Cloning Raid-0 to Single HD

Well I got a spare 250 Seagate single platter drive and wanted to change my setup getting out of 2x80gb sata raid0 so I can put one drive in my dads new system and keep the other for backup. Whats the best way to clone my current system? I tried norton ghost but it wont read my drives as raid, only 1 80gb was listed so im guessing it doesnt support sata raid0. I dont have windows backup tool on my system (windows 2003 x64) either. Any other software that will do the cloning without much problems?

There are a whole bunch of cloning utilities on "the ultimate boot CD"

But I don't know if they support RAID.

Hmm, I actually wanted to start an identical thread as I also want to know...

Try Acronis True image.
I would use the copy disc utility.

Or freeware DriveImageXML, it has drive image copying feature as well.

Quick69GTO said:

Try Acronis True image.
I would use the copy disc utility.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, I will also look into that!

ok just got my hands on acronis and driveimage. will post back and see which one works.

quick update: downloaded the TRIAL version of Acronis Easy Migrate v7 (15 days, but its fully functional) and it works great so far. Transfered two Seagate 80gb SATA 7200.7 in Raid 0 to one Seagate 250 7200.10 harddrive (Windows 2003 Server R2 x64) I havent really tested it out yet since I spent the rest of the time relocating my cables (loooks muuuuuch cleaner) and adding a backplane.

bing said:

Or freeware DriveImageXML, it has drive image copying feature as well.

Click to expand...

QUICK69GTO said:

Try Acronis True image.
I would use the copy disc utility.

Click to expand...

Questions to both:

Are the two pieces of software reliable? I am looking for a disk imaging(backup and restore) software as well. It has to be reliable and error free! I still remember the nightmares I had with Norton Ghost. This is way back--about 6 years ago.

Thanks very much for the info you have shared!

Is the 2x 80GB RAID-0 your OS Drive? If so, you might have issues cloning from a RAID-0 OS Install to a single drive install - sometimes you can leave your HD Controller set to "RAID" mode, but run the single HD as a seperate drive (but still use the RAID Drivers so the OS doesn't get confused). Intel ICH controllers should handle this - any others I'm clueless...

woz101 said:

Questions to both:

Are the two pieces of software reliable? I am looking for a disk imaging(backup and restore) software as well. It has to be reliable and error free! I still remember the nightmares I had with Norton Ghost. This is way back--about 6 years ago.

Thanks very much for the info you have shared!

Click to expand...

I don't use Acronis though, but so far DriveImageXML has been serving me very well.

Yes, in terms of convinient and much less hassle, Acronis beats DriveImageXML out of the water !

About the reliability on DriveImageXML, click HERE (see the pic) to have a clue.

See those collections ? I usually used one of those saved drive images and restore them into my "current working " rig to have the clean & mean with freshly installed OS before I do something crazy like suicidal OC since sometimes they might corrupt the OS really bad. Once I'm finished, I restore back my current & latest working image which I do backup weekly on schedule.

IMO, about any drive imaging program for backup & restore, you should try it at least once (full cycle backup & full restore) to see if its really working like simulating a disaster.

Most poeple I've seen failed on this kind of task because they never really did proofing them, and only use it for backup only and never try to restore to see they're working until a real disaster strike like drive failure.

But for just transfering OS to other drive, the risk is minimal since if its not working at the new drive, you still have the old drive to boot.

bing said:

See those collections ? I usually used one of those saved drive images and restore them into my "current working " rig to have the clean & mean with freshly installed OS before I do something crazy like suicidal OC since sometimes they might corrupt the OS really bad. Once I'm finished, I restore back my current & latest working image which I do backup weekly on schedule.

Click to expand...

Question: do you wipe your disk/partition with 0's or at least reformat it before you do the restore?

IMO, about any drive imaging program for backup & restore, you should try it at least once (full cycle backup & full restore) to see if its really working like simulating a disaster.

Most poeple I've seen failed on this kind of task because they never really did proofing them, and only use it for backup only and never try to restore to see they're working until a real disaster strike like drive failure.

Click to expand...

Exactly! A perfectly reliable backing up and restoring app is what I am looking for! I am constantly messing with my hardware and find myself often in need of a perfectly reliable backing up and restoring app!

I am very persuaded by the experience you have had with the freebie DriveImage XML. Will give the app a try.

So far, you have really impressed me with your knowledge about computers or electronics in general!

Are you coming from an electronic engineering or physics background?

Thank you very much again for the helpful info!

Happy computing!

EDIT: Hope I haven't hijacked the OP's thread!

I also was going to mention Acronis. I've used it a little bit, and it's done everything I've wanted it to do.

DriveImage XML is what I use, it is the best free software ever IMO. It's only limitation is that you can NOT image back to a partition that was SMALLER than the original partition... so If you image a 10GB partition, you can not image back to 8GB even if there is only 1GB of data. Used in conjuntion with BartPE's boot disk, Drive Image is a very powerful utility and has saved my bacon numerous times, especially with Server 2003. It does NOT work with win2k though.

I have used Norton Ghost, Acronis, and DriveXML in the past.
Norton Ghost = crappy..does not detect my drives in raid, only detected one drive...
Acronis = easy to use..works great..fast..
DriveXML = Best FREE imaging/cloning software. Used it at my work for cloning a drive and putting it onto a different computer w/ exactly the same setup and works great. No problems so far..

Just had a look at Nero 7--I have it. According to the mauanl, at least, Nero Backup can do the job as well.

If the partition or drive that you want to back up is active--say, your OS is installed there, you could use Nero Image Tool boot disk to do the job. However, in this case, the HD that the backup is to write to CANNOT be NTFS! It has to be FAT, FAT 32 and some other file systems!

Don't know why, but that is the case.

Have never tried Nero Backup. Those who have tried might be able to put in their two cents.

woz101 said:

Question: do you wipe your disk/partition with 0's or at least reformat it before you do the restore?

Click to expand...

I just overwrite them everytime I juggled between those drive images, never had a problem.

woz101 said:

I am very persuaded by the experience you have had with the freebie DriveImage XML. Will give the app a try.

Click to expand...

Also don't forget to build your BartPE CD as well, they're both work hand in hand.

woz101 said:

EDIT: Hope I haven't hijacked the OP's thread!

Click to expand...

Since his problem is solved, I guess he wouldn't mind we threadjack abit here !

bing have you made a guide to using the BartPE and DriveImageXML in intel matrix raid environment?

jintatsu said:

bing have you made a guide to using the BartPE and DriveImageXML in intel matrix raid environment?

Click to expand...

to OcF Jintatsu !

Yeah, check this out HERE and/or HERE.

Imo the strategy on 2nd one made by JDany is better than mine.

i have been reading some of the posts on this forum for a while now but i just registered yesterday..

thanks for the link..