Need quick RAID advice!

[glbtrekker]

Hey folks, I have a i7 desktop that I built a couple of years ago with a Raid (1) configuration. Problem is some kind of virus made my drives unbootable. Therefore, I've had to reinstall the operating system. Funny thing is the data on the drives was still intact, so I only formatted one of the drives so that I transfer my files back to a good drive when the OS was functional again. Now I have one good drive loaded with operating system (Windows 7 Premium 64bit) and a freshly formatted drive. What I am trying to do is to reconfigure the RAID without loosing my data on the operational disk. Is this possible without reformatting both drives and starting over?

Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P
2 WD 1T Black Caviar
Windows 7 64 bit

 

[Elf_Boy]

You dont need to reformat to re-install your operating system.

As for data on 1 of 2 disks to be used in a raid-0, you will need to move the data off before creating the raid or you will lose the information.

 

[Aesma]

He wants to do a mirror, not a stripped array.

My advice : as you experienced, RAID1 has drawbacks. Don't do it. Use that empty drive to do backups.

 

[mwroobel]

Well, RAID 1 has the same drawbacks as any other non-backed up system in that any change is immediate. Where RAID1 excels is in data availability. If 1 drives fails, you can continue working. I would suggest doing a RAID1 AND a single backup drive, gives you all the benefits that RAID1 gives you plus the security of a backup you can go back to if something bad happens (file corruption/deletion/overwrite) or if the entire RAID1 fails. Remember, RAID is NOT a backup!