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Splitting of RAID & backup of recovery
I have a Dimension 9200 with 2x250gb hdd's raid into one 500gb array, including the dell recovery partition.
I want to split the RAID so that i have two seperate drives, to try and safeguard data loss. I know that all data will be lost but obviosuly, i want to know is it possible to backup the recovery partition for later usage because i like the speed of recovery using it.
I do have all recovery discs so i am prepared to manually install that way.
Any suggestions for best ways to do this or should i leave as is? I dont know much about RAID, but im sure that i can boot into the config util and break it and then reinstall from DVD
Thanks in advance
shesagordie
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June 6th, 2009 14:00
adeharding
First, backup all the files and folders to either an external hard drive, or USB flash drive, all the programs and applications need to be reinstalled from the discs, or downloaded from the publisher's website. The recovery partition will be losted and cannot be reused.
You have to delete the existing RAID0 volume and carry out a clean reinstall of windows and load all the drivers and applications.
Prior to reinstalling windows, as you are not using RAID, go into the system setup (F2) and set the SATA Operation to RAID Autodetect/ATA.
This basically will disable RAID so you can install XP without the SATA RAID drivers.
You don't install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager application because RAID is disabled and there's no need.
Bev.
adeharding
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October 21st, 2009 12:00
For informaton i got windows 7 today so thought i would try this.
Went into Raid control panel and deleted raid disabled raid in system setup, but windows wouldnt during inital setup it kept saying unable to create partition. I tried deleting, formating recreating, funny thing was it was only showing one of the drives.
I then went through and tried unplugging one of the drives and then none of the drives were showing. Was now getting fedup, so tried re-raiding and he presto installing now.
Im confused though i thought by deleting raid and disabling that the hd's would work as independent ones. Obviously there is something still on the hardrives that was stopping me using as one. If you do have any ideas thanks in advance.
ejn63
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October 22nd, 2009 04:00
Your best bet: purchase an external hard drive and a copy of Acronis True Image. If the contents of the drive total less than 250G now, make an image of the as-built system to the external drive. Then setup the RAID 1 array and restore the image once you've done that. You'll then have everything back the way it was. The only sticking point will come if you have MORE than 250 G on the system now - in which case the image won't fit on the drive as a RAID 1 array.
gavinzn
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October 22nd, 2009 10:00
Whilst I understand ejn63's suggestion, I must tell yopu that there's a bug with Acronis True Image (running from the CD) that prevents it from recognising RAID in the recovery phase with Intel RAID 0, so I'm not sure if you'll have the same problem with RAID 1. It just hangs when it gets to recognising drives.
I'm also looking to turn off RAID on a Dell Dimension 9200 and still save the recovery partition, but I'm not moving until I have a guaranteed solution!
By the way, you'll notice performance degradation when you switch off RAID 0.