive. Only thing to watch is you may need to edit the registry to set the new drives up as C:\ etc, either do this with a remote reg edit service or if you can after booting the first time. The only disadvantage this method has is you need an extra OS on a random drive that is still lying around.
Also make sure that your target drive parition has been set to active (in computer management) and that boot.ini is properly setup to boot from the raid drive.

 

[Ice Czar]

Originally posted by DoggyDaddi
and the docs arent exactly usefull in the help section

Radified Ghost Guide

If your going to Mirror an array (RAID1) you would first clone over the HDD and then build a mirror array with it

If on the other hand your after a RAID0 (Striped for performance) you would build the array first and then you might be able to Ghost to it, you might need to add a DOS ASPI to it (Ghost)


If you copy an OS install it wont be bootable (lacking the MBR) which is why you clone it, but Suicidal Insanity suggestion will work if there is another OS that is the system partition (containg the boot sector, MBR, ntldr and boot.ini) you then edit the boot.ini to boot into the copied OS, you can use XXcopy or xcopy to copy the whole tree

Definition of System and Boot Partition
Inside the boot process part 1 & 2
NTFS boot sector
MBR


personally Id do a fresh install to the RAID0 and then transfer over the data\settings