SATA to RAID0 Upgrade?

Hi folks, I am currently working my way though the many fine pdf's created by various users on here (Thanks!) but I don't think any match my problem exactly.

I have created and verified a full backup of my C Drive running Vista 64 (SP1) on a 500GB Drive and wish to restore it two of the same drives in a RAID0 (nVidia on-board MoBo) configuration.

I can restore the drive to the RAID0 partition from a bootable USB drive I made (Using a great pdf guide) without any errors but when I try and boot from the new drive, Windows crashes with a reboot soon after the scrolling Microsoft screen goes off.

I have also tried cloning the 500GB Drive to the 1TB (RAID0) Drive along with a resize from within the TI Manager (Booted from a USB stick), this gives the same result.

If I try to repair the Windows install using the Windows DVD it scan for a while and says it is unable to repair it.

I have successfully restored the image using TI to another 500GB Drive of the same make model (I have six of them) and it boots fine so I am pretty sure the backup is ok.

A Windows full backup doesn't seem to want to work either as I think you have to restore to the same size drive as it was created from but I could be wrong about that.

Can anyone think what I could be doing wrong or am I missing something blatantly obvious here?


TIA...Dan

 

I think there's two issues:

1. Does the image you created have drivers for the RAID hardware installed?
2. Isn't the MBR different on a RAID drive?

 

Dan,

Take a look at this thread: Non Raid Image to Raid 0 config question

What I did on my RAID 0 conversion is in Post #10.

The MBR should be fine.

 

Cheers MudCrab, I am struggling to find some Vista 64 drivers to install for the onboard nVidia RAID. I have just made a backup with it enabled however (With no drives selected) and it was shown up in Device Manager > Storage Controllers as nVRAID etc.

I have just tried making a clone of that drive (Its the quickest thing to do) and it fails in the same place as before, any more tips while I search for drivers?


Dan

 

The drivers need to be installed. Just turning on the RAID in the BIOS won't work. Hopefully, you will be able to find the drivers you need.

Once you have the drivers installed, if the above does work and since you have extra drives available, you could try setting up two of the 500GB drives in a RAID 0 and then booting into Windows (leave the Windows drive non-RAID). Once that is working correctly, create a new image of the Windows drive, setup the RAID for the new Windows drive and restore the image. If that works, you can then do what you want with the other drives.

Reading about going from non-RAID to RAID on this forum, it seems to either work or it doesn't. I've done images and clones on nVidia chipsets and both worked okay (both had the drivers installed).

 

Do these look like they would work?

http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/actual-vista-32-64bit-driver-packs-for-nf4-6-chipsets-vt70915.html


This is my motherboard...

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=227&l4=0&model=1280&modelmenu=2

 

ASUS doesn't seem to list any RAID drivers for Vista 64bit. I would think the drivers you found should work. Since you have backups, you really don't have anything to lose by trying them.

Does Vista 64 (is it SP1?) not include nForce4 RAID drivers?

 

Ok, I created a RAID0 set of disks and booted into Windows. I then did a Windows Update and it found new drivers for the SATA and RAID devices. After a couple of reboots and another Windows Update I can now see the 1TB RAID0 partition so I guess this install now has the required drivers.

I will create a backup of this now and try a restore, getting late now though so might be tomorrow before I get back to you...


Thanks again...Dan

I can now confirm it works!

If you have the spare drives (Assuming Vista and on-board RAID)...

1: Create an image of your Boot Drive as a backup first!
2: Create a RAID Disk from your Motherboard BIOS utility on two spare channels (SATA in my case).
3: Boot into your existing install, run Windows update and it should recognise the new devices and install the required drivers so you can then access the RAID Drive as you would any other.
4: Create another image of the Boot Drive and restore it to the RAID Drive OR clone the Boot Drive to the RAID Drive (Both now work for me).
5: Remove the original Drive, configure the BIOS to boot from the RAID Drive and you should be good to go!


Thanks for the help and advice jelenko and MudCrab

 

Hello all,

Thank you for using Acronis True Image

I am really glad to know that the issue has been resolved. Also I can suggest you to use Acronis True Image Echo Workstation with Acronis Universal Restore

Acronis True Image Echo Workstation has a feature such as Acronis Universal Restore. Acronis Universal Restore provides an efficient solution for restoration of a hardware-independent system by replacing the crucial HAL and hard disk controller drivers. Acronis Universal Restore is an optional program feature.

Acronis Universal Restore will allow you to add the necessary RAID drivers during the recovery operation.

Thank you.

__

Oleg Lee