Question on ghosting/cloning Raid array HDDs

[postal64]

Hi!
I have a practical question regarding the ghosting/cloning of bootable HDD set in RAID array.

SITUATION: I have a PC with Win XP-pro on a couple of 250GB SATA HDD in RAID-0 Stripping. The RAID array is managed by the Raid controller of my Asus A8N SLI Deluxe MB.

OBJECTIVE: I want to switch from the current Raid-0 to a Raid-1 mirroring without having to re-install the OS and every application.

HOW: I was wondering if I could successfully clone the RAID-0 250GB HDDs onto a single 500GB HDD. Then boot from the 500GB HDD, rebuild a RAID-1 array out of the two original 250GB HDD and finally clone the temporary 500GB HDD to the newly rebuilt RAID-1 250GB HDD. Is this like something that could potentially work? What cloning application would you use? How would you proceed? Any watch-outs?
Again, to summarize:
Current > 2x 250GB HDD in Raid-0
Step 1 > Clone to: 1x 500GB HDD (no Raid array)
Step 2 > Resize C: to a minimum on 500GB HDD
Step 3 > Rebuild 250GB HDD in Raid-1
Step 4 > Clone C: from 500GB HDD onto 250GB HDD Raid-1

I know! A clean install on a newly built Raid-1 HDDs would be easy ...but not fun!

 

[Freestone]

Why bother cloning and booting off the 500GB drive? Isn't the RAID0 array defined in the controller BIOS? I don't see the point of the 500GB booting. Okay, maybe for purposes of having a working system in case the RAID 0 to 1 transition goes completely south.

I would image the drive and not clone, and I would use Acronis True Image 11 Home or Acronis True Imge Echo Workstation. Others like Ghost. Probably a matter of personal preference. The big gotcha here is whether either product supports the RAID controller. You will need to be sure of that prior to breaking the RAID 0 set.

I would skip the resize you describe in step 2. Why mess around with your one and only existing copy, whether cloned or imaged? Resize while restoring to the new mirror set. This is an advantage of imaging. The image can be restored to a smaller partition. Unless you are thinking that you can't clone the 500GB to a 250GB? I think that is possible too. Perhaps someone can confirm.

And if you decide to clone, make sure the source and destination drives are set correctly. You don't want to accidentally clone the destination onto the source.

 

[burtsbees]

I think postal simply wants a mirror rather than a RAID 1 from now on.
I agree on the Acronis image strategy. No cloning. If it were me, I would look into a system that is RAID 5 capable...

Burt

 

[postal64]

Thanks a lot for the input and reco. Though, I really want to “convert” my 2x 250GB into RAID-1 mirrored. This will provide me with data and system recovery safety if one of the drives fails without having to set an external HD or something to manually backup data constantly. Besides I don’t need the slightly faster disc access that Raid-0 stripping offers since I do not play games anymore! Raid-5 array is a possibility if only I had the space for 2 additional 250GB in the case…

I’m trying to figure out this thing as I go, so excuse my inexperience. I am not familiar with creating an image of the drive: What are the steps involved? How would that works in my situation?

So far, I’m confused with the image strategy because the idea I had in mind was to break the RAID-0 anyway in order to reformat both 250GB drives in RAID-1. The thought is that I would “migrate” or copy the system and data onto a temporary drive before copying or migrating everything back again onto the 250GB drives newly rebuilt in RAID-1; hence the idea of booting from the temporary holding drive to make sure I have a bootable copy of everything before breaking the original RAID-0… Creating an image of the drives, can it help achieve the same result?
Thanks.

 

[Freestone]

Imaging a drive creates a bit-for-bit copy into a large file. This file is not bootable. An image makes for easier backups as it is one file, or one image split into pieces (to overcome the FAT32 4GB file size limit).

Since an image isn't bootable, and for your piece of mind, then you want the clone option.

If you have yet another drive, perhaps an external, you may want to opt for imaging to that as a backup, and cloning to the 500GB for boot up purposes.

Finally, you do realize that when mirroring the two 250GB drives, you will only have 250GB of usuable space? When they are striped, you have 500GB of space.

 

[Freestone]

ha, PEACE of mind, not piece of mind.

And a RAID5 set needs at a minimum 3 drives, not four, so you would need room for only one more drive.

 

[burtsbees]

Unless you want an online spare, which requires 4 drives. That way, you can lose 2 and still be good. Of course, I work with servers, so...

Burt

 

[wahnula]

My contribution to the discussion is:

I agree with Freestone about skipping the resize step. Otherwise, the plan is sound. I really like the step about having the bootable cloned drive before breaking the RAID 0 array, and having it available as a stand-alone bootable drive.

I use and recommend Ghost 2003, I have used it to clone & restore both RAID 1 and RAID 5 arrays to a single drive, then another array. I think the RAID controller is immaterial, as the BIOS sees the array as a single disk, but I've been wrong before.

This will provide me with data and system recovery safety if one of the drives fails without having to set an external HD or something to manually backup data constantly.

Remember, RAID 1 is nor a substitute for regular backup! It increases hardware fault tolerance and that's it. If you get a virus, both disks get the virus. If you delete a file, both disks have deleted files. It only protects against failure of a single drive. Regular backups are part of any disaster recovery plan.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[postal64]

All:
Thanks for taking the time to provide your perspective.

I’m kinda curious and was thinking I could attempt this type of “OS/data migration” to see if it would work. I did it successfully once on normal HDs but never with Raid arrays. Now, after more reading on the matter, I’m almost thinking I should probably just re-install Windows and get it over with. Especially because Norton Ghost is pricey ($67 at NewEgg.com) Ghost 2003 is also hard to come by these days! …Unless I can find a friend to “borrow” it from…

Anyhow, if I decide to go there, I like the idea of cloning to a single drive first, then break the Raid-0 drives, clone back into a single 250GB drive and rebuild a Raid-1 array with the spare 250GB, I guess.

Also, from 480GB usable space in Raid-0 to less than 250GB in Raid-1 is plenty for me on this machine.
And yes, I know that Raid-1 isn’t an insurance contract against data corruption/loss, though it will help keeping my machine running in case of problem rather than Raid-0 that isn’t giving me any fault tolerance indeed. Besides, I can brag that I have been immune from viruses, Trojans and spyware attacks for years!
Finally, setting up a Raid-5 array with an extra 250GB drive doesn’t seem to be an option for me here since identical copies of my current drives are no where to be found on the market anymore (Don’t know if it has to be exactly the same drives or if same specs only is good enough though… any thoughts on that?)
Thanks.

 

[postal64]

For info, more on HD cloning/ghosting:

http://www.williamaford.com/CloningaHDD.php

And a link to a cloning freeware application:

http://www.xxclone.com/

 

[Freestone]

Check out Acronis True Image Home 11. Cheaper than Norton Ghost. I've used Acronis products for a few years now, though only the Workstation and Server versions. I did download the trial of Home 11 into a Virtual PC session and did a drive clone, including a partition resize, as a result of your posts. It worked well.

For RAID 5, you can most likely use any 250GB or larger drive. I would try to match drive RPM to the two drives you currently have, and probably the size of any onboard cache.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do and please keep us posted.

 

[postal64]

Freestone,
Thanks for the help and info on matching drives.
If I move ahead with the cloning/imaging of the drives, I'll come back here to post the results.

 

[wahnula]

postal64,

Thanks for the update on Ghost 2003...there are only 3 sellers on eBay and only 1 site on PriceWatch...not too long ago it was everywhere for $30 or so...I guess I'll have to quit recommending it, or buy them up & corner the market!

What is especially useful to me is that Ghost 2003 works with Server 2003 & SBS, all the competing products are ridiculously priced (True Image Server for instance is $700+). True Image Home is fine, I own it too, along with Paragon's DriveCopy, Farstone's DriveClone, and the free HDClone program. If anyone's thinking about getting a copy of Ghost 2003, I guess now would be the time!

Tony

Users helping Users...