Cloning SATA RAID 0

[Kdiver58]

I have two 250 gig SATA hard drives setup as RAID 0 for speed , I have just about filled them up.

What is the best way to clone the drives, preserve the data and gain storage?



Thanks .. K

 

[Diogenes2]

Do an image back- up, then restore to new hardware..

( only way to gain storage is to get higher capacity drives )

 

[Kdiver58]

I only have one RAID controler on this computer and it is currently supporting the RAID 0 I have setup now. I know I need to get larger drives. I have cloned other drives on other computers but have never tried it with a RAID drive or SATA drives. In the past I have used both Norton Ghost and True Image.

If I create an image and them restore won't I end up needed 3 hard drives ?

One 1/2 TB drive to create the image to and then two 1TB drives or larger to restore the image to ?

Thanks .. K

 

[alaricljs]

Yes, you need a place to store the image unless you can manage to configure your destination at the same time as having your source available.

 

[corkyg]

As for cloning, a RAID array is simply seen as a single drive. With no more slots, you are just about limited to an external drive big enough to hold the total RAID 0. It will be slow, but it will work

 

[RebateMonger]

With 1 TB disks selling for near $50, it probably wouldn't hurt to have one to image your array to and use it for ongoing backups of your data.

 

[Kdiver58]

I do have an IDE controler in the computer do you think it would work out better if I installed a 1TB EIDE drive and burned an image to that then restored it to the new RAID0 drives totaling 2TB ?

Or just go with an external drive .. Thanks for all of the help .. K

 

[corkyg]

I see the external as a better backup than an internal PATA IDE. That way it is not subject to system power surges or other problems. My external backup is not even connected unless I want to back up to it.

Not sure of there are PATA IDE 1TB drives available these days.

 

[Blain]

Cloning a RAID 0 array isn't as simple as a single drive.
Many cloning apps see two individual drives rather than a single drive.

 

[FishAk]

Cloning the drive is no problem, but recovering to the array is a problem, unless you can boot to an OS that supports the RAID drivers. Since the OP intends to recover to a single drive after imaging the array, this shouldn't be an issue.

I use Macrium Reflect, which is Windows based, with a Linux or BartPE based CD for recovery. My array shows up as single disks with the CD, so I boot to a small (3Gb) XP install I have on a separate drive to recover the array.

 

[RebateMonger]

I do have an IDE controler in the computer do you think it would work out better if I installed a 1TB EIDE drive and burned an image to that then restored it to the new RAID0 drives totaling 2TB ?

There ARE no 1 TB IDE disks. Only SATA.

 

[corkyg]

Cloning a RAID 0 array isn't as simple as a single drive. Many cloning apps see two individual drives rather than a single drive.

Acronis TI sees a RAID array as a single entity when cloning. I can't speak for other apps. Been cloning my RAID array regularly for the past 2-3 years.

 

[RebateMonger]

Acronis TI sees a RAID array as a single entity when cloning. I can't speak for other apps. Been cloning my RAID array regularly for the past 2-3 years.

It's kind of a question of definitions. I see Acronis, Windows Image Backup, Windows Home Server, and other Windows-based backups as "Imaging Backups" rather than clones. To me, "cloning" software is more like the original Ghost or other software that makes a bit-level copy of a physical disk, rather than a block-level, volume-based image.

 

[corkyg]

I always use the TI Clone utility on the Rescue Media because it is OS independent. I just made this screen shot of how TI sees the RAID array.

A cloned drive requires no restoration. When I put in a pair of larger drives in the RAID array, step 1 was to create the array with the new drives. Step 2 was to clone the external single backup drive to the RAID array. After that, reboot and the array is rebuilt with all the data it had before, but now on larger drives.

 

[Kdiver58]

All of your back and forth is really helping me .. I've installed the trail .. I was thinking about storing an image on a 2TB external USB drive and then install the new SATA drives.


I'm assuming that some time in the process Acronis TI is going to ask me to put in a blank CD to make a boot CD for the restore ?


Thanks again .. K

Intel E6300

ECS P4M890T-M2 1.0 Motherboard

VIA SATA RAID Controller

VIA SATA RAID 0 SCSI Disk Device (500.11 GB) -- drive 0

500.11 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
53.54 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2

 

[corkyg]

I'm assuming that some time in the process Acronis TI is going to ask me to put in a blank CD to make a boot CD for the restore ?

Not necessarily. That can be done at any time. My preference is to select the ISO option, then you can use that to create the Rescue Media any timn. Other options include a flash memory device in case you don't have an optical burner attached.

Just curious - why no SP3 in XP Pro?

 

[mv2devnull]

Acronis TI sees a RAID array as a single entity when cloning.

"a RAID array"

Acronis obviously has the required drivers to communicate with "a RAID array". But does it have drivers for every RAID array? For every software RAID implementation, every fakeRAID type, and every hardware RAID controller?

 

[corkyg]

"a RAID array" Acronis obviously has the required drivers to communicate with "a RAID array". But does it have drivers for every RAID array? For every software RAID implementation, every fakeRAID type, and every hardware RAID controller?

That is a good question, and I really don't know since I don't use every RAID variant. I can only speak to the ones I have used, and so far, no problem. Taste and see.

 

[Diogenes2]

"a RAID array"

Acronis obviously has the required drivers to communicate with "a RAID array". But does it have drivers for every RAID array? For every software RAID implementation, every fakeRAID type, and every hardware RAID controller?

Do they claim to ?

If you want to know if Acronis supports a given configuration, it's probably best that you check with them first..

http://kb.acronis.com/content/11681

 

[Zap]

"a RAID array"

Acronis obviously has the required drivers to communicate with "a RAID array". But does it have drivers for every RAID array? For every software RAID implementation, every fakeRAID type, and every hardware RAID controller?

Don't know, but seems to work with Intel and Nvidia chipset RAID.

 

[mv2devnull]

Ahh, they say:

Acronis True Image Home supports hardware RAID arrays of all the popular types
...
As to specific RAID controllers - when running the product in Windows, the product will support them if Windows itself does. From Acronis Bootable Media most of the RAID controllers are supported.

* The use of OS drivers is trivial.
* They list no controllers by name.
* Intel and Nvidia chipsets are not hardware RAID.
* The Bootable Media must have some OS on it.

OP has not exactly told what controller he has, but it could be in the VIA P4M890-based board mentioned in his sig. Therefore, OP should check what the Acronis does support.

Another detail not mentioned by OP is whether Boot or System volumes are on that RAID-0, or is it a plain data volume. That makes a huge difference (on things that can go wrong), doesn't it?


Personally, I do use Linux-based tools and tend to utterly fail whenever MS-products are involved.

 

[Kdiver58]

I picked up a 2 TB WD external drive .. I backed up my Raid0 array to the external with Acronis TI and made a boot rescue Cd with Acronis TI. BTW the RAID0 array is the boot disk on the computer and not just storage.

I'd still not sure I'm backing it up right for a proper restore to the new Larger RAID0 array. what should the backed up file extension look like .. Thanks K

 

[hectorsm]

I picked up a 2 TB WD external drive .. I backed up my Raid0 array to the external with Acronis TI and made a boot rescue Cd with Acronis TI. BTW the RAID0 array is the boot disk on the computer and not just storage.

I'd still not sure I'm backing it up right for a proper restore to the new Larger RAID0 array. what should the backed up file extension look like .. Thanks K

The extension is .tib. I would suggest that you run the "validate backup" option before you do the restore to make sure the backup is not corrupted.

 

[Kdiver58]

Thanks .. I just did that .. Now I need to pick out Hard-drives . Every drive I've looked at had good and bad reviews .. K

WD 1TB Green <<< 5200 how much slower will this be ?

WD 1TB Blue 7200 rpm WD10EALS

WD 1TB Black 7200 rpm

Hitachi 1TB 7200 rpm

Seagate Baracuda 1TB 7200 rpm

 

[hectorsm]

I would go with the WD Black. I have the 1T WD Black and it's a great drive. If your planning on using them for RAID make sure they will work in RAID. Some models do not work well in RAID. Maybe someone else can give you more info on picking a model that is RAID compatible.

Avoid the 5200 rpm drive if your planning to use them as your main boot drive. I don't know about other people but I find these drive to be too slow as a boot drive.

The Seagate drives are ok. I have two 320GB drives and they work of except that they make the infamous clicking noise which I find very distracting.

Yesterday I bought two Hitachi 500GB 7200rpm (Fry's at @39.99 each) for a RAID 0 configuration. So far. They have working good. They run quite and cool. I am gettings 194MB/sec average (250 max and 110 min) transfer rate in HD Tune. However, they are not as fast as the WD Blacks in random access speed. These are now my main drives. I moved the 1T WD black as my backup drive.