Disk imaging

[ochadd]

So one of my production servers is getting a drive upgrade and also I want to move it to RAID 10 from the existing RAID 5. This is the data store, D:, while the OS and apps are on a different RAID 1 set on C:.

My plan is to image the D: partition over the network using Clonezilla. Immediately switch the drives, build the RAID 10 array, and then image the partion back to the new drive set also using Clonezilla. This is on a Dell 2950 and Perc 5i integrated controller.

Am I missing something or should it be that easy? I've imaged lots of desktops and laptops but never a RAID array or server.

Thanks

 

[Blain]

Does Clonezilla see RAID arrays or single drives?

 

[yinan]

As long as the controller doesnt change and your cloning software sees the arrays as 1 drive you should be fine. Windows doesnt know anything about the underlying disk structure.

 

[ochadd]

Originally posted by: Blain
Does Clonezilla see RAID arrays or single drives?

Documentation says it does though I haven't tried it on a server yet. Since the data is on a single partition I don't think the hardware should be an issue.

I use Clonezilla from a bootable USB drive before windows ever gets loaded. I'm hoping when Windows comes back up it doesn't know anything was changed.

 

[Blain]

The last time I tried to image from a RAID 0 array with Clonezilla, it would only see the actual hard drives vs. the RAID array.
It did this in DOS mode before Windows loaded. I guess I was doing something wrong.

 

[ochadd]

Originally posted by: Blain
The last time I tried to image from a RAID 0 array with Clonezilla, it would only see the actual hard drives vs. the RAID array.
It did this in DOS mode before Windows loaded. I guess I was doing something wrong.

Did you ever try to clone a partition instead of a whole drive?

I did a partition image of C: on a laptop then wiped the drive. Set the partitions up using a Vista repair option and then restored it. This worked great.

Wouldn't the cloning of the entire drive only be needed if you had multiple partitions and/or OS installs on it?