ICH9R RAID 0 -> RAID 0+1 migration?

[ratbuddy]

Situation is this: I have 2 160GB drives in RAID 0. I didn't know you could combine levels with only 2 drives with the matrix thing. If I had known, I would have made a ~100GB RAID 0 partition, and the remaining space in RAID 1, which would give enough room to do a nightly backup of the striped portion to each drive. Would be faster for daily use than doing 0+1 across 2 drives (is there even a point?)

What I want now is to add 2 more 160GB drives (theres room for another 4 on the controller) and convert to 0+1. Keep my stripe and add a mirror. I tried calling the mobo maker, they said I'd need to repartition the drives (??)

Please tell me they are wrong, is there a way to do this without having to reinstall everything?

Thanks

[ratbuddy]

Did I ask wrong, or just no answers yet?

Thanks :-P

[bing]

If I'm not mistaken, basically you want to migrate your current 2 drives Raid 0 into 4 drives Raid 10 right ?

Take a look HERE (http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-020674.htm), guess that kind of migration is not available.

You could use drive imaging program like Acronis to backup the the raid 0 before you do the raid re-configuration. You will need a temporary extra drive to save those drive image.

[DaPoets]

yeah w/ Matrix you can only migrate to raid 5 if you add more drives. Other than that it's a fresh raid array install and OS. Or Drive imaging. I actually like a fresh OS install but that's just me being a knuckle head... ;-)

[ratbuddy]

Yes bing, you are correct, I would like to go from 2 drive RAID 0 to 4 drive RAID 10. According to that link you provided, my only migration option without having to do a full backup/image is to RAID 5. That would be cheaper as well, requiring only 1 more drive. That raises a new question for me: how much slower would 3 drive RAID 5 be compared to a 4 drive RAID 10 array?

This may all be a nonissue soon, I'm looking at a pair these along with a dedicated controller.. *big evil grin* In the meantime, I may just get a eSATA backup drive and do weeklys or something..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822116012

We'll see..

[bing]

4 drives Raid 10 beats 3 drives Raid 5, no competition here either on performance and protection. :D

[ratbuddy]

And since it's proving impossible to find the type of SCSI RAID controller I would need (PCIe x4, external 68pin connector) to use with those drives I mentioned, looks like the plan is this: get 2 more 160GB drives for cheap (7200.10's are 50 bucks each,) and a 320+GB drive to save an image on. Make my image, destroy the existing array, reconfigure as RAID 10 with the 4x160GB drives, restore the image onto the new RAID volume.

I've done a fresh install of XP lately so I'd like to avoid doing that - tons of games that would take a week to reinstall. It should just work as it does now, without having to fuss with drivers - transparent to XP, right?

Anyone know the best disk imaging program for this use? Ghost still top dog?

[jason4207]

Acronis is the best...I think.

You can do it for free w/ Drive XML and Bart PE, but I don't know the process.