Migrate into a raid0?

[asoccerplayer99]

Hi everyone. Just to preface my question, I am purely an enthusiast, so telling me I wont get much performance increase means nothing to me, I just want cool stuff

My question is this: I have three hard drives right now-
C: -200GB main OS drive, SATA, with Vista Ultimate 64 and all my programs
D: -200GB storage drive, IDE, with music/movies/lab reports and just general downloads
E: -500GB backup drive, SATA, holds the Vista complete PC backup images of C:

The way I have this all in my mind is to get rid of the two (nearly full) 200GB drives, buy a 500GB drive identical to E: along with a seperate 1TB drive, and put the two 500GB drives into a RAID 0 config that holds everything that used to be on C: as well as D:, and then using the 1TB drive to hold backup images.

The seemingly logical way to do that would be get the 1TB drive, move the C: image to it, reformat E:, buy a raid controller and create a raid 0 array, then boot from the Vista disk and restore my full C: backup to the array, then copy everything from the old D: over to the new array. Then I can lose both 200GB drives, use a single "drive" (array) to hold everything I use, and use the 1TB drive to hold the image of the array as backup.

Is that possible? I remember using Norton Ghost when I had XP and I vaguely remember being told it does not support raid. However, I am a complete and utter raid noob, so I'm asking you all. Thanks

 

[jitpublisher]

Use Acronis True Image.
It will mirror a drive image from a RAIDed set to a single drive, or from a single drive back to the RAIDed set. Have done it many times.

 

[asoccerplayer99]

Thats the most awesome thing I've ever heard, thanks! To be clear though, I assume I need to install the RAID drivers beforehand?

 

[jitpublisher]

Yes, you have to set up your RAID 0 array, it must be functional and have it showing up in Windows as a drive. You may then mirror away just as if it is any other drive.
I am assuming of course you know how to set everything in your regular BIOS for the type of array you are going to build, and how to get into the RAID BIOS once you have those settings correct, and build the array.

 

[asoccerplayer99]

I dont have the first idea on how to do any of that, but learning something new hands-on is always fun, I'll figure it out as I go.

You did confuse me a bit though. I am talking about striping, not mirroring. SO to make sure I have this straight, I install Acronis onto C:, create a new, working, blank array, install drivers in Vista so Vista sees a single bigger drive, then take the snapshot of the OS drive, unplug it, and re-mount it to the striped array?

 

[jitpublisher]

Yes, you must install the array and have it working, showing up in Windows. Remember here now, the controller does all the work. When the array is up and funtional, the drives in RAID 0 will simply show up as 1 big drive in Windows. 250+250 means you will have 1 500gig drive showing up in windows now, and you treat it just like any other single drive. Set it to active, partition it, etc.
RAID 0 is other wise known as "striping".
Then you mirror your single drive over to it (the array)
Then, you must make sure that you have in BIOS the array set as bootable, and in the boot order. After you have mirrored the OS to the array, simply shutdown, unhook the old OS drive, and it should now boot to the array with the OS on it.
Acronis is a good, fast easy to use step by step guided software.
One of the last things it will ask you is if you want to use the newly created mirror or copy as your boot drive, and tell you what steps to take when it finishes it's thing. You will really like this software.

 

[asoccerplayer99]

Thanks a million! I bought Acronis and I'll let you know how it all goes tonight