x15 R1 raid 0, Acronis recovery media (bare metal) target the SSD raid 0 volume to recover the PC?

@bigteks  It should be possible, although your bootable media will likely require a driver that it doesn't have, which is likely the Intel Rapid Storage driver.  I use Macrium Reflect rather than Acronis, and its Rescue Media wizard typically detects any drivers that need to be added to its bootable media based on the system's hardware and what's supported natively in the WinPE environment you're building your bootable media from, and it also allows drivers to be manually added and loaded in case you need to use bootable media originally created from another PC that won't have drivers for your PC.  But I don't know how this all works in the Acronis universe.

Hi @bigteks  please provide status of original SSD RAID 0 configuration. Were these RAID 0 boot drives infected by a virus or ransomware, including backdoors, locked or encrypted files, and other potential cyber dangers? Or has one or all RAID 0 boot drives physically failed? 

If there is nothing on the original SSD RAID 0 configuration that cannot be replicated, is installing new RAID 0 boot disks, or single boot disk the ideal solution? 

Bare-Metal Restore, Backup & Recovery – Acronis 

These drives are an upgrade, it is a brand new empty RAID 0 bringing the laptop from 1TB to 4TB.

Thanks - I am actually trying to transfer a previous alienware laptop fully to this one so the backup is not even from this laptop. Can Macrium Reflect handle that? The RAID 0 is two new drives just installed so there is nothing on them but a RAID 0 volume.

Hi @bigteks thank you for sharing additional information. If I understand your requirement correctly, this is a data transfer and not a recovery proposal. The simple solution is to use the fully functional original RAID 0 in the Alienware x15 R1, get all updates, then use Macrium Reflect to clone this to your larger external RAID 0. 

For Alienware x15 R1 you can install up to two M.2 drives in RAID 0 PCIe3 configuration. However, only one slot is compatible with up to PCIe4, while the other slot is only up to PCIe3. A single PCIe4 boot drive will out perform a dual RAID 0 PCIe3 boot drive. A single boot drive is more reliable than a dual RAID 0 boot drive. 

x15 R1 has two M.2 slots for 2280 drives with heat spreader

Alienware x15 R1, base cover removed

The system I am restoring from is an m17 - it is an unlike hardware restore scenario. There is no external RAID 0. This is a brand new 2x2TB internal RAID 0 and that is the only storage available. Just looking for how to do an unlike restore into this RAID 0 volume and if there is a tool that can do this - maybe by adding appropriate drivers to the rescue media boot environment for example. Thanks

m17 service tag: - it is an r4

My goal is to transfer the current OS/config/all apps exactly as is on the m17, to the x15. I think you may have a solution here but I am not sure if I am tracking it fully - Are you saying run the current OS on the m17 with the NVMEs installed on it in RAID 0 at the same time?

If I am right about what you are saying and if that works - what would the cloud transfer be for - I am backing up to USB recover media that potentially can do unlike hardware restores - would that not work via USB if the backup were able to pick up the RAID driver via the m17 backup? I would prefer not to try to send 500GB to the cloud before I try the next step?

Hi @bigteks  thank you for the clarification that you are not using external drives. You could put m17 RAID 0 PCIe3 boot drive into x17 R1, update all drivers and save image to cloud storage. Then reinstall x17 R1 2x2TB RAID 0 PCIe3 'blank' drives and then install cloud image so that the 2x2TB RAID 0 PCIe3 becomes the new boot drive. 

I guess I need to open a new topic - just realized I can't even install clean Windows 10 on this x15 RAID 0, so I probably need to get Windows install to see it before I try anything else.

Hi @bigteks thank you for the clarification that Alienware m17 R4 is fully operational, has 2x? RAID 0 PCIe3 boot drives, and that Alienware x15 R1 has 2x2TB RAID 0 PCIe3 'blank' drives. The goal is to copy the m17 R4's boot drive OS/config/all apps exactly as is, to the x15 R1 as its boot drive. These laptops have different hardware & drivers and should have a different Windows 10 x64 licence. There is no requirement to use a 2x M.2 2280 external enclosure or install a cloud image to get the x15 R1 to work. 

Alienware m17 R4 with base cover removed

Guess that x15 R1 came with factory version of BIOS and that POST completes with no errors. Not sure that Alien logo splash screen appears with F12 boot window option to run Dell ePSA Diagnostics. You have 30 days approval, to accept or reject the x15 R1 Dell Refund policy, New vs Refurbished - Dell Community. Thereafter the first year warranty kicks in. 

Advocate install Windows 10 x64 onto the x15 R1 so that it boots into its operating system, and gets Windows and Dell driver updates (do not install BIOS updates), so that this works with the x15 R1 hardware. When this boot drive is up and running, install applications so that these work on the x15 R1 hardware. Now ready to copy personal files from Alienware m17 R4 to Alienware x15 R1. This can be undertaken using wireless Bluetooth LAN or using a special PC to PC cable. 

Note creation of users new thread: Clean install WIndows 10 on x15 RAID 0 - Windows install doesn't see the RAID 0 volume - Dell Community 

Windows 10 x64 install also does not see the RAID 0. I have tried copying the IRST storage driver "Intel-Rapid-Storage-Technology-Driver_8GHWY_WIN64_18.6.4.1022_A03_01" from the Dell support page for the x15, and doing "load storage driver" from the Windows install screen, but so far I have been unable to get it to see the RAID 0 volume.

A single 2TB PCIe4 boot drive will out perform a 2x2TB RAID 0 PCIe3 boot drive. 

Solved: x17 R1, RAID 0 questions - Dell Community

Thanks - I am aware of that.