Can TrueImage Create/Restore from/to Raid0?

[MPSAN]

There have been lots of questions in the past, I just want to know the final answer.

I have an ICH5R based RAID 0 setup (ASUS P4C800E-Deluxe). Can TI create an Image and then restore on New or reformatted SATA drives, RAID 0? Will this work if the Original Raid 0 was 2 80 GB SATA Drives and I replace them with 2 250GB drives?

[TheQuest]

Hi, MPSAN

-{ Quote: "Can TI create an Image and then restore on New or reformatted SATA drives, RAID 0? Will this work if the Original Raid 0 was 2 80 GB SATA Drives and I replace them with 2 250GB drives?" }-
Yes Ti can and does restore as you asked about, there is no need to reformat HDD's because Ti will replace to file system that is in the Image [what was being use at the time the Image was created]

Take Care,
TheQuest 8)

[Acronis Support]

Hello MPSAN,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis Disk Backup Software (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/).

TheQuest is correct. Acronis True Image 8.0 supports all levels of RAID arrays along with the wide variety of modern RAID controllers, so there should not be any problems performing the actions you have described.

Using Acronis True Image 8.0 you will be able to create an image of your RAID 0 array saving this image to any type of the supported media, then replace your hard drives with the new ones, reconfigure the RAID, boot from the special Bootable Rescue CD and restore the image of your system to the new RAID array.

We recommend you to download and install the free trial version to see how the software works on your computer.

The trial version of Acronis True Image 8.0 is available at:
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/trueimage/

In case you will be satisfied with the work of the trial version of Acronis True Image 8.0, please visit Acronis online store at:
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/sales/online/ to purchase the full version of the product.

Please also note that we have a flexible system of discounts and the amount of the discount varies depending on the number of copies you want to purchase.

In case you are planning to purchase many copies, please contact our Sales Team at sales@acronis.com

If you have any further questions please feel free to ask.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov

[MPSAN]

OK, will also look online for a "deal". :D

[MPSAN]

I guess CompUSA has a Deal now.

OK, I have a 160GB RAID0 setup. Two 80GB Maxtor drives. I have about 20GB in use. One gave a Raid error. I fixed it...but I wondered about two things...

One...If I had a TI Image backup and did a lowlevel format of the drives, when I restore an image, will it create the bad sectors again?
Also, I had heard that you do not need to do a windows format or anything on a new drive. So, in the above example, if I restored my TI Image (from a 160 GB Raid0 array) to a new 500 GB Raid array, what happens to all the sectors that were never used...how does the restore see the full 500 GB (2x250 GB Drives).

I hate to be pickey, but I have so much Shelfware that I paid for and it just doesn't work.

-{ Quote: "OK, will also look online for a "deal". :D" }-

[Acronis Support]

Hello MPSAN,

If you had a bad block on the drive and then created the image of it and restored to another hard drive the bad block will remain because the information about it is stored in the file system. However, if after that you restore single partition containing this bad block resizing it the problem will be overcome and the bad block will be eliminated.

When you restore the image of the whole disk or clone one disk to another the partition table on the target drive is deleted and the new partition layout is created. The sectors that were never used will be visible as free space.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

[rdgrimes]

Also be alert to the fact that changing RAID controllers can sometimes cause problems due to differences in the way they store array data. So you may not be able to restore an image from one controller onto an array on a different controller. Driver issues also apply in that situation.

[MPSAN]

Thank you. I guess I could go from the image with a raid size of 64K to 128K. That would fix it I guess, or are you saying that if I delete the RAID and recreate it, that will fix it?. I am surprised that chkdsk from cmd sometimes gives an "errors in Volume Bitmap" message. I wonder if chkdsk has raid issues.

-{ Quote: "Hello MPSAN,

If you had a bad block on the drive and then created the image of it and restored to another hard drive the bad block will remain because the information about it is stored in the file system. However, if after that you restore single partition containing this bad block resizing it the problem will be overcome and the bad block will be eliminated.

When you restore the image of the whole disk or clone one disk to another the partition table on the target drive is deleted and the new partition layout is created. The sectors that were never used will be visible as free space.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman" }-

[MPSAN]

Yes, I have the ASUS P4C800E-Deluxe and my Raid is on the Intel Controller. I can use the Promise, but I guess there would be a driver issue as you need to load them from F6 when doing XP install. May be a reason to load both Intel and Promise.



-{ Quote: "Also be alert to the fact that changing RAID controllers can sometimes cause problems due to differences in the way they store array data. So you may not be able to restore an image from one controller onto an array on a different controller. Driver issues also apply in that situation." }-

[rdgrimes]

-{ Quote: "Yes, I have the ASUS P4C800E-Deluxe and my Raid is on the Intel Controller. I can use the Promise, but I guess there would be a driver issue as you need to load them from F6 when doing XP install. May be a reason to load both Intel and Promise." }-
If you're fresh installing, it's not an issue. If imaging from one controller to another, you just turn the controller on with a drive connected before imaging the old volume, install the driver, then image, then restore to the new controller.

The other issue is not avoidable, if the new controller uses a different sector for the array data. I've hit this once or twice, but some controllers are compatable.

[MPSAN]

Well for now, I will stick with the Intel as it does seem to run a little faster.


-{ Quote: "If you're fresh installing, it's not an issue. If imaging from one controller to another, you just turn the controller on with a drive connected before imaging the old volume, install the driver, then image, then restore to the new controller.

The other issue is not avoidable, if the new controller uses a different sector for the array data. I've hit this once or twice, but some controllers are compatable." }-