Image single SATA drive onto a RAID array?

[seismik]

Hi,

I've currently got XP installed on single, massive C: partition which takes up my entire drive - it's 500GB. I have an Asus P5B Deluxe mobo, which can support SATA RAID, so I want to try going to RAID-0. Not sure how to best do it... can I image my existing installation and then build my new RAID array with two new harddrives and then deploy the image onto them to be my C: system volume. Or I'm stuck with doing a full re-install of the OS and everything again to get my OS onto the RAID array?

Not really sure what I'm doing, any help and tips much appreciated - haven't ever setup RAID before.

seis.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: seismik
Hi,

I've currently got XP installed on single, massive C: partition which takes up my entire drive - it's 500GB. I have an Asus P5B Deluxe mobo, which can support SATA RAID, so I want to try going to RAID-0. Not sure how to best do it... can I image my existing installation and then build my new RAID array with two new harddrives and then deploy the image onto them to be my C: system volume. Or I'm stuck with doing a full re-install of the OS and everything again to get my OS onto the RAID array?

Not really sure what I'm doing, any help and tips much appreciated - haven't ever setup RAID before.

seis.

RAID0? Don't do it. Bad idea. Use 2 distinct drives instead.

That said, if you absolutely must (why??) snag a USB drive, Ghost or Acronis DriveImage to that drive, then restore to your RAID0 (bad idea) drive.

 

[seismik]

Sorry, I wasn't totally clear. I'm thinking I will buy 2 distinct drives to setup a RAID-0 array, but I wondered if it would be possible to restore my existing single drive image to the new RAID-0 drive... that should dramatically improve my disk I/0 no?

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: seismik
Sorry, I wasn't totally clear. I'm thinking I will buy 2 distinct drives to setup a RAID-0 array, but I wondered if it would be possible to restore my existing single drive image to the new RAID-0 drive... that should dramatically improve my disk I/0 no?

Most likely, no, it will not improve your disk I/O. RAID 0 has minimal improvement for a standard desktop configuration. Also, when you restore from a previous install, it will not have the RAID controller drivers loaded, so it won't functional properly, if at all. The best thing to do is reformat / reinstall for moving to a RAID configuration. You can slipstream SP2 & drivers, but you will still have to reinstall programs.

EDIT: RAID 0 might be useful in some things, but I'd never recommend it for a primary disk. I prefer to have a single small disk for boot, RAID 0 for games, temp, and scratch, and RAID 5 for storage.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Fullmetal Chocobo
Also, when you restore from a previous install, it will not have the RAID controller drivers loaded, so it won't functional properly, if at all.

If you can enable the RAID controller, then boot into WinXP (still attached to the non-RAID adapter) so WinXP can do a PnP, XP will catch the new hardware, install the driver, and you'll be fine from there.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: seismik
Sorry, I wasn't totally clear. I'm thinking I will buy 2 distinct drives to setup a RAID-0 array, but I wondered if it would be possible to restore my existing single drive image to the new RAID-0 drive

Right. That's what I replied to.

... that should dramatically improve my disk I/0 no?

Not really. And your reliability will nosedive - lose one disk, lose the entire volume - bad idea. Don't do it.

 

[seismik]

Ok, thanks for the info guys. Maybe I will just forget about it... my system is pretty quick and I figured I could get a little more speed from what I figure is the biggest bottleneck, my harddrive. But sounds like it's just not worth it.