Acronis True Image & 4 Drive RAID 0 Array Restore Issues

[Burner27]

Ok, I recently acquired 2 x 256GB Crucial M4s (Thanks Nanaki333) and I already have an existing RAID 0 array of 2 x 256GB M4s on the 2 Intel SATA6 ports. I have made a backup of the existing RAID array using Acronis True Image Home 2012. I deleted the array and created a 4 x 256GB RAID 0 (and a 3 x 256GB RAID 0 array to see if that was the cause). I created the array(s) with a 500GB partition and leaving the rest unpartitioned for reserve space for the health of the SSDs. I know that once I have a third drive in the array the speed will drop to SATA3 speeds.

When I boot with the Acronis True Image 2012 (w/Plus Pack) recovery CD, I see (right before it gets into the Acronis program) that the RAID array was NOT INITIALIZED.

When I get into the program the RAID array is not there (duh) and if I go to initialize disks, the disks that make up the array show up as individual disks not as a RAID array of 500GB.

If i recreate the RAID array with 2 SSDs, make a partition of 300GB, and then restore the image to that array- the software initializes the array and I am able to see it as a 300GB array in the Acronis software restore.

Is there some sort of limitation to the size array you can restore to? Or am I just not doing this correctly?

Has anyone done this before?

 

[ch33zw1z]

What Intel Disk controller is it? After you create the array in the disk controller utility, does it show up as Initialized?

 

[Burner27]

It's on my P67 chipset. 10.5 OROM. It only initializes when i use a 2 drive array. Anything more and it doesn't initialize.

 

[ch33zw1z]

What board do you have? Does the array show Initialized in the config utility when using 4 drives in a RAID 0? Basically, I'm asking if this controller CAN support a 3 or 4 drive RAID 0...

 

[groberts101]

yeah.. Acronis can be funny that way with wider non-initialized arrays. At first I couldn't figure what the hell was up either. lol Their support is excellent though should you ever want to spend the time on it.

Workaround = creating the array(or at least managing it after the bios build) from another OS volume(preferably on another 3rd party sata chip on the mobo) will give you the flexibility of independent sata mode settings in the bios.

Or you'll have to do a single drive raidmode install on the same Intel chip(or do the reg hack on an existing volume if need be).

Anywho.. however you get there is fine. I do everything possible these days in software. Used to not trust the RST raid app for creating similar integrity a few years ago.. but now that I've run arrays created with it since then?.. it's just as good to create it with Intels software from within Windows as it is to do it in the bios.

Some also don't know that you can even migrate new R0 disks into an existing array.. well.. at least you used to be able to, but I haven't tried R0 migration with 11 series drivers so it may have changed. Don't recommend it due to the lopsided drive mapping differences(free blocks) between the older and newer disks.. but can still be done in a pinch to save time if you add a little idle time GC for the older drives to clean and level up with one another.. Backup data before migrations, of course.

So, long story short.

1. Secure erase all disks to refresh them to factory state.
2. Set Intel chip to raidmode in bios.
3. Boot to another OS volume with Intel's RST Driver/Raid utility use it to create the array. Using Acronis for all needed tasks from this same volume gives fewer reboots as well.
3a. Don't forget to check if write-back cache is enabled due to the fact that ALL Intel raids have it disabled by default. There have been mixed results with some folks losing those settings between new arrays and backup images so, DO be sure to check/enable it once again.
4. Initialize the array in W7's disk mgmt. No need to quick format as you'll just get a message during the imaging process saying that Acronis will destroy all existing partitions in the recovery anyways.
5. Reboot and change the boot order to the newly built/imaged array.
6. Enjoy

If you use another separate OS volume from another sata chip like I've mentioned here?.. you can run independent bios settings and keep things more flexible for maintenance/rebuilds/configs.

Then add the ability to do EVERYTHING from software?.. and it makes it hard to fall back to the older ways of doing things. SE, array rebuild, and imaging all under one roof with a simple boot order change upon reboot. Works slick. :thumbsup:

 

[Burner27]

What board do you have? Does the array show Initialized in the config utility when using 4 drives in a RAID 0? Basically, I'm asking if this controller CAN support a 3 or 4 drive RAID 0...

Asus P8P67 Pro B3 rev. The RAID array shows initialized in the Intel Matrix BIOS. It can support 4 drives- I have had it that way in the past.

 

[Burner27]

yeah.. Acronis can be funny that way with wider non-initialized arrays. At first I couldn't figure what the hell was up either. lol Their support is excellent though should you ever want to spend the time on it.

Workaround = creating the array(or at least managing it after the bios build) from another OS volume(preferably on another 3rd party sata chip on the mobo) will give you the flexibility of independent sata mode settings in the bios.

Or you'll have to do a single drive raidmode install on the same Intel chip(or do the reg hack on an existing volume if need be).

Anywho.. however you get there is fine. I do everything possible these days in software. Used to not trust the RST raid app for creating similar integrity a few years ago.. but now that I've run arrays created with it since then?.. it's just as good to create it with Intels software from within Windows as it is to do it in the bios.

Some also don't know that you can even migrate new R0 disks into an existing array.. well.. at least you used to be able to, but I haven't tried R0 migration with 11 series drivers so it may have changed. Don't recommend it due to the lopsided drive mapping differences(free blocks) between the older and newer disks.. but can still be done in a pinch to save time if you add a little idle time GC for the older drives to clean and level up with one another.. Backup data before migrations, of course.

So, long story short.

1. Secure erase all disks to refresh them to factory state.
2. Set Intel chip to raidmode in bios.
3. Boot to another OS volume with Intel's RST Driver/Raid utility use it to create the array. Using Acronis for all needed tasks from this same volume gives fewer reboots as well.
3a. Don't forget to check if write-back cache is enabled due to the fact that ALL Intel raids have it disabled by default. There have been mixed results with some folks losing those settings between new arrays and backup images so, DO be sure to check/enable it once again.
4. Initialize the array in W7's disk mgmt. No need to quick format as you'll just get a message during the imaging process saying that Acronis will destroy all existing partitions in the recovery anyways.
5. Reboot and change the boot order to the newly built/imaged array.
6. Enjoy

If you use another separate OS volume from another sata chip like I've mentioned here?.. you can run independent bios settings and keep things more flexible for maintenance/rebuilds/configs.

Then add the ability to do EVERYTHING from software?.. and it makes it hard to fall back to the older ways of doing things. SE, array rebuild, and imaging all under one roof with a simple boot order change upon reboot. Works slick. :thumbsup:

Thanks groberts101. I will try this and let you know. Acronis can be so silly sometimes.

 

[Burner27]

While your suggested method of getting the array initialized would work if I could do it with a system drive already in place, it is not an option since all I have is the 4 x 256GB SSDs and a single 500GB drive that has my software directory on it as well as the image backup of the array.

Is it a limitation of the Acronis TIH software itself? Do I need their 'enterprise' software to achieve this? Is this a 'bug'? Why does it work with a 2 drive setup but nothing greater?

Can you explain the single drive raid mode method? How would you add disks to the array after restoring the image to a single drive?

 

[ch33zw1z]

Is it a limitation of the Acronis TIH software itself? Do I need their 'enterprise' software to achieve this? Is this a 'bug'? Why does it work with a 2 drive setup but nothing greater?

That would be a question for Acronis. Have you posted on their support forums yet?

Can you explain the single drive raid mode method? How would you add disks to the array after restoring the image to a single drive?

I believe he's doing this in the OS using the Intel RAID utility. Once it's setup, on the next reboot you change the controller to RAID mode.

 

[groberts101]

If you don't have another drive?.. then just use W7's install disk to create the partition and initialize the array in diskpart at the cmd prompt. Then Acronis will see it just fine for imaging.

And what I was eluding to is that, had you wanted to build upon the existing array(before you erased it)?.. you could have added drives in the RST raid mgr app. Can't build an R0 with 1 disk so you couldn't add drives that way and there must be an existing array to build upon.

PS.. trust me here Burner.. get yourself a cheap small capacity HDD to try what I said earlier. I even have an old IDE drive OS install that I keep unplugged for emergency use. Having a dedicated backup OS for maintenance and rebuilds like this has saved my dozens of hours over the years and is well worth the cash/time to implement it.

 

[Burner27]

If you don't have another drive?.. then just use W7's install disk to create the partition and initialize the array in diskpart at the cmd prompt. Then Acronis will see it just fine for imaging.

And what I was eluding to is that, had you wanted to build upon the existing array(before you erased it)?.. you could have added drives in the RST raid mgr app. Can't build an R0 with 1 disk so you couldn't add drives that way and there must be an existing array to build upon.

PS.. trust me here Burner.. get yourself a cheap small capacity HDD to try what I said earlier. I even have an old IDE drive OS install that I keep unplugged for emergency use. Having a dedicated backup OS for maintenance and rebuilds like this has saved my dozens of hours over the years and is well worth the cash/time to implement it.

What about running an OS from a USB key with all installed apps? From there restore the image of the RAID to the array WITHIN WINDOWS using acronis?

 

[groberts101]

yep.. that'll work too. Will be slow as hell.. but same same.

You just need to initialize the array in some way to get Acronis to see it, is all. I'd probably just boot to USB and initialize with disk mgmt.. then use the Acronis recovery CD to pull the image over to the array from the backup source.

 

[corkyg]

I would do this. Using Acronis T-2012 Rescue Media, I would clone the existing array to an external drive. I would then rebuild the new array with nothing on it. Then I would clone the external old array contents to the new array. Acronis sees any RAID array as a single lettered drive.

 

[Burner27]

That's where my issue is. If I create ANY array larger than 2 drives it will not initialize it. Even if I use the Windows 7 install disk and create a partition, then stop the install process, boot with the Acronis boot media and try to restore the image - it sees the drives as individual drives - not as a single unit.

I must be doing something wrong.

 

[groberts101]

did you mark the newly created partition as active before trying to restore the image?

That's about all I got for ya bud. If that doesn't work then it's got to be something to do with ATI 2012(because I know previous version work just fine with 4 drives and up).. or the board itself due to spanning the 6G and 3G ports. the latter of which seems unlikely.

 

[Burner27]

I posted the question on the Acromis support forums too.

Groberts101- thanks for all he advice. Do you think I could use a Ubuntu-live CD to create and initialize an array useable for Windows?

 

[groberts101]

No problemo.. and yes you can. G-parted will work just fine as well. Acronis has excellent support and they should be able to get you straightened out for sure.

As they say.. there's more than one way to skin a cat. Although.. stuffing it is a bit harder than we thought it would be. LOL

 

[Old Hippie]

Soooo, did you ever find disk mode?

 

[Burner27]

Soooo, did you ever find disk mode?

No, because you never gave me screenshot of what you're talking about.

 

[Old Hippie]

No, because you never gave me screenshot of what you're talking about.

Then I'm just dreaming about the pic in this thread that was put there on the 5th?

 

[groberts101]

Then I'm just dreaming about the pic in this thread that was put there on the 5th?

looks like a viable solution to me. :thumbsup:

 

[Burner27]

Thanks Rick.

I will try to create a WinPe boot disk and see what happens.


Just for laughs, I used my Acronis TIH 2011 disk with Plus Pack installed and I was able to initialize the array with 3 and 4 drives. No issues at all. Same HW too. Gotta be something with the new version.

 

[groberts101]

Gotta be something with the new version.

hey!.. why didn't I think of that.

I'm guessing that 2012 has changed just enough to become more of a pain in the ass for new users. Now.. just wait till W8 gets here. LOL

 

[Burner27]

hey!.. why didn't I think of that.

I'm guessing that 2012 has changed just enough to become more of a pain in the ass for new users. Now.. just wait till W8 gets here. LOL

Yes Yes Groberts101. You did mention that - props to you. I hope they fix this in the 2012 version.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Wow, HardForum is so F'ed up. Not only do they not allow registration with Netzero e-mails, because Kyle is a prejudiced ass (but they do allow aol addresses, go figure), but they ban an official Acronis Support Rep that posts to their forums.