problem cloning raid array onto a new disk.

[kipwin]

Hi,

My win98 workhorse had a real problem booting one day. After 3 or 4 tries it managed to wheeze to life and all file operations were very slow. The next day it booted no problem and things were pretty much just fine. It has an Adaptec Raid system for the C drive. So I thought maybe the main C drive crapped out and the Raid copy had taken over. Anyway I thought I should get it checked out so I took it to the techs who built it and instlled the Raid. They have done great work for me for years. The tech said the Raid drives were pretty old and he thought I should replace the C drive. He suggested that I just install a single disk for C and keep the old disks for a backup of the system with all the software etc. So he cloned The C drive onto a new disk. However, now the system will not shut down. And it boots up ridiculously slow. He’s all frazzled. I suggested he put the Raid system back in which he did and now all is fine. But those drives are 4 or 5 years old – they won’t go forever. He thinks the problem is that the bios was updated such that with the new single disk there are different drivers. I don't quite understand him. The current drives are 40 gb and I think he was trying to clone onto an 80 or maybe larger.

Anyway I would appreciate any comments from you. Sincere thanks

 

[rclarke250]

A little more info. What is the model number of the system board, what is the raid? built in the MB or stand alone pci card? Bios has nothing to do with drivers.

Drivers are in the OS. Now it is true, that if he cloned the raid and it is trying to use the adaptec drivers to boot the new single drive, than yes, he should load the drivers for the controller for the standard ide controller, or the specific chipset of the controller. These can be found on the website of the board maker, if they are still in business. And if they didn't dump all of the old win98 drivers, as it's an unsupported OS.

Some of the adaptec onboard chipsets, allowed you to choose in the bios if you were going to use it as raid, or standard ide. He might want to change the settings for the raid card, and take out the 2 40's. boot it up with the new drive on the adaptec. See if there is any change in the boot.

 

[kipwin]

Hi, thanks for the info. The tech managed to get it all on one drive.