HDD OS transfer and RAID????

liquidmonkey · 06-15-2009, 01:12 PM

i have the following setup...

1 TB Western Digital SATA II
1 TB Western Digital SATA II
320 GB Western Digital SATA
200 GB Maxtor SATA

and then 4 x 500 GB externals but i want to sell those

and my main C: drive is the 320gig which i want to change to the brand spanking new 1 TB WD SATA II drive as i think i will get faster speeds. what programs(s) would i need to use to transfer my OS to another HDD?

and do you think i should RAID this setup? never done that before and know nothing about RAID. is it good? faster? what does it do? (don't worry, i'll google RAID a bit later, just heading out).

what would u experts do with a set up like this?

**johnb35** · 06-15-2009, 08:48 PM

You would use ghosting software to copy over or you could download the utility to actually copy drive to drive. As far as raid goes, raid 0 is for supposedly faster read/write access but you will lose all your data if a drive goes out. Raid 1 means whatever data is on drive 1 will be on drive 2, data reduntancy. So if 1 drive fails you still have a good drive that has all your data on it. And its just a matter of getting another drive, hooking it up and the raid will rebuild itself automatically.

liquidmonkey · 06-17-2009, 12:51 AM

thanks for that.
looks like i won't be using a RAID setup as i already do my own regular backups via a synchronization tool that i find very useful

now as far as ghosting my drive, i'm wondering...

1) does each drive need to be exactly the same size? the only thing i want to 'ghost' is the OS and all installed programs / games etc.

2) norton ghost is the only one i know, are there others? recommendations?

3) since i'm using a 1TB drive for my 'c' drive, should i make 2 partitions, 1 for the ghosted OS and one for the other files. my reasoning would be that if the main OS partition goes for a sh&t, then i can still access the other files on the other partition. or is that thinking wrong? are there special types of partitions i should make to ensure best useability / quality?

thanks...

**johnb35** · 06-17-2009, 02:09 AM

I would make more than 1 partition on a drive that size. On a 250 gb drive I make 1 partition for OS and the other for data. You can ghost a smaller drive to a bigger drive. There is Acronis True Image as well.

2048Megabytes · 06-17-2009, 04:44 AM

I have used Norton Ghost to copy an image of my 74.5 gigabyte hard drive to a 232 gigabyte hard drive. It is an excellent program.

You can get Norton Ghost version 14 for $20 here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Norton-Ghost...3%3A1|294%3A50

I had to run three hard drive disks in order for it to work. One hard drive ran my operating system, one drive to copy from and one to be written to.

liquidmonkey · 07-03-2009, 01:04 PM

ended up using seagate discwizard and two weeks on --- everything is working great!!!

thanks for the advice!

06-15-2009, 01:12 PM	#1 (permalink)
liquidmonkey Silver Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 165	HDD OS transfer and RAID???? i have the following setup... 1 TB Western Digital SATA II 1 TB Western Digital SATA II 320 GB Western Digital SATA 200 GB Maxtor SATA and then 4 x 500 GB externals but i want to sell those and my main C: drive is the 320gig which i want to change to the brand spanking new 1 TB WD SATA II drive as i think i will get faster speeds. what programs(s) would i need to use to transfer my OS to another HDD? and do you think i should RAID this setup? never done that before and know nothing about RAID. is it good? faster? what does it do? (don't worry, i'll google RAID a bit later, just heading out). what would u experts do with a set up like this? __________________ VISTA Ultimate SP2 64bit 2 x 24" LG Monitors Intel Core i7 920 with Xigmatek HDT-S1283 ASUS P6T WS PRO 12gigs of OCZ Gold XTC Triple Channel 6x2gig DDR3 1333MHz PC12800 XFX Nvidia GTX 260 core 216 Corsair TX750W Cooler Master 690 HDD Total = 4.5 TB

06-15-2009, 08:48 PM	#2 (permalink)
johnb35 Moderator Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Near Joliet Illinois Age: 39 Posts: 3,644	You would use ghosting software to copy over or you could download the utility to actually copy drive to drive. As far as raid goes, raid 0 is for supposedly faster read/write access but you will lose all your data if a drive goes out. Raid 1 means whatever data is on drive 1 will be on drive 2, data reduntancy. So if 1 drive fails you still have a good drive that has all your data on it. And its just a matter of getting another drive, hooking it up and the raid will rebuild itself automatically. __________________ Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R CPU - E8400 Memory - 2GB Corsair XMS2 (2x 1gb) Graphics - ATI HD3870 Hard Drives - 250GB Seagate DVD Drive - Lite-On DVD Burner - Lite-On Power Supply - Rosewill RP600V2-S-SL 600W 22" Acer widescreen AL2216WBD

06-17-2009, 12:51 AM	#3 (permalink)
liquidmonkey Silver Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 165	thanks for that. looks like i won't be using a RAID setup as i already do my own regular backups via a synchronization tool that i find very useful now as far as ghosting my drive, i'm wondering... 1) does each drive need to be exactly the same size? the only thing i want to 'ghost' is the OS and all installed programs / games etc. 2) norton ghost is the only one i know, are there others? recommendations? 3) since i'm using a 1TB drive for my 'c' drive, should i make 2 partitions, 1 for the ghosted OS and one for the other files. my reasoning would be that if the main OS partition goes for a sh&t, then i can still access the other files on the other partition. or is that thinking wrong? are there special types of partitions i should make to ensure best useability / quality? thanks... __________________ VISTA Ultimate SP2 64bit 2 x 24" LG Monitors Intel Core i7 920 with Xigmatek HDT-S1283 ASUS P6T WS PRO 12gigs of OCZ Gold XTC Triple Channel 6x2gig DDR3 1333MHz PC12800 XFX Nvidia GTX 260 core 216 Corsair TX750W Cooler Master 690 HDD Total = 4.5 TB

06-17-2009, 02:09 AM	#4 (permalink)
johnb35 Moderator Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Near Joliet Illinois Age: 39 Posts: 3,644	I would make more than 1 partition on a drive that size. On a 250 gb drive I make 1 partition for OS and the other for data. You can ghost a smaller drive to a bigger drive. There is Acronis True Image as well. __________________ Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R CPU - E8400 Memory - 2GB Corsair XMS2 (2x 1gb) Graphics - ATI HD3870 Hard Drives - 250GB Seagate DVD Drive - Lite-On DVD Burner - Lite-On Power Supply - Rosewill RP600V2-S-SL 600W 22" Acer widescreen AL2216WBD

06-17-2009, 04:44 AM	#5 (permalink)
2048Megabytes Diamond Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Mainland United States Posts: 2,295	I have used Norton Ghost to copy an image of my 74.5 gigabyte hard drive to a 232 gigabyte hard drive. It is an excellent program. You can get Norton Ghost version 14 for $20 here: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Norton-Ghost...3%3A1\|294%3A50 I had to run three hard drive disks in order for it to work. One hard drive ran my operating system, one drive to copy from and one to be written to. __________________ "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." -- Benjamin Franklin Operating Systems: Linux Ubuntu 9.04 and Windows Vista Power Supply: OCZ StealthXStream OCZ600SXS Video Card: MSI R3650-T2D512 OC Radeon HD 3650 Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M78SM-S2H Memory: Super Talent PC2-6400 2 gigabytes Processor: Phenom 9550 Quad-Core (2.2 gigahertz)

07-03-2009, 01:04 PM	#6 (permalink)
liquidmonkey Silver Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 165	ended up using seagate discwizard and two weeks on --- everything is working great!!! thanks for the advice! __________________ VISTA Ultimate SP2 64bit 2 x 24" LG Monitors Intel Core i7 920 with Xigmatek HDT-S1283 ASUS P6T WS PRO 12gigs of OCZ Gold XTC Triple Channel 6x2gig DDR3 1333MHz PC12800 XFX Nvidia GTX 260 core 216 Corsair TX750W Cooler Master 690 HDD Total = 4.5 TB

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
RAID 1 advice	pbdr	Computer Memory and Hard Drives	13	10-31-2006 08:35 PM
Is this HW or SW RAID?	XFs	Computer Memory and Hard Drives	7	09-19-2006 06:49 PM
How to transfer Single drive to a RAID 0	Sonny01	Computer Memory and Hard Drives	0	10-22-2005 03:53 AM
Sata.. raid.. huh? HELP	redrider773	Computer Memory and Hard Drives	1	08-28-2005 05:19 AM
Optimising the HDD bottleneck	schmeggin	Computer Memory and Hard Drives	3	12-20-2004 03:04 AM