Using a Raid1 to move a Windows Partition

TwistedPsycho

I am just thinking aloud while sat pondering and thought that some of our more knowledgeable on here would be able to answer.

A Theoretical situation
I have a Windows 7 Ultimate installation on a desktop and everything on a single HDD - Say 60GB
I install a second HDD (60GB or larger) and set up Raid1 mirror

If I remove the first HDD I could in theory run windows happily on the second.... no?

John_Gray

Yes, that's the way RAID-1 is supposed to provide you with backup, but the performance when you first make the software RAID-1 will be pretty dire. And shut down properly before removving the first disk. Breaking mirrors can be a bit fraught, though, so test it before you want to do it in anger.

AHAR

Just clone the old disk onto the new one. The hard drive manufacturer will probably have installation software available to download from their web site which will do this for you.

fwor

Agreed that it would be much simpler to just use something free like Clonezilla to clone to the new larger HDD, then start Win 7 and use Disk Management to "grow" the partition to fill the new HDD (or alternatively add new partitions to take up the extra space).

KillerWatt

TwistedPsycho wrote: »

I install a second HDD (60GB or larger) and set up Raid1 mirror

Hardware or software based?

TwistedPsycho

Hardware KillerWatt

Well I was bored and could not sleep this morning (I have to leave for work in about 20 minutes anyway) so I tried both methods, just to see how easy it was. The Clonezilla method failed on my attempt. I kept getting a "Boot Disk Not Found" error which I could not rectify.

Using the Windows Admin Tools was far simpler and actually quicker, although in this instance I did not use a 60GB it was 100GB in both instances.


Thanks for your thoughts. Obviously not a moneysaving tip (although if everyone who can on here went away with a raid array in their computer it would probably halve their chances of re-appearing with a "Arrrggggghhhhh My Computer Doesn't Work" type problem.

KillerWatt

If you go down the hardware based route, then what you suggest will work and the disk controller will build the array and replicate the data for you.

If you opt for the software (Windows) based route, I expect the PC would probably fall over if you tried to start it on a single disk.

TwistedPsycho

Well... I assume hardware anyway.

The IDE and SATA were both plugged into the motherboard.
I used the Windows Vidtual Disk Server through the Administative Tools menu and mirrored the drives. Then removed the IDE HDD and rebooted.

it seems to have worked but I then had to break the mirroring on the missing drive; obviously when I get home fom work later and its a melted heap i will be able to say i was wrong!

amcluesent

>If you opt for the software (Windows) based route, I expect the PC would probably fall over if you tried to start it on a single disk.<

Not my experience with Vista and Intel Matrix Storage Console with SATA Raid controller on the mobo. A RAID1 volume will boot even if one drive is removed. You'll get plenty of warning messages that running degraded is high risk.

KillerWatt

amcluesent wrote: »

Not my experience with Vista and Intel Matrix Storage Console with SATA Raid controller on the mobo. A RAID1 volume will boot even if one drive is removed. You'll get plenty of warning messages that running degraded is high risk.

The first (and last) time I played with software (Windows) based RAID was on Win 2K, it fell over when one disk was removed.

As you are using hardware RAID, I would fully expect it to work no matter what the OS was - and you don't need the Intel Matrix Storage Console software either.

amcluesent

>you don't need the Intel Matrix Storage Console software either.<

Whatever...