Can I install a Raid 10 on a existing OS

[Daniel Cardenas]

I have a Win 7 Ultimate desktop. I only have one drive currently. I was thinking of doing a Raid 10 config with 4 drives. My main concern is I don't want to wipe my current OS to install a raid. So is it possible to make one without reinstalling windows?

 

[permanoob]

You can take an image of your current OS/install, then create the RAID10, then image the RAID10 with the image you took. You'll probably have to do a Windows Repair and load the RAID drivers on before you can boot it up though.

 

[Daniel Cardenas]

What would be the best way to Image the OS? and will the Image copy my current programs too?

 

[permanoob]

An image is a full snapshot of your hard drive so it includes everything. Any particular reason you're wanting to do a RAID10? Don't take this the wrong way but it seems a bit extreme if you don't even know what a hard drive image is or how it works.

 

[Daniel Cardenas]

I'm learning more about pc's. I'm studying for my A+ test and I seen raid. I never used one before and thought about making one. I do a lot of video work and want to make sure I don't lose any of it. I do have external drives. I know about imaging, just didn't know exactly all that it backs up.

 

[Daniel Cardenas]

I just found this page explaining the same as you said. http://www.pcworld.com/article/132877/RAID.html?page=2

 

[permanoob]

Gotcha. Since you're just starting out I will offer this sage advice that you should always remember: RAID is not backup and can't be used in place of a legitimate backup solution.

RAID is meant for critical uptime situations, and will just end up costing you more time, money, and headache in the future running it in a desktop environment. I would suggest just having a speedy boot drive where you have a few applications/games you want to boot fast, then install the rest to a software RAID1 or RAID0 constructed in Windows.

All this said though, yeah I'm pretty sure the latest version of Acronis Home will image a RAID array, so that would be an option for you.

 

[Daniel Cardenas]

Thank you for the info. Can I just setup a RAID 1 or 0 in disk manager in windows after adding the drives?

 

[permanoob]

Yeah just physically add the drives to the computer, boot up, and use Disk Management to build the raid. That link you dropped gives you some step by step on creating it in Windows.

 

[Daniel Cardenas]

Didn't see that part. Thanks again. I'll probably do that instead.

 

[permanoob]

I do a RAID1 on the data I can't lose, on top of backing it up elsewhere. If you absolutely CAN'T lose the data, that's a decent way to do it.