Restoring RAID 1 after RAID Array Failure. Possible?

Okay today our office workstation, a RAID 1 system, crashed and didn't want to (re)boot to Windows Server 2003. So we feared the worst! Everytime we tried to boot the machine it said Array#0 - RAID-1 148.97GB Failed.

Anyways, after trying all sorts of stuff, we decided to put in just 1 of the 2 disks, which were in RAID 1. And voilá it booted into Windows Server 2003.

Now as for my question; is it possible with Acronis True Image to make a complete/full backup (including Windows, System files, programs and settings) of this drive and place it on a new RAID 1 Array?

Cause we ordered 2 new WD RE3 drives and we will be using those for a RAID 1 configuration. So in short; is it possible to make a full image of the current drive and place it on the RAID 1 setup? Do we need to install drivers or how should we do this?

Also it possible, so we will not have this same problem next time, to schedule a daily image of everything? And what's the best, safest and easiest way to do this?

Thanks in advance guys!

 

HHawk:

Yes, it should be possible. Your working disk already has the correct Windows driver, so if you create an image of it then it should work when restored to the new disks.

Here is how I would proceed:

1. Create an image of the current disk and store it on an external USB disk or on another machine on the network. Put a checkmark against the whole disk to get all partitions included in the image.
2. Remove the current disk and put it aside for safekeeping.
3. Install the two new, blank hard disks in the server. The disks do not need to be formatted. TI will restore to blank disks.
4. Configure RAID in the BIOS using the two new disks.
5. Boot the server from an Acronis recovery CD and verify that it sees the array as one disk.
6. Restore the image to the new disk, resizing to fill the disk. To get the resize screen you must start the restore wizard by checking off only one of the partitions. Follow the steps in the wizard and you'll eventually see the resize screen. Keep going through the wizard to add additional partitions if there are any. If you only have one partition for Windows then just restore that. You do not need to restore the MBR.

Hopefully this will get you back working again. It's a fail-safe procedure since you will still have the current disk to fall back on if something does not work.

Going forward you can schedule automatic backups. You'll find many different opinions on what works best but you'll need to decide what lets you sleep well at night.

Hope this helps...

 

Hello HHawk,

Thank you for your interesting in Acronis True Image

In case solution provided by K0lo will not work for you I may recommend you to have a look at Universal Restore for your purposes. Acronis Universal Restore is required to restore the image of Windows operating system to another hardware configuration. It the implementation of the unique technology developed inside Acronis that allows changing Windows Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL.dll) and device drivers. Acronis Universal Restore automatically detects if the HAL should be changed and also allows adding drivers for new hardware devices. This feature was designed for Corporate products and can’t be used with Home products.

Have a look at this link to see how Acronis Universal Restore works.

Best regards,
--
Dmitry Nikolaev

 

Thanks, but like I stated before, it will be the same computer, except for the fact it will have different harddisks in RAID 1; otherwise the system is exactly the same.

So I doubt I will need it, right?

 

Oh one thing. I just added the two new harddisk in my system and connected them to the RAID controller.

Did the configuration on the RAID controller, as it should be (I guess) and it's now currently doing build/verify.

Is this normal and do I need to wait till that's done before doing anything?

Please advice. Never did setup a RAID 1 config before. Only did RAID 0 previously.

 

HHawk:

I would probably wait for the array duplication process to complete. I've started Windows with a broken array and it took the controller a couple of hours to finish mirroring two 160 GB disks while I was working away. But if you're not running any software that is making changes to the disk, I'll bet the mirroring process will go faster.

 

Okay thanks. Guess I will wait a few hours.
Thanks for the quick answer.

 

One more question... Always one more hey...?

Anyways; Can I use BartPE, even though I use it for Windows Server 2003, or shouldn't that make a difference? Cause as I understand correctly; VistaPE won't work, right?

I do just what is explained here: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=232978&highlight=BartPE
...for Windows Server 2003?

 

HHawk:

I'm not sure that I understand your question. Are you asking if you can use TrueImage running in the BartPE environment? Yes; as long as you include the necessary drivers for your hardware when you build BartPE.

For that matter you can also use VistaPE or MustangPE as a recovery environment. All of these are stand-alone operating systems that you boot your PC into. It doesn't matter at all which OS is normally run on the machine. For example, if you normally run Windows Server 2003 on your PC then you are not constrained to use a recovery environment that is Server 03 based. You can use BartPE (Windows XP-based) or VistaPE (Windows Vista-based) or MustangPE (Windows Vista-based) on your hardware.

Was that the question being asked?

 

Hello HHawk,

Thank you for your interesting in Acronis True Image

The link to the thread you have provided explains how to create WinPE bootable disc. Have you managed to create it, what is the status of the issue?

Best regards,
--
Dmitry Nikolaev

 

It's solved. Thanks.