Swapping to a Raid 0

elbulus · 7 Feb 2007 at 14:42

Hey there, Currently got a 74gb Raptor and ( when i pick it up from delivery depo >< ) have another on the way later tonight.

Gonna be running them both in RAID 0, is it recomended to do a clean install of windows ?

or

Would copying the files from my current HD to another HD and then setting up the RAID 0 then copying the files back work ?

Cheers for help.

Elb.

Dr_Evil · 7 Feb 2007 at 14:44

No, best is to clean-install windows and have the RAID-drivers ready on a floppy, as this will be needed. Your previous installation won't work, even if you ghost it on your new RAID 0 partition.

Minstadave · 7 Feb 2007 at 14:45

elbulus said:
Would copying the files from my current HD to another HD and then setting up the RAID 0 then copying the files back work ?

You would have to copy the drive image to another drive and then restore it to the RAID setup once you've got it setup.

Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image are the best bet if you want to image the drive.

elbulus · 7 Feb 2007 at 14:46

Dr_Evil said:
No, best is to clean-install windows and have the RAID-drivers ready on a floppy, as this will be needed. Your previous installation won't work, even if you ghost it on your new RAID 0 partition.

Cheers for the fast responce

Time to head back to work >< then pick up new HD and then finally climb around in the attic for where i put my old FD drive

Minstadave · 7 Feb 2007 at 14:47

Dr_Evil said:
No, best is to clean-install windows and have the RAID-drivers ready on a floppy, as this will be needed. Your previous installation won't work, even if you ghost it on your new RAID 0 partition.

What would stop it working, lack of RAID drivers?

elbulus · 7 Feb 2007 at 14:48

Minstadave said:
What would stop it working, lack of RAID drivers?

Actually that just popped into my head aswell..

Surely if installed the RAID drivers 1st on my current setup then Copyed it all onto a diffrent HD, set up RAID then copy back shouldnt that work as windows already has the RAID drivers installed ?

Dr_Evil · 7 Feb 2007 at 14:49

I have now 2x 74Gb raptors in RAID0 on an nForce 590 board. There are 2 ways to do it:

1. clean install with RAID-drivers on floppy
2. slipstreamed-install (nLite, include RAID drivers)

I did try to get my old install working on this, but it would NOT work as the RAID drivers were not loaded at OS install. Even installing the RAID drivers afterwards, didn't seem to fix the problem. I spent about 4-6 hours trying to get it working, after that i just re-installed as above.

rpstewart · 7 Feb 2007 at 14:49

Your best bet will be to do a fresh install. I suppose you could do all sorts of strange things like enabling RAID on some of the SATA ports to encourage windows to load the drivers then ghosting the disk off somewhere before putting it back on the new array but there's no guarantee that would work.

Just back up the important stuff (docs, email, favourites) and start from scratch.

Dr_Evil · 7 Feb 2007 at 14:50

elbulus said:
Actually that just popped into my head aswell..

Surely if installed the RAID drivers 1st on my current setup then Copyed it all onto a diffrent HD, set up RAID then copy back shouldnt that work as windows already has the RAID drivers installed ?

Yes in theory that should work, but I found out that when i tried that I was just wasting my time, it would load up to a certain point then crash/freeze.

elbulus · 7 Feb 2007 at 14:51

Think a clean install sounds like the easiest option dont wanna spend all night screaming at the pc when it doesnt work :rolleyes:

Dr_Evil · 7 Feb 2007 at 18:01

elbulus said:
Think a clean install sounds like the easiest option dont wanna spend all night screaming at the pc when it doesnt work

Also a clean install is good to have sometimes... and takes less time than fiddling around trying to get it working....

make sure you do a full disk image backup regularly...