removing raid 0 with windows installed

Question

i have a dell dimension 9100 and it came with 2x150gb harddrives that are joined as 1 with raid 0, what i want to do is to get ride of the raid and just have 2 seperate 150gb drives but windows is installed on the raid drives will it screw it up if i remove the raid 0?

shesagordie · Answer

pixiesoft.   The only way to remove RAID 0, is to reinstall XP, because all the data is shared between the two hard drives.  Make certain that you have all the CDs for a manual reinstall.   Bev.

pixiesoft · Answer

so then i couldnt even use the recover cd they gave me then? what about using patition software?

pixiesoft · Answer

would it be possible to take an image with norton ghost then remove the raid then replace the image on the independent drive?   chris

shesagordie · Answer

pixiesoft.

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/devices.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&SystemID=DIM_P4_9100&os=WW1&osl=EN

You should also, read this.

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_mediaexp&message.id=1895

Regards to finding the hardware that's installed in your system, check the Dell packing slip, that came with the computer package.

You also, install the Dell System Profiler

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/my_systems_info/en/system_profiler_agreement?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Bev.

shesagordie · Answer

pixiesoft.   No.   Bev.

pixiesoft · Answer

i need to find out all the hardware i have including the motherboard so i can download all the drivers how can i find this out?

shesagordie · Answer

pixiesoft.

If you want two separate hard drives, you must uninstall RAID first.

Boot the system, press CTRL-I when indicated to go into the RAID BIOS setup, and set the drives up in a non-RAID configuration.

Then partition and format the C:/ boot drive and install windows, drivers, applications and install all the critcal updates.. After the C:/ is working to your satisfaction, the partition and format the second drive using XP's disk management.

Bev.

pixiesoft · Answer

so using that cd will install windows and drivers without it doing raid 0 hopefully?

shesagordie · Answer

pixiesoft.   Dell does not have a recovery CD, the Dell XP reinstallation CD is a full copy of windows. that's tied to Dell's BIOS, to be used for a manual reinstall of XP in a Dell system.   Most partitioning software will not work with a RAID array, only the server level utilities will.   Once you break a RAID 0 array, it becomes unusable.   Bev.

Storage, Drives & Media

removing raid 0 with windows installed

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