Windows 7: Disk Change

I never tried this. So I'll ask some questions.
I am running to 300 gig WD's in a raid one config as system disks. If I buy two WD 300 gig Velociraptors, can I clone my existing system disks to the new disks and then just shut down and insert them? That seems just to simple.

Will the raid controller accept them on booting or will I have to reconfigure them as a raid set? If I have to reconfigure them it's of no use to clone them. I would be in for a clean install.

I've got Norton Ghost and Image Burn either would clone them.

Assuming that your cloning software can see/access the RAID controller at all times during the clone process, yes. This is a common practice.

Someone else will have to guide you on what software to use.

If I understand correctly, you are using a RAID 1, mirrored configuration with two 300 GB hard drives. You should be able to remove one of the current 300 GB drives, insert one of the new 300 GB drives, and "rebuild" the data from the mirror. When complete, you can repeat the procedure with the second new drive. You place your data at minimal risk and the "rebuilding" can be done when the computer would otherwise be idle.

Much depends on the RAID software/hardware you are using.

Robert

Storage Controllers in Device Manager:
Intel (R) ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO/PCH SATA RAID CONTROLLER
Driver Ver. Intel 8.9.2.1002
MARVEL 61XX RAID CONTROLLER
Driver Marvell Inc. 1.2.0.69

Win 7 ...... Intel (R) Matrix Stroage Console

MB
Intel ICH10R Southbridge 6X Sata 3.0 Gb's ports
Intel Matrix Storage supporting Sata Raid 0,1,5 and 10
Marvell 88SE6111 Controller
1 X Ultra DMA 133/100/66 for up to 2 Pata devices
1 X External SATA 3.0 Gb's port

Yes it's Raid 1, mirror config. By hardware and software were you refering to the above specs?

Yes. It appears you are using the RAID hardware and software supplied by the motherboard manufacturer. I have not used this specific hardware and software, however I suspect you could follow your plan and clone your original hard drive to both of your new drives and simply plug them in, it just seems simpler to me to replace an old drive with a new one and allow your software to "rebuild" the data to the new drive (twice). You can track the progress in Windows with the Matrix Storage Console.

I do not think a transfer of the data in the raid to a new hard drive would be sufficient. I think you would have to take the RAID down in order to clone the actual drive. I suppose you could continue to use the computer ... wait ... you said "system disks" ... did you mean your windows partition in inside the RAID? If so, your system will have to boot to only one active disk in the raid while you clone the other one. Or do I misunderstand?

"your system will have to boot to only one active disk in the raid while you clone the other one. Or do I misunderstand?"

Your understanding is correct. It should boot on one disk and immediately correct the other one. Notice I said "should" That's the whole object of a mirrored set.

Replacing and rebuilding one drive at a time should work fine, but rebuilding can take a long while.

If you do image backups, then restoring the backup image to a newly made RAID 1 array will be much faster, not to mention that you really want to have a backup whenever you futz around with your disk configurations.

Or as you say you can add the two new drives as a new RAID 1 array then clone from the old array to the new one, which will also be much faster, and your original will act as backup in the meantime.

You will need to change your BIOS config to boot off the new array rather than the old one.

You can then remove the two old drives, re-format them and reuse as a data array, or delete the array in them and use them as standalone drives. Remember that a RAID mirror drive is not the same as a standalone SATA drive - there's RAID data that the controller will interpret and attempt to implement. So if you reuse the drives without the array configuration, you will need to delete the old array in the ICH10R BIOS or through the Intel Matrix Storage Manager.

Ok I got the disks (VelociRaptors) and set out to change them. Plan "A" was to remove one disk of the mirrored set and let Matrix Manager rebuild. Then add the second disk and do another rebuild.

Plan "A" went down the tube when I was unable to pair the new disk with the existing disk. The only answer I have for that is the new disk was 20 Gig smaller. Otherwise I don't know why they wouldn't pair up.

Plan "B" replaced both disks with the new disks. Created new raid 1 pair at boot. Booted to CD Rom (Acronis Western Dig). From there partitioned and cloned one of the old system disks to the new raid config. Seems to be working (I'm Posting)

Awesome ... yea, bigger is ok but not smaller.

Happy surfing!

Robert