I've just discovered intel matrix raid wohooo

Wow where i have i been. I had a p5b deluxe since 2006 and didn't even know i had intel matrix raid technology. Maybe you not aware of this superior raid also. I just thought the board had conventional raid.

For those who don't know matrix raid allows you to combine both raid 0 and raid 1 arrays with only two drives both at the same time! across 2 partitions. So this gives you the performance of raid 0 for the system partition ie: windows and raid 1 for all your data on another partition which is auto backed up. 2x250gb wd barracudas are ideal for this as they are fast and big or big and fast.

Here's a good idea.

Now due to this cool setup i now longer have to use Acronis True Image to backup loads of data. My data is backed up in real time with raid 1. If i just keep the system partition small size with no data only system files then it can be even smaller. I am going to make xp auto install the Documents and Settings folder onto the data partition D: on the raid 1 drive so it will be auto backed up also. So i will have 2 copies of all my data. If any 1 drive goes down i don't lose any important data. If the raid 0 goes corrupt i don't lose raid 1 only raid 0 because raid 1 is still using both drives but across 2 partitions of both drives. I could use acronis to backup the system partition which would only take like 1-2 mins as it small to raid 1 also. So I can restore the raid 0 or access the raid 1 in bartpe easily.

For those who don't think raid 0 is worth installing because they read of articles that say the benefits of speed are not worth it. The articles are so wrong.

There's also another advantage to this setting up a small raid 30 gig or less you make the raid 0 even faster.

Tip

So from the raid bios(ctrl-I) you setup 2 raids. Setup your first raid 0 and immediately setup a raid 1 with the remainder of space and install xp onto raid 0 as normal using the raid driver. Once xp is stalled install the matrix raid software and you can turn on write back caching for both raids and format the raid 1. This software will alert you if the raid goes down. Goto disk manager and format the raid 1 partition and anything you copy to that drives is auto backed up. You can't see the 3rd mirrored partition its hidden but rest assured its being backed up to this secret partition.

 

Ok there's no simple way to move the documents and settings folder to another drive while in windows even if you use another account. Theres billions of registry entries. So you can use the /unattend switch with winnt32.exe and insert the following entry into the Unattend.txt file,

[GuiUNattended]
ProfilesDir = D:\Users ( users being the name of the folder you want )

You might be able to setup from nlite to do this.

Edit: Correction

Above was microsoft's way but now i create my xp in nlite and modify the winnt.sif file and include the profilesdir like so and then ready to burn the cd.

[GuiUnattended]
EncryptedAdminPassword="No"
AutoLogon="Yes"
TimeZone=085
OEMSkipRegional=1
OemSkipWelcome=1
ProfilesDir=D:\Users

Just remember to create a D: partition if you don't have one already.

 

Two things to keep in mind:
- RAID isn't backup. Imagine a power spike, it may kill both drives. Or, you delete some file and its copy (in the other drive) is also deleted.
-Don't move Documents and Settings. Only move My Documents.
Matrix RAID is superb

 

Well I possess a surge protector but psu could give me a possible power spike but i'm using a decent psu but i know what your saying.

I want to move all of Documents & Settings because then fav bookmarks .pst and more get backed up which means the small system image i create is so quick!

I just trying out rollback rx and amazed how fast it takes snapshots literally seconds. It even worked alongside FDISR.

 

A surge protector? You'll be better served by a good UPS. Surge protectors provides nothing but weak protection.

Firefox allows you to move its profile to a different folder/partition. The same is true for Thunderbird.
Or you can use a sync app (like SyncBack Freeware) to keep the favs and .pst synchronized.

Horizon DataSys warns against the use of FD-ISR together with Rollback Rx.

 

The decent corsair psu i have has been tested and in case of a spike from it only knocks out 1 rail. I kept each hard drive on a seperate rail. I think it best i invest in a decent external h/d instead of a ups that i can hide away until needed unlike a ups. btw its a decent surge protector.

Thanks for the sync software but as you already gathered i put it on raid 1 and its mirrored and have no backup software to run. If i use true image for the system partition i might as well use it to backup docs and others. I was a big fan of genie backup pro.

Point taken about fdisr. I was just testing it out and it worked. I don't intend to run both. I am happy with the latest rollback rx as i can backup the snapshots. I discovered theres clones of rollback rx, eaz-fix, baseline and pcundo. Now i see how they work and take a image so quick by looking at the fat tables which holds the key to how all the data spread over the drive like norton dos tools of old did. norton image just backed up the fat tables and had the layout for the whole drive.

In fact i'm sure i can rely on just rollback rx now for the system partition and as the images will be alot smaller than TI then i might not bother moving the Documents & Settings folder to raid 1 which will take care of all the data. I can backup the rollback snapshots to raid 1 ...
and so to top it all off i have a snapshot with deep freeze active for 99.9% immunity for surfing the web etc and another snapshot for normal use.

Is there anyway to make Returnil with system protection ON on bootup?

Is it right Rollback Rx can't restore back to raid 0 if it went down?

 

Ok i now see i'm late joining the bandwagon of the frustrations of rollback rx, eaz-fix.

Let me see if got this straight and correct me if i'm wrong.

Normal imaging software wont backup a eaz-fix drive with the snapshots because eaz-fix marks some sectors unused and so most image sw doesn't back them up. Consequently you need a sector by sector image software. So if you backup sector by sector it take a very long time and long time to restore? So is it worth going to the trouble to do this or is it just easier to backup each snapshot and install eaz-fix afterwards. What's currently the best software to do this...Paragon Drive Backup? Whats the best method at this present time? If this was possible then could i restore it to raid 0?

 

Ok i learnt you can't back up rollback rx drives in windows as the right MBR wont show to any image software. Basically some snapshots or all except the base will be missing, so it has to be done in dos and it has to be backed up as a RAW image, sector by sector. I have 15 coasters to prove it. I should of tested it all virtually but thats what happens when your tired. I blown paragon drive backup 8.51 out. I couldn't get the bootable media to boot. I found drive snapshot will do whats needed and is free and self image another freebie but wont verify the image. Image for Dos seems like it has promise. So i test these all tonight. Incidentally i did a full sector backup of 3 raptors iraid 0 of 105gb in windows and that took 20mins. Once i get it working the backups will be alot smaller than FDISR and of course faster. HeHe. So FDISR can kiss my ass.