Moving OS from single to RAID

liqnit · Post by **liqnit** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:35 am

HI
I am trying to clone a system form a single drive into a raid array(RAID 0)
Is it possible?
DO i need to make any changes before on the original system?

The os is Win XP SP2 Pro.
HARDWARE RAID

Please advise.

Thanks

Monk · Post by **Monk** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:32 pm

Hi liqnit,
I know it is a pain, but you might want to do a clean install in the raid0 array. That way you know for a fact that everything is set right. Disconnect the current OS drive first. That way if things go bad you still have that as backup.

That said, been there done that. I will never put the OS on a raid0 again. Just too many chances for things to go south. If you have a hicup with either drive in a raid0 array, you are up the creek. I keep the OS on the fastest single drive I can find and use the raid0 for data (which I backup in several places).

Good Luck!

liqnit · Post by **liqnit** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 11:27 pm

Thanks for info
I was forced to do a clean install because i couldn't even repair the system
I must us Raid0 on System i need the performance boost , i was using Raptor but it wasnt fast enough .
Since it is a system which is cloned to several system in case of any bad behavior i will reinstall the image.
I was sthining going Raid0 with 3 HD - will it make a boost compare to 2 HD?

I see by your signature your have several raids installed

Monk · Post by **Monk** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 10:02 am

Increasing the number of drives in a raid0 will definately increase performance. However, (isn't there always a "however") it also increases the possibility of problems. The more drives there are in a raid0 the greater chance of loosing everything since you now have more possible fault points. I have only actually lost a drive once. At one time I ran a raid0 with four drives. The array was quick but I had problems with cables (power and data). One loose cable and everything goes bye-bye.

The reason I stay away from raid0 for the OS is that it is a pain to reload programs. For some reason, I have never had much luck restoring an OS from a backup. It works but the OS doesn't seem to be "just right" (perception vs reality?). Whereas, data files are just data. Restore the backup and you are done.

I did not include in my sig that I also have a couple of good old fashion IDE drives (150gb and a 300gb). These are where the backups go. They are not fast but they are reliable. By the way, I have found that external USB drives are painfully slow for large backups.

If you want more speed go for more drives. But, invest money and time in backup software.

Good Luck!