Image both drives in RAID 1 ???

Did a quick search but did not see an answer to this ...

I am totally new to working with RAID stuff and have a PC that is acting up. So, I want to rebuild the OS but just incase I am making an image of it first. It appears to be using RAID 1 as both disks have the same amount of used space and I am fairly sure that is how our guys would have set it up. Anyways, Acronis 9 see's both disks and I am wondering if I need to select both disks for the image or if I only need to select the primary (C disk I would think you would only need the primary disk but then again I dont want it to be "corrupted" because it was expecting two disks. The reason I am asking is it is taking 4 hours to run the image and it claimed it only needed 50 minutes during the setup and assume it has to due with sleecting both drives (it is a new PC with way better than average processor, 1G memory, etc. so dont think it is HW related).

A secondary question would be, lets say I will discontinue using the RAID configuration on the rebuild. Should I expect any issues restoring a RAID to Non-RAID setup if I only imaged the primary drive

Thanks in advance ...

 

Nobody really knows this !!!!?? ... bump ...

 

Since nobody with more RAID experience is answering this, I'll give it a try. A RAID 1 array is supposed to be able to rebuild if one of the drives fails. Based on that, I would think that a backup of one drive may suffice. The correct way is to backup the RAID drive (see it as one drive).

If you are running Windows XP, you could create a BartPE boot cd and include the RAID drivers. This may also considerably speed up the backup depending on how you are currently doing it. Mustang has created a how-to linked from this thread if you are new to BartPE.
Beginner's Guide to Creating a BartPE CD with a TI Plugin

As for restoring a backup of a RAID drive (seeing it as one drive) to a single drive, Windows should detect the hardware change and boot okay. I'm not sure what would happen if you restore just one of the RAID'ed drives to a single drive. It may work or it may not, I've never tried it.

Depending on your computer hardware, you may also want to download the trial version of TI 10 and see if it sees the RAID array. If you're not using the latest version of TI 9 then you should also try that.

Posting your computer specifications may also allow someone to provide more specific help. CPU, motherboard, chipset, memory, TI version, etc.

 

Hello twvette,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for the delayed response.

Please note that if your RAID is configured properly you should see a single disk in Windows environment. If you see two disks using Acronis Bootable Rescue Media, but one disk in Windows environment, it is possible drivers for that particular hardware RAID are not included into the version of Acronis Bootable Rescue Media you use.
Please make sure you use the latest build of the appropriate version of Acronis True Image. To get access to updates you should first register your software. Don't forget to recreate Acronis Bootable Rescue Media with the new build.

If the issue persists, please collect some information to let us investigate it and provide you with a solution:

Please create Acronis Report and Linux system information (sysinfo.txt) as it is described in Acronis Help Post.
Please also provide us with the exact vendor and model of the RAID controller you use.

Then submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with a solution.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

I think it's going to depend on how your RAID is implemented. ON my machine, it's implemented in the BIOS via the mobo chipset. So ATI only sees the RAID disk (i.e., the array). It images (backsup) from the array and Ihave many times restored to the RAID drive (i.e., the array. The fact that the RAID disk is really an array is transparent to how ATI operates.

With some software implementations of RAID, that might not be the case and ATI would restore to only on of the drives. In that case, the RAID software should be able to rebuild the array from the restored Hard disk.

Btw, I think in RAID 0 both disks could have the same amount of data.

sh