setting up a raid 0 on an existing winxp OS (moved)

[bewin]

I want to add a RAID 1 to my existing pc setup and don't want to reinstall Windows XP Pro SP2. I’d like to add a 2nd IDE HDD in conjunction with a pci IDE RAID two channel card and create a RAID 1 mirror setup for backup purposes only not a speed improvement.
1) Will the RAID setup copy the complete contents of my existing HDD and create a complete mirror copy including Windows XP + software applications + personal data so it can be swapped immediately in the event of a failure?

2) Can a replacement HDD be added and the mirroring process be recreated?

3) Can the onboard IDE controllers continue to be used for the DVDRW to be master on #1 and the CDRW to be master on #2?
4) If this is possible what's the procedure?

[Paul Komski]

Hi bewin and welcome. I have moved your post to a new thread since it is generally best to keep new items self-contained; less confusing to peeps.

It is possible to shift your current installation to a RAID-1 on two hard drives on a PCI host controller but there are a couple of possible pitfalls or trip-ups that may get in the way. The first is to try to ensure that you have the drivers for the card AND specifically for any arrays on it intalled onto the installation running from where it is prior to migration. Next add one hard drive (as big or bigger than your current drive) to the card as a normal IDE device and copy the current hard drive's contents to it. I suggest using BiNG (in my sig) to copy across each partition (including any extended partition) separately. Then check to see that the correct partition is marked as active.

Next remove your IDE device from the computer and see if you can boot to the copy on the controller card. This may take some BIOS setup changes. It is also possible you may still need to repair the installation if the RAID drivers (should have come with the card) were not or were incorrectly installed prior to the migration. The repair would be done using a WinXP SP2 installation CD and pressing F6 at the start of the text mode and have the drivers ready on a floppy. It is also possible that the transfer from IDE to RAID can trip a reactivation of the OS so be prepared to contact MS to reactivate. It doesn't usually happen but I have seen it happen twice.

Assuming that you get to the point where you have a functioning OS on a single IDE running from non-RAID on the card we go the next step, which is to mirror it to your existing drive. I will assume that you can next create the RAID using the exising drive as the basis and the old drive as its mirror. RAID BIOS vary as to whether you can do this non-destructively or not and whether the mirroring once started has to be done prior to bootup or whether it can do this in the background after the system has booted. You will have to read the manual carefully to see what it says.

So regardless of the capabilities of your card, I would next make a backup image file of the installation on the card onto a third medium; let that be another hard drive or CDs/DVDs. BiNG again can do this for you and I would always use it to verify the image when data is critical. If the mirroring process or the creation of the array by adding both drives to it fails you can then use this image either to restore to a single IDE drive or to a completely blank RAID array.

Can the onboard IDE controllers continue to be used for the DVDRW to be master on #1 and the CDRW to be master on #2?
That shouldnt be a problem. Occasionally mixing Hard Drives on the mobo and on a card can confuse the BIOS as to which is the boot device but I havent (no guarantee of course) seen it happen with respect to opticals. That is one of the reasons for getting you to remove the current drive before attempting to boot to its first copy on the new drive in a non-raid situation.