Moving RAID setup between computers

C

computermaineack

New Member
I'm building a new comp soon, and I have a RAID 0 setup in this computer that I want to move to the new one. If I move it, will all my files be intact or will I have to reformat both drives and setup RAID again. If it is the latter, how can I backup the files on my RAID array so I can put them back on there once I set it up again?

I also want to move my primary drive (my boot drive) over and use that as a boot drive...how can I move my files, programs, etc over?
 
With the new build you have been talking about you have to consider a set of "major" hardware changes there. Keep one large drive aside for safe keeping files safe there and plan on wiping the drive(s) used for OS(s) to see clean installs for the new build. The array will be lost when moving to a new board. Have a dvd burner for data dvds?

With a totally new board the array will most likely see the need to be redone all over again. You would looking at a totally different chipset and recognition of the drives to some degree there. Having a drive setup as strictly a storage drive saved the day here lately when moving 3 out of 4 drives into the new build.

Two were wiped clean for new copies of Windows as well as moving versions around. On the old 939 build XP Home was on the first ide drive while Vista was on the second one there. Now Vista is on the single ide with XP Home on the first sata. XP Pro had been there previously and is now seen on the one remaining ide drive in the 939 case. The second sata was used to backup both XP and Vista files alike in addition to have a dvd burner in each case for long term file storage.
 
I thought I would have to reformat it and start again, just verifying.

So lets start and say I make a Norton Ghost backup of the RAID array and my primary boot drive. Once I reinstall Windows (and/or Linux) on it, I can just use the backup to recover my computer to its previous state (programs, etc, all still working)? Or will I have to reinstall all the programs again. I also have some programs installed to the RAID array.

I assume I can do the same (norton ghost backup) for the array...?

Thank you for all of your help (in all of my threads :P)
 
try look for a motherboard with the same raid controller. i moved from one to another that has the same raid controller and i didnt need to rebuild.
 
That's a valid point there. This is what I was getting at before with something usually being different on a new board requiring a fresh start. Besides Norton Ghost Acronis has a great disk imaging software too. But plan on fresh installations of programs whenever you see a clean install of any OS whether Windows, Linux, Mac, Solaris, etc..

You simply backup things like game saves when possible if they work when you reinstall the same later. Audio, video, and other file types in storage on the array should still be backed up as much as possible along with any ghosting to see that they maintain file intregrity. I had burns where some files were lost on data disks too.
 
Just curious why exactly are you running RAID 0, it doesn't give any performance increase on basic usage, internet surfing or video games. It also puts your rig at a higher risk of failure, because if you get one file system problem on one drive the whole array fails.
 
An array creates room for storage mainly. I was considering an array of a pair of 750gb sata drives here at some point for backup and available file storage. But that would be with large capacity sata not ide drives there.
 
Actually you lose a bit of space when you stripe drives so having two separate 750 gig drives would be more space. RAID is really only a server side technology with the few exceptions of like video editing and 3D rendering work stations. Otherwise RAID offers no real world performance boost to the end user.
 
I looked at the mirroring side seen in an array and already decided that a pair would have to been seen as two separate drives. That not only increase the actual storage but allow more room for Solaris, Mandriva, or another distro then seeing the second 500gb sata model here left open for possibly Vienna when that comes out. I put Vista on the one remaining ide and have XP on the first sata.

All files stored on the second sata were found intact being a separate logical drive in the new build here. I would have lost those if the two sata drives had been in an array on the 939 build most likely. RAID is quite limited since that is based around the use of two ide drives there.

Yet sata drives despite the faster bus are still limited by the ATA100/133 standard as far as hardware is concerned. The WD Raptors are the ones that would actually see a gain while limited to 74 or 160gb.
 
Alright so here's my current situation:

My new computer is all built and working fine. I moved everything off of my 60gb IDE drive, formatted it, and pulled it from my old computer and put it in my new one. I pulled a CD-RW from my sister's computer for now, so I can have a CD drive in each computer (my sister moved out a little under a year ago). So right now I need to transfer my files from my old computer to my new one. Considering the RAID array, I haven't come up with a method to transfer the data without buying a new drive.
My 500gb (SATA) RAID 0 array currently has about 160gb of space used. I have another 160gb IDE drive and as previously mentioned, the 60gb IDE drive. I also have my optical drive, which is IDE. Because of these limitations, I cannot have my 2 IDE harddries and my optical in my computer at the same time (new mobo only has 1 IDE connector). The 160gb drive has about 20gb free (although I might be able to free up a little more). So I need to find a way to move the 160gb from my RAID array to my new computer with minimal data losses. I can have my two comps (old and new) linked to each other to transfer data between them, etc, basically my biggest problem right now is getting 160gb worth of data to fit on the 60gb of harddrive space that I have so I can format my RAID array and set it up again on my new mobo.

My old mobo is an MSI K8N Neo4-F, new one is eVGA NF67-A1.

When I get home (I'm on vacation in Lake Placid for the weekend) I'm going to install Windows onto the 60gb drive temporarily, so I can have an OS on that comp. Once I get this sorted out, however, I want the 160gb drive to be my boot drive. The 160gb drive is currently the boot drive, so when I install Windows/ubuntu again, will it need to format the drive?
 
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One way to get around the limitation on the 60gb would be to copy files onto the 160gb temporarily to cover what won't go on the other drive. Once the array is up you simply slave the 160 to the 60gb host and then copy from both onto the array. But! You would be far better off setting up the drives there as two separate indendent drives to avoid seeing everything lost if something does go wrong.

The other options are like using 1394 firewire or a usb method for direct transfer from system to system. For the 160gb once in the newer system you want a clean install of Windows and the need to reconfigure the duall boot there. Plan that as a fresh start. For that case I would simply dump the 60 in the old case and forget it. You can easily dual boot on the 160 and use the 500 for storage and backup.

On the new build here Vista is on the first drive(250gb ide) and XP Home now resides on the first of two 500gb satas. With plans at first of buying two more 750gb drives one bit of news solves drive space fast. That would WD's new line of GP 1tb capacity sata models! I won't need two 750s.
 
I don't have a dual boot on this computer, and I don't need to set one up right away on my new one....basically, if I reinstall windows (and only windows), will I need to format my drive?

I'm not quite sure what you're saying about transfering the data on the drives...I need someplace to "hold" the 160gb of data on the array while I set up the array on the new comp.
 
You first have to backup all data on the pair of drives since the move will see the array destroyed. The drives will end needing to be wiped in order to see a new array setup on the next build. The 160gb of files there can be copied in parts to the other drives for temp safe keeping until the new array is working.

tlarkin already pointed out some important things earlier on the benefit of seeing two logical drives and increased capacity rather then the limitations seen with an array. Your best move is what I had already decided before even ordering for the new build in use here of going for additional drives to increase storage space and even adding one or more OSs to the system.

With a new build you will need to install new board drivers along with removing those from the prior system. Most siimply wipe a drive for a clean fresh install of the OS plus the new board used will need to see a fresh array there. Your best move is to copy or clone the two drives and see how things go later knowing the files are safe.

You can copy for example 60gb to one drive and 100gb to the other. How about 80gb on each of the other drives? Maybe 40gb on one and 120gb on the larger drive. I've done that enough times to still see some Win95 and 98SE files onhand. And besides Norton Ghost or Acronis the Linux drive tool GParted can copy partitions while not working for an array but with two separate drives with their own separate partitions.
 
Alright so I've trimmed off some more files, and here's where I'm at now...

I have a little over 30gb free on my 160gb drive. I have about 90gb used on my 500gb array. So what I'm going to do is backup all the files from the 160gb to the array, then format it and put it into the new comp, and install windows on it. Then I'll put the data back on it, plus about 30gb from the array. I'll load up the other 60gb harddrive with the remaining 60gb from the array, then format the two drives and set up RAID 0 again.

Hopefully I won't lose any data...
 
Once you have your files copied from drive to drive first verify their intregrity of the files before wiping the other drives. That will save you from losses when a file you have backed up is found bad and unusable later. I've seen that enough times moving files back and forth and even when retrieving from data disks created for backups.
 
That will depend on the file type there. For one example let's say you have 100 wav files for assigning a different sound for several different Windows functions. You are bored with the few included in Windows and simply want to spice up the system a little. Sometimes you can a cd in a software store loaded with them or even record your own like a voice file for a critical stop or program error. You hear "no it can''t be" as an example for a more humourous file.

After a period of time you decided to back up quite a few on a cd-r or maybe a data dvd along with a ton of other file types. After a drive gets wiped clean and a fresh install of Windows or like there now for a new build you copy those into a new folder one the drive and even the media folder inside the Windows diectory and suddenly that file doesn't work when assigned. You forgot to first double click on it and let WMP play it to see if it saw a successful burn to disk earlier.

For a data file like a doc for WordPad you simply open the file from browsing the backup disk while Wordpad is open after the initial burn. It's actually a process of examination and elimination for any files found missing or damaged once burned to disk or copied/tranferred to another drive or system. Everytime you backup photos even you test them before anything is done to the original source folder/drive in case a replacement copy is needed.
 
Most likely what I'll do is creat an image of the 160gb with Acronis True Image, then transfer it to the array. Then I'll format the 160gb and connect it to my new comp, and install windows. Once it's installed, I'll transfer the image back to the 160gb and restore it, so I have all my files. Then I'll pull the 60gb (which will actually already be out, as I cannot have the CD drive and the 160gb and the 60gb in the comp at the same time) and put it into the old comp, and I'll install windows onto it again. I'll then transfer an image of about 53gb onto it, as well as an image of the remaining 40gb or so onto the 160gb. I'll then format the array and set it up in the new comp, and transfer the two images back to the array and restore them. Should be fun...
 
What I did to get around the single ide channel limitation was simply to go for a sata type dvd burner to replace the ide model used in the last build. That allowed Vista to go on the single ide hard drive for the presently two version system here. The idea at first was to add two more 750gb drives in an array and use the second 500gb sata for ? Vienna, Linux, Solaris 10 where I could easily spit that drive up into separate partitions for the smaller OSs.

The practicality of seeing am array for storage and backup came to a quick close here however since it would still cram 465gb on two drives rather then utilizing the full capaicty of seeing 910-920gb with two separate logical drives where one could backup the other to some degree.

Now that WD has their new line of Cavier GP 1tb models out the simple addition of a single drive that size will cover the need for more available drive space rather then risking of losing everything if an array fails for any number of reasons. The best use for arrays is still seen in server and networking environments. I'll have to wait for the present $329.99 price to drop somewhat however. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136151
 
Yeah, I've been considering more and more just setting up 2 drives, not in an array. But presently I like how I have one 500gb drive in Windows, instead of having two harddrives where I have to go searching through each one to find what I want. I also am not really worried about harddrive failure- I've never had a harddrive fail on me, including my 10 year old Maxtor (the 60gb I talk about above).

I've also considered getting a SATA DVD burner, but I'd rather not spend money right now on things I don't need...I just invested a fair amount into my computer (I didn't get bday presents from some people :P) and so I want to conserve as much money as I can. The only time I think that the IDE DVD+RW will be a problem is transferring the data, otherwise, since I don't plan on using the 60gb drive in the new computer, I don't think it will be a problem, especially since all of my new harddrives are going to be SATA.
 
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