SSD Cloning: 1 X 80GB SSD to 2 X 120GB SSD in RAID0

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awsiemieniec

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So I have a SBS2011 with an 80GB SSD. It's just too small. So I purchased 2 X 120GB SSDs that will be setup in RAID 1. I'd like to clone the existing SSD onto the new SSD RAID. I've read about SSD alignment and found that the Acronis Home 2011 products properly support SSD alignment but that their server-grade software is still not. However! If my existing SSD is already in proper alignment, do I need to worry about alignment on the new clone? If I do, what software for cloning is recommended? This will be a one-time deal so free, demo, trial, etc software is fine; as long as the trial ware is full functional.

Thx.
AWS
 
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Does the ToDo Backup allow resizing of the destination partition? I don't want to clone to the new volume only to learn that my original 80GB volume is now also present on my 120GB (RAID 1) volume. Thanks. I went to the site but didn't see any reference to this sort of question. Thank you for the software recommendation. If this is an automatic operation of all modern cloning software, forgive the question. ;)
 
Looks like all the Acronis products require an image be taken first before I can put it on my RAID (per the chat session I just had with one of their techs). Is this true for other products, too? I'd like to go with a live/hot clone as opposed to an image build & restore.
 
+1 on ToDoBackup, I use the server edition personally, to keep my Windows 2008 server boot volumes imaged. Acronis used to be my clone software of choice but since its linux based (the bootable CD anyway), when new motherboard chipsets come out it often can't detect the drives and then you have to wait for Acronis to catch up with an update, typically months later. At least that's how its been historically.

And since ToDoBackup boots into a WinPE environment based on Windows 7, it seems to handle certain things better than linux based tools, for example a motherboard based RAID0 or RAID1 w/ 2 drives might get detected as two individual drives in Clonezilla, but will be recognized properly as a single drive (raid volume) in ToDoBackup. I just went through this last week and couldn't use Clonezilla on the latest PartedMagic bootdisk for that reason.
 
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Thanks for the second opinion. I've begun my clone operation on the SBS2011 server onto the new RAID 1 SSD sub system and so far so good. One plus is that before it started the clone process it let me dynamically (via a horizontal dragger) resize my new partition on the new volume. That is a big plus.
 
awsiemieniec said:
If my existing SSD is already in proper alignment, do I need to worry about alignment on the new clone?
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Yes! This is a major problem with older disk cloning software. They would take your properly aligned partition and place it on the new drive using the old 32KB standard, ruining your 1MB alignment for the SSD. This is generally what people are asking about when they ask if a product supports alignment for SSDs.
 
Alrighty, 15 minutes later and the 80GB clone is done. I really like that speed! Shutdown Windows, disconnected the original SSD, booted up just perfect into the OS. Sweet. Nice, very nice.
 
Yeah ToDoBackup is my favorite clone software. I still use the Win 7 Image for backups though.
 
Was your 80GB drive using AHCI mode before or were you just using the RAID mode of the ICH10R and the drive was just a single drive running off the RAID controller?

I ask this because I would like to know how people who have an image of their OS that is on a single SSD in AHCI mode restore it to a RAID 0 or 1 setup if the drivers aren't loaded for the RAID controller prior to the swap? If your controller is set to AHCI, how does one add the RAID drivers then?
 
Burner27 said:
I ask this because I would like to know how people who have an image of their OS that is on a single SSD in AHCI mode restore it to a RAID 0 or 1 setup if the drivers aren't loaded for the RAID controller prior to the swap? If your controller is set to AHCI, how does one add the RAID drivers then?
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Good question.

I think this is where the "Universal Restore" comes into play on many recovery programs.

I use Acronis with universal restore and I've done the restore/recovery thing soo many times that I can't remember every instance but there was one time that I was asked to provide RAID drivers for the restore.

EDIT....I recall there being options when making an Acronis recovery disk to add drivers for a universal restore.
 
Old Hippie said:
Good question.

I think this is where the "Universal Restore" comes into play on many recovery programs.

I use Acronis with universal restore and I've done the restore/recovery thing soo many times that I can't remember every instance but there was one time that I was asked to provide RAID drivers for the restore.

EDIT....I recall there being options when making an Acronis recovery disk to add drivers for a universal restore.
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Isn't the universal restore part of the "plus pack" for Acronis? It allows you to restore to 'dissimilar hardware'.
 
When cloning a drive before you clone just set the registry to RAID mode, reboot the OS, change the BIOS to RAID and then after the reboot install IRST. Then clone the drive and your set. ToDoBackup is free and clones better than Acronis IMO.

And if you have a certain version of ToDoBackup (1.1) you can use it on server too.
 
So, I'll finally be joining the SSD generation when my 256GB C300 gets here in a couple of days. I'm currently running Win7 on a 256GB partition on my conventional HD. Can I just clone that conventional partition to my new SSD like the OP did with his situation or would be it be better to reinstall from scratch? I do have that program to align my SSD if ToDoBackup doesn't take care of that automatically.

Thanks.
 
^ Even if ToDoBackup would take care of proper 1M alignment for SSD (i'm not sure if it does), from a housekeeping and efficiency point of view I would always reinstall the O/S. Re-installing Windows 7 only takes minutes with SSD's, You might think "ugh i gotta reinstall all my programs" but that can also be liberating since you realize you only actually need a fraction of the junk you had installed on the old drive.

Not to mention there are some tweaks Windows does to itself automatically during installation when it detects an SSD, so if you cloned from a spinning disk then you'd have to research and implement those tweaks manually afterward, or use a tool like SSD Tweaker 1.9.2 will take care of a lot of it, but ultimately a fresh O/S install is best with a new SSD.
 
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Isn't the universal restore part of the "plus pack" for Acronis? It allows you to restore to 'dissimilar hardware'.
Click to expand...
I think so.

Just for shits and giggles yesterday, I tried Todo Server Backup to check it out.

Seems OK.
 
So using the "clone" method keeps and restores proper alignment?

EDIT: NO this program doesn't keep alignment - worthless IMO. Tried every which way and it hoses up the alignmnet on the restore.
 
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