converting sata/NTFS to RAID 0

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by mxa, Jun 14, 2005.

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  1. mxa

    mxa Registered Member

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    I was just curious if there is anything special I need to pay attention to if I want to convert my system drive on a SATA/NTFS disk to a RAID 0 configuration? Like is there any special formating that I need to watch out for or specify like clustering, striping, etc ....

    Thanks.
     
  2. mareke

    mareke Registered Member

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    The main thing you would need to worry about in relation to Acronis is if it works with raid on your computer. You would need to specify your motherboard and controller and ask Acronis if raid is supported using your controller (eg Promise raid, Intel raid etc). During the conversion process all your data would be lost so you would need to back up any important data.
     
  3. TonioRoffo

    TonioRoffo Registered Member

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    If you do stuff like that, I recommend a "scratch" disk... Clone your existing situation to this disk (as an image), so you can return to all important points in your progress.

    Nothing feels like losing data in this world... nothing....
     
  4. mareke

    mareke Registered Member

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    I agree with TonioRoffo. It would mean you could go back to your present state if things didn't work out although I would still back up any important data separately to making an Acronis image of your current installation on another disk.
     
  5. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello mxa,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    Could you please specify what model of hard drive controller you use? Also please note that you need to have your SATA RAID drivers installed in Windows to make the system bootable after transferring to RAID mode.

    Thank you.
    --
    Ilya Toytman
     
  6. mxa

    mxa Registered Member

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    I have an Asus p4c800 deluxe and will be using the intel raid controller which I think is the ICH5. My general plan to move my system sata to raid 0 is as follows:
    1) make an image of my current sata drive just in case I have problems
    2) move my sata drive to the promise controller configured in IDE mode to boot from
    3) attach two sata drives to the intel controller to implement my raid0 configuration.
    4) make the array on the intel controller and boot from my sata drive on the promise controller.
    5) install the intel raid drivers and verify that i can access the newly created array on the intel controller.
    6) then make a backup image of my current sata on promise controller with the raid driver's installed.
    7) reboot and use TI to copy the image just created in step 6 to my raid set.
    :cool: reboot and set the boot priority to the raid 0 drive.

    Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.
    Thanks.

     
  7. mareke

    mareke Registered Member

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    mxa you use the same motherboard as I do and I gave up on raid because I could not restore images when I first started using Acronis and had a raid system. However that was with an earlier build of Acronis (build 774 or the one before it). The latest build 859 boot CD for Acronis does not work on my computer (my computer freezes when I use it) so raid on my computer would most likely still not work as I am forced to use a build 774 boot CD (which I think did not work with raid when I previously tried it).

    Raid might work on your computer if the latest build boot CD does not cause your computer to freeze when doing a restore as it does on my computer. The freeze sometimes happens after you do the last step of a restore i.e. click on ‘Proceed’. You won’t know if you have the same problem as I have until you actually attempt a restore and then if your computer freezes as mine does you will have a blank C drive with nothing but unallocated space on it.

    If this happens to you, you will not be able to do a restore unless you have an earlier build boot CD and even then you may find as I have that Acronis will try to make your C drive into another letter because the main boot record is changed or gone. To make Acronis correctly name your Windows drive, C, you will then have to format C drive with a Windows 98 floppy or the Windows XP CD and then if you use a boot CD build 800 or earlier (not build 826 or 859) you will be able to do a restore (but not necessarily a raid restore).

    If you want to try raid after what I just described good luck!
     
  8. mxa

    mxa Registered Member

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    I've got build 826 and it boots fine, and I can create images from my sata drives but I have yet to attempt a restore so I'm not sure if it will work. I will probably try a restore to a blank sata drive just to test out the restore after reading your comments. It doesn't seem like I'll have much luck.

    I better make sure I have a backup and make sure I can restore before I attempt this procedure. Here is a brief description of my system: 3.2E step C0@3.744 (1.4625v), FSB 1:1(234MHz), PQI Turbo@2.75v (2.5,3,3,6), HS: XP-120, ASUS P4C800E-Dlx (no mods), ATI 9800pro 256 (flashed to an XT), two SATA WD1600JD on Intel controller, DVD and CDROM IDE drives.

    Thanks very much for the warning.

     
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