Advice sought on SSD+Raid new build and keeping old PC going

[IcarusII]

Hi all,

I have a PC (the one im writing this from). In it are 2 x 1Tb HDD's set up like this:

This is a full retail version of W7 HP 64bit.

Ive also just bought all the parts for a new build. This will eventually be OS on a 128Gb SSD and 2 x 1TB HDDs in a software raid for fast games. Over the next day ill build it. In terms of OS I will be using a new retail copy of W7 HP 64bit i just bought with all the parts. Heres the trickier bit: The 2 x 1tb HDD's (almost identical) i want to raid together are the two in my old machine (pictured above). My wife will inherit my old machine but ive bought her a new single 1TB (different manufacturer).

Anyhow here are my problems and my own solutions but perhaps there are better / more elegant ways of doing this??

1) Whilst I build my new computer i want my old one to alive and well so i can use it to come to forums like this! I can achieve this to begin with by building the new rig and installing the new retail OS to the new SSD. No too hard so far.

2) Once the new PC is booting happily into windows from the SSD I then want to take the 2 x 1TB HDD's out of my old machine. My plan is to format the new HDD on the old machine and create two partitions. I will then discimage my old OS onto one of the partitions of the new HDD on my old machine. i can then boot the old machine from this new HDD and still see my old, familiar windoes OS setup.

3) At some point my wife wants a rebuilt OS thats all shiny and new. I was going to use my old retail W7 to create a brand new isntall onto the other partition and get that all set up for her. At any time i want to be able to dual boot back to my old w7 install (from the same copy of windows). Is this even possible? And once the new os is set up, my wife is happy, my new PC is all hunky dory, I will delete my old (and much loved) OS, and expand the partition with the clean install to fill the HDD and then its over to the wife.

I have a NAS which is networked (Synology 4 bay with 2 TB in it atm) which I can also use if it helps anything??

I look forward to any suggestions and advice if anyone has any (or can understand a word ive written)

thanks
Matt

 

[IcarusII]

Did I post this in the wrong forum?
Or did my post just make no sense?

Happy to clarify anything if ive confused people.

Thanks
Matt

 

[DeaconFrost]

1. Don't bother with RAID on a desktop, especially for non-OS drives, and even more so if you'll be using a NAS to back up.

2. That should work fine, but if you plan to do a clean install, might as well do it now. You know the old system works without issues.

3. Assuming you have individual keys for each machine, it will work fine. I don't see the point of trying to dual boot your old install. I guess I'm not sure what you are worried about with all of these clean installs, maybe thinking they won't work? Aside from hardware issues on the new build, that should go smoothly. On the old system, just get your updated drivers before hand and store them on a flash drive. There's no need for the safety net of the old install.

 

[IcarusII]

Wow, I'm honoured to get a reply from (and just guessing here) a Blade fan and a Disturbed fan? With you on both mate

The software raid was intended for speed (striped) not redundancy. My two 1tb drives were only going to hold non critical data (ie games) for fast loading. The OS sits separately on ssd. I have a friend running his system like this and It's blisteringly fast. Any sensitive data will sit in a folder which will be auto backed up to my NAS over the network. Is this still a bad idea in your eyes? It's speed I'm after not data safety.

I guess I wanted to preserve my old OS setup as a comfort blanket. I can do this without just wondered if I needed to.

I got an email saying gregrocker had replied to this thread too but I cannot see any reply for some odd reason. So sorry Greg if you did take the time

Matt

 

[seavixen32]

Matt, Greg's reply may have been lost when Seven Forum's server crashed recently - we were informed that a fair number of posts were trashed.

 

[IcarusII]

That would explain it. Thanks seavixen

 

[DeaconFrost]

Wow, I'm honoured to get a reply from (and just guessing here) a Blade fan and a Disturbed fan? With you on both mate

You are the first person to point out the where my name came from. I was a fan of the movies, but I just really liked the name. Big Disturbed fan though. They are a unique band with a unique sound.

The software raid was intended for speed (striped) not redundancy. My two 1tb drives were only going to hold non critical data (ie games) for fast loading. The OS sits separately on ssd. I have a friend running his system like this and It's blisteringly fast. Any sensitive data will sit in a folder which will be auto backed up to my NAS over the network. Is this still a bad idea in your eyes? It's speed I'm after not data safety.

You won't see those speed increases in a RAID0 array, especially not using software RAID. RAID0 is pretty much 100% hype and little to no substance at all. I could see mirroring them for protection, but at the same time, you'd have a NAS for that. If speed was all you cared about, you aren't going to be seeing it on the HDDs. You will see it with an SSD, though...and that will make your entire system run faster.

I guess I wanted to preserve my old OS setup as a comfort blanket. I can do this without just wondered if I needed to.

You could always just backup an image of it using something like Macrium Reflect. That way, if you need to roll back to it, you can. However, a clean install on a known working system would only take 2 hours or so, enjoying the warm fuzzy feeling that accompanies a fresh install.

 

[gregrocker]

I concur with Deacon on RAID. I wouldn't mess with it except to mirror data for real time backup. A better solution is to place data on another HD linked via Library - Include a Folder. This keeps the backup image smaller with only OS/Programs so that if Win7 becomes unbootable it can be reimaged to HD or replacement in 20 minutes while the data set is current and waiting in place.

It would be better if you could Dual Boot the wife's computer on separate HD's booted via BIOS boot order or one-time BIOS Boot Menu key, with the old HD unplugged while installing the new one. This way the old OS can more easily be removed, whereas if installed on same you'll need to recover the System Boot Files and HD space back into the new OS before removing the old one, same as here: Partition Recover Space Used by an Older OS