FAQ: Switching Storage Controllers w/o Reinstalling Windows

[CompGee]

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[GeorgettaCZ]

Hallo everybody,

Well I have question regarding OS and RAID. I hope I am on the right place and on the right topic. If not, please correct me. Now, to my problem.

1. The current status - I have 1 SSD with OS (W7x64) and 2TB MIRROR RAID (2x2TB) created in RAID Tool of my ASUS Z97 Deluxe motherboard. Means it is not a Windows driver operated RAID - a software RAID. I am quite convinced I can call it a fully hardware RAID operated by an on-board chip RAID controller, right? Then I like to believe that I got that RAID monitored and somehow under control via Intel RST application.

2. The question - if I reinstall the OS on the SSD drive, will the new OS still see the other 2 disks as the RAID? So that then I only reinstall the Intel RST application and will be able to monitor the RAID again?

3. In fact, I have the OS backup image stored on the RAID. I created the image with the default Windows 7 Backup and Restore tool after the OS installation and full OS tuneup/driver install/OS update session. The idea was to "reinstall" the PC to ready2go state within tens of minutes instead of hours (depending on the data transfer rate between the RAID and the SSD, of course). And now my plan is to try it. But I am still wondering, since the RAID is full of family and private things - thats why they are on the mirror RAID, of course!

What shall be the proper procedure to keep the RAID alive and to restore the OS? I hoped it might have worked as commonly used hidden recovery partition widely used in nowdays notebooks instead of installation DVD. 1 click... (i.e. F11 plus couple more clicks of some configuration and stuff)....30 minutes... done! Ready to serve!

I will appreciate any kind of advice! Thank you!