How to re-install Vista x64 in a new RAID 0 Hard Drives

Hi, my new M6400 will come with 2 80GB 5400 RPM HDs configured in RAID 0, I will be replacing them by 2 320GB 7200 RPM HDs, what is the easiest procedure to recover the Windows Vista OS ?, the laptop will come with any recovery CD or DVD to perform this activity ?, thanks and sorry if this is a very basic question,

 

Hmm, I'm not sure why you would have wanted to configure it with two 80gig drives, but the instructions I posted using the linux CD would probably work with some modification.

I think regardless of how you copy the image, you will need some sort of intermediate storage, i.e. a fifth hard drive that is not the two 80's or the two 320's. You won't be able to just image one drive and then the other and then stick the two new drives in. At least, I really doubt it... The RAID array info will be wrong and that's harder to fix than a partition table.

Try this:
Use the M6400 to do a binary image from the raid array to a file on a spare drive. Preferably do this before booting the system, so that you have a "copy" of Dell's factory install environment. The easiest way to do that is to boot to a Linux CD like Kubuntu and use it to make the image. Most other bootable software for taking drive images is pay software, but if you can find one great!

Then swap the new drives in. How you proceed from there depends how you want your raid to work after you're done.

If you're slapping everything on one RAID-0 volume, then use the BIOS utility to create a RAID-0 array on the new drives, and then copy the drive image from the file you made earlier onto the RAID array.

If you're going to divide up the drives and use the Intel Matrix RAID software, putting your OS on a single-drive partition, then you would want to do a few things different.

You would still copy the RAID-0 image to a file on a spare drive like before. After that, insert one of your new drives and copy the image from the file onto that drive. Then insert the other new drive (guess you could have done it before too) and boot into windows. Step 1 will be to right-click on Computer and hit Manage, and go into the disk management console. Use that to resize your windows partition however you like, and make space for the RAID-0 volume. Don't forget that Vista has a VERY large Windows folder due to all the shadow copies of DLLs it keeps around in c:\windows\winsxs. The partitions for the Raid-0 should be the exact same size and the exact same positions on the disk, to perform properly. If you make more than one partition on the beginning of the second drive, you might have to play around a bit to get the numbers right. Or you could make a partition the same exact size as the OS partition, then make the RAID partition, then delete the first one and make two in its place.

The post I made about making images using linux is in the M6400 Owners Lounge. If you search for "kubuntu" and "ddrescue" on the forum it'll probably come up right quick.

 

It will be possible to configure 30GB Partition in RAID 0 (combined between both HDs) for faster speed and install there Windows Vista, and the rest of the available space 290GB (320GB - 30GB) in each disk, to be combined in 1 single partition of 580GB for storage ?, thanks

 

No, that will be insufficient space for Vista. My windows folder by itself is over 20 gigs, after installing basic software (Adobe and Maya and Firefox.) Also if your OS is on your RAID partition, you rely on the RAID volume being available for your OS to boot.

i.e. I'm not sure how to make it work if your RAID volume is enabled by a software utility that runs in Windows... It might work, it might not.

I personally would put windows on its own single drive partition because it makes many things easier, including the need for your raid array to have its drivers running when you install Vista. Also a single drive loads windows PLENTY fast. You can then speed up your software and file access by installing them to your raid volume.

I recommend:

HD1,1: 50GB Windows and some software
HD2,1: 50GB Extra volume for whatever, could be XP or linux, can even divide it in half for both.

HD1,2 and HD2,2: Raid-0 volume managed by Intel Matrix RAID

Feel free to grow the Windows partition for safety. Windows Vista stores backup copies of DLLs as they are installed, if the DLL being installed is a different version than was there previously, because it assumes another program might need that version of that DLL. That tends to grow the windows folder quickly, and if your OS volume ends up having zero space, it can be bad. I've seen XP Pro machines become unbootable because of excessively full hard drives (talking 500 bytes free) and had to remove the drive and use an enclosure and a spare system to free space.

At least, assuming Intel Matrix RAID can actually handle that... Someone said there was confusion but I don't know if he meant that it really can but people think it can't, or it really can't and people think it can. I thought I remembered someone doing it but I could be wrong.