Re: New Alienware Area 51-Alx raid remove

Acronis should work. I don't think you have to modify your RAID until you find out if it did work or not (should be able to revert back to old setup).

On the SSD, space is precious. Why put Dell Diagnostics on there when you can run it from a CD-R? Why save Recovery Partition on it (its old)?

I can't comment on Respawn or DataSafeLocal and their abilities (other than to say ... it's proven un-reliable for me and I don't use it). I use Acronis for these actions.

See the lower "Partitions" section of this post for more info:

http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19376654/19866250.aspx#19866250

I have an Alienware Area 51 ALX with the following  1) 2 x SDD 256GB in Raid 0 and 2) 2 x WD600 GB in Raid 0.  #1 has 4 partitions, a 39 MB OEM, a 9.98 GB Recovery Partition my boot C) drive and my D) Data drive with #2 (also partitioned with one of those an automatically created copy via xcopy at boot-up and idle of my Data partition by way of copying any changed or new file from the Data to the Data Back-up partition). .

I read you comments regarding the "outdated" Recover Partition in the referenced document and agree it is soon well outdated.  I create from time-to-time an Image of my C: Drive via Windows 7. (had used years back PowerQuest Drive-Image and was looking at  Acronis but Windows 7 seems to do the trick quite effetively) and I have used it  in the past  to recover my system to a previous stage where using window's Restore Point was not sufficient.  My question is: "Can one reclaim at least the Recover Partition to combine that space with the Boot partition without having to re-instal Windows, Drivers and software?"  Given it's location I not sure it can be combined, but presumably one could use it as a separate partition by deleting in and then re-using that space and giving it a
Drive letter , i.e use it for the page file, freeing that portion from the C Drive..

I tried to put in a single disk into the system, 80Gb Hdd and tried reinstalling the system. Note that i did not change anything in the bios. The installation failed. Granted it was a test subject with win7 pro 32bit.

It should have worked. What kind of problem did you have? However, why use that 32bit version? Use the black Dell-AW OEM Win-7 64bit DVD that came with the system.

1. You did not specify if you were in RAID or ACHI.   2. Do you have Single or Double Drives(Raid)

1. ACHI

2. Single drive (WD 1tb 7200 rpm)

I don't have a SSD yet (and I don't RAID desktops) ... so I can't help with those questions.

My question is: "Can one reclaim at least the Recover Partition to combine that space with the Boot partition without having to re-instal Windows, Drivers and software?"  Given it's location I not sure it can be combined, but presumably one could use it as a separate partition by deleting in and then re-using that space and giving it a Drive letter , i.e use it for the page file, freeing that portion from the C Drive..

The only way I know to do that is the backup the C: partition, re-partition the drive, and restore it as the first partition.

It would help if you used software like Acronis that can do a "bare-metal" restore. If it seemed to work ok, but it won't boot ... you can run a little repair from Recovery Console to fix the Boot Loader.

Remember that if you re-partition a drive, all data on the drive (or driveS if RAIDed) is lost ... so back it up.

I would recommend you also be in a position to clean install from scratch in case something goes bad ... at least you will have your data files.

I tried to put in a single disk into the system, 80Gb Hdd and tried reinstalling the system. Note that i did not change anything in the bios. The installation failed. Granted it was a test subject with win7 pro 32bit. Anyway, lets say if I did manage to reinstall the WIN7 64bit without changing anything in the bios, This would mean that i will be using the RAID option without configuring the drive for raid.

Question,

Will the drive still support TRIM? (The Drive purchased supports TRIM) Because I heard that SSDs configured in raid, TRIM function don't work. Yes, the system is in raid, but the drive is not in raid. if this makes any sense

  I 've checked out the below 

http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19376654/19866250.aspx#19866250

"Unplug everything except keyboard, mouse, and monitor.
Connect to good UPS (Battery Backup) to deliver good clean un-interrupted power (and enough of it).

Install Dell-AW OEM Windows-7 (64 bit) with original (black) DVD-ROM first. Reboot as required until finished.

Install latest Dell drivers (from support.dell.com ... for your Service Tag)
This order is important:"

1. You did not specify if you were in RAID or ACHI.

2. Do you have Single or Double Drives(Raid) 

Thank you so much for your answers.

I tried to put in a single disk into the system, 80Gb Hdd and tried reinstalling the system. Note that i did not change anything in the bios. The installation failed. Granted it was a test subject with win7 pro 32bit.

It should have worked. What kind of problem did you have? However, why use that 32bit version? Use the black Dell-AW OEM Win-7 64bit DVD that came with the system.

1. You did not specify if you were in RAID or ACHI.   2. Do you have Single or Double Drives(Raid)

1. ACHI

2. Single drive (WD 1tb 7200 rpm)

I don't have a SSD yet (and I don't RAID desktops) ... so I can't help with those questions.

I think I will also go for the AHCI mode. Still not very familiar with raid. Does your E-sata plug work? I have a XPS420 and the system must be configured RAID not ACHI, in order the activate the E-Sata. 

As for the test system, just had a CD lying around. I was too lazy to remove the original packaging (Still New )

Thanks for the advice 

I think I will also go for the AHCI mode. Still not very familiar with raid. Does your E-sata plug work? I have a XPS420 and the system must be configured RAID not ACHI, in order the activate the E-Sata.    As for the test system, just had a CD lying around. I was too lazy to remove the original packaging (Still New )   Thanks for the advice

Yes, the Aurora eSata works in AHCI mode and will hot-swap.

My XPS-410 had no eSata, so I added a little PCIe eSata card. I do believe its main HDD is set to RAID in BIOS (but no RAID drives configed).

Thanks,

Yes I believe Acronis is a step above Win7's version, so I'd better get it before I try this.  As to data partition, I would have it on my other Raid 0 drive (i.e. different physical drives), but would also back it up to my external USB drive attached to my router, just in case. (presently always due that every few weeks or so in case the controller messes up both 2 x 2 Raid drives and I loose data and back-up data physical drives at the same time. Actually I should automate that too.

I believe Win7's image app needs Windows to install an inmage, wherease my OLD Drive Image software (which doesn't run under Win 7 so I can't install and use it) was also able to install an image by booting into a special DOS mode and then I could select that image from the other physical drive where I had placed my images, if the boot drive was totally scrapped. Not sure that old Drive Image would be working on a Raid 0 volume either..

I assume Acronis does all that. and assume that is what you refer to as "bare-metal" restore.  Now, since when Installing Windows totally new, it does install a hidden partition, is that needed by Windows, i.e. is that basically the same as that other small partition (the first one with the 39 MB OEM partition), which would be gone if I totally wipe out all partitions.  So would Windows work without such a partition?  I guess I need to to some more re-search on that, 

Hmm, one probably could also create an image with Windows (placed on the other physical drive where I always put it), repartition all, installing Windows from scratch without anything else and then install that previously created image over it, which has all drives and software on it.

Anyway, given the system is only some 6 mos old, I still have room on my boot partition, and I could always buy one more physical Harddrive (still have free drive bays in the Area 51 -having used 4 so far) and use that for my data drive, deleting the present 200GB data partition and add the free space to the Win partition (as that is behind the Win partition).  It was just a thought of getting rid of obsolete data and reclaming those extra Gigabytes.  Thanks again for your input.

I have an Alienware Area 51 ALX with the following  1) 2 x SDD 256GB in Raid 0 and 2) 2 x WD600 GB in Raid 0.  #1 has 4 partitions, a 39 MB OEM, a 9.98 GB Recovery Partition my boot C) drive and my D) Data drive with #2 (also partitioned with one of those an automatically created copy via xcopy at boot-up and idle of my Data partition by way of copying any changed or new file from the Data to the Data Back-up partition). .

Hi Spamfighter,

1. Is your SSD 256GB originally from Dell or aftermarket?

2. Why do you use raid 0 + 2?

3. Did you set it up yourself or was it Dell pre-configured? 

4. Is it possible for you to take a picture of your drive bays? I want to have a look at the SSD mountings. Does it have a bracket for it?

Thanks.

I assume Acronis does all that. and assume that is what you refer to as "bare-metal" restore.  Now, since when Installing Windows totally new, it does install a hidden partition, is that needed by Windows, i.e. is that basically the same as that other small partition (the first one with the 39 MB OEM partition), which would be gone if I totally wipe out all partitions.  So would Windows work without such a partition?  I guess I need to to some more re-search on that,

"Bare-Metal" means you can backup or restore with just the bootable Backup software. It doesn't matter what is on the HDDs .

No, the System Reserved partition is not required (notice you don't have it now and Windows works fine). No, the 39mb OEM Partition is Dell Diagnostics and does a different thing.

I guess the bottom line is that you can only have one or the other. Since lower Home versions don't use Windows System Reserved, to make everything the same, Dell decided to put Dell Diags there. Plus, a lot of people lose their CDs, so it's handy to have Diags load from BIOS boot menu. Which-ever one you put there, it will be OTHER one that you need the bootable CD for.

Thanks again

Great information