Migrating HDD to SSD RAID 0

[MaxAmoeba]

SYSTEM:
ASUS Z170-A
1 x WD 500 GB SATA (green) HDD
2 x 250 GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD
1 x WD "My Passport Ultra" 500 GB external drive
My OS (Windows 10 Educational) as well as all my apps files, etc. are currently on the HDD.
The SSD' are setup in RAID 0 (currently empty and partitioned as MBR)
What I would like to do if possible:
Image the HDD and install onto the SSD RAID intact, wipe my HDD and use it as separate storage for games and large files.
I know a clean install of Windows is best but I will lose several apps. (lost keys for reinstall). I also have a heavily modded Fallout 4 with about 200 hrs. of play that I don't want to lose.
I've read that Acronis True Image can do this but I've also read that it can't be done.
Also, in the end I would like the RAID to become my boot C: drive.
Time to ask the Pros.
Thanks in advance.

Also have generic optical drive and 68 GB USB (if needed)

 

[GhislainG]

Does Windows 10 Educational include "Backup and restore (Windows 7)"? If so, I would try the following steps:

1. Create a system repair disk;
2. Create a system image stored on an external drive (I never used a WD "My Passport Ultra" 500 GB external drive, but it should work if it's a standard USB drive that doesn't require custom drivers);
3. Disconnect the WD 500 GB SATA (green) HDD;
4. Boot from the system repair disk and restore from the system image.

If that doesn't work, then you may want to read posts like http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/system-image-file-wont-restore-on-newly-created/9a968d83-ca5a-4a71-85e2-a013d209c713

You have no risks trying it on an empty RAID volume.

Good luck!

 

[MaxAmoeba]

Does Windows 10 Educational include "Backup and restore (Windows 7)"? If so, I would try the following steps:

1. Create a system repair disk;
2. Create a system image stored on an external drive (I never used a WD "My Passport Ultra" 500 GB external drive, but it should work if it's a standard USB drive that doesn't require custom drivers);
3. Disconnect the WD 500 GB SATA (green) HDD;
4. Boot from the system repair disk and restore from the system image.

If that doesn't work, then you may want to read posts like http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/system-image-file-wont-restore-on-newly-created/9a968d83-ca5a-4a71-85e2-a013d209c713

You have no risks trying it on an empty RAID volume.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice.
There seems to be no going back to Windows 7 (unfortunately). I've tried every trick I could find to get it to install but kept getting hung up on the "need cd/dvd driver" issue, which I guess is really an SATA 3 driver problem. I finally had to give up.
My rollback option disappeared and my Windows 10 activation said goodbye when I replaced my motherboard and CPU.
Microsoft was no help after three disconnected phone sessions and about six hours of wasted time.
I ended up with Educational because it is a free upgrade at the college where I work. It's basically a rebranded version of Enterprise that I used to upgrade 10 Pro, but it did get me activated without spending more $$$.
Now I would just like to move my HDD into the RAID without having to reinstall every piece of software I have.

 

[GhislainG]

Nowhere did you mention before that the hardware was upgraded. Why did you bother with RAID 0 when a larger SSD would have made your life so much simpler?

Moving the RAID should be easy and Intel documented it, but I presume that you already have a complete backup just in case something goes wrong. If RAID is configured, connect the drives and they should be detected as RAID members.

 

[MaxAmoeba]

Nowhere did you mention before that the hardware was upgraded. Why did you bother with RAID 0 when a larger SSD would have made your life so much simpler?

Moving the RAID should be easy and Intel documented it, but I presume that you already have a complete backup just in case something goes wrong. If RAID is configured, connect the drives and they should be detected as RAID members.

At the time I thought the rebuild was irrelevant since my 30 day roll back time from the Win.10 upgrade had expired anyway. If I could install Win.7 on this build I would gladly stick with it.
as far as your Question concerning my decision to switch to RAID, call it a "learning curve". My last build was about 5 years ago, painless and completed in an afternoon, since then I have not kept up on the new tech. was running XP Pro, upgraded my memory a couple of times and my GPU twice as well, I also set aside my XP drive and bought WIN.7...never had to touch my drives. Finally everything went to crap and my rig could not keep up with the newer games and upgraded editing apps. If I had passed on the free upgrade to Win.10 I would probably still be a happy camper.
The need for for speed got me started researching and in all the Internet mess I found out about SSD and then RAID 0...things progressed from there and I have been reading until my eyeballs are bleeding.
I bought one 250GB SSD to run apps that could use the speed, when I found out about RAID 0 I bought another (both took me over my budget). The Internet is a heavy mix of sound information and outright bullshit, nothing seems to be "cut and dried" anymore. If had known that a larger single SSD would have given me both storage and a decent uptick in performance I would have went that route....but here I am.
I have also been told to keep these posts short and to the point, a matter of etiquette I have now broken.
Question:
Can I span the two SSD' and receive the same performance boost as a single large SSD?. It makes sense to me but then 1,000 internet "pros" have differing opinions.
As in my initial question, my main goal is to clone, image, or whatever, my entire HDD to SSD and have it bootable as my C: drive. Currently the HDD has about 350 GB on it and there is still the issue of keeping Windows without having to purchase a full version and a handful of programs that I have lost the activation keys to.
And yes I have a full backup of my HDD.
Please don't hold my ignorance against me, I'm doing a fine job of that myself.
Thank you for your time and effort.

 

[GhislainG]

Unfortunately we tend to select the information that best matches what we'd like to hear. You were looking for the fastest SSD solution and RAID 0 meets that requirement. Most of us don't recommend RAID 0 because SSDs already are very fast and unless you absolutely need the extra performance (it often is negligible), the added risks and complexity just aren't worth it. Installing from scratch is easy, but migrating is more challenging; you need to ensure that the drivers are loaded at boot time (check the registry), create the array in the BIOS and then it should work (at least that's what I'd try).

About your question: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772180(v=ws.11).aspx It can't be done on a boot drive and you'd get the performance of a single SSD. The purpose of spanning is to add storage space, not to improve performance. It would be so much easier to use a single 480 GB or larger SSD. Is it possible to move some data from your HDD to a SSD or an external drive and then clone it to the other SSD that will become your boot drive? That's what I've done on my systems.

 

[MaxAmoeba]

Unfortunately we tend to select the information that best matches what we'd like to hear. You were looking for the fastest SSD solution and RAID 0 meets that requirement. Most of us don't recommend RAID 0 because SSDs already are very fast and unless you absolutely need the extra performance (it often is negligible), the added risks and complexity just aren't worth it. Installing from scratch is easy, but migrating is more challenging; you need to ensure that the drivers are loaded at boot time (check the registry), create the array in the BIOS and then it should work (at least that's what I'd try).

About your question: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772180(v=ws.11).aspx It can't be done on a boot drive and you'd get the performance of a single SSD. The purpose of spanning is to add storage space, not to improve performance. It would be so much easier to use a single 480 GB or larger SSD. Is it possible to move some data from your HDD to a SSD or an external drive and then clone it to the other SSD that will become your boot drive? That's what I've done on my systems.

Well,I understand why I can't boot from spanned drives now.
I can probably do the cloning that you suggest after a bit more reading but frankly my head has reach it's saturation point and is beginning to overheat.
I think my best bet is to stick with the RAID and shell out some more money for a retail version of Win.10 for a clean install.
Having an EDU upgrade over a 10 pro upgrade over a 7 Ultimate then cloned from a HDD to SSD just doesn't sound healthy. I can reinstall the programs I have keys for and try to clone and move the others. If I lose em' then I'll have to pay the price of losing the keys.
In the end I need a system with a structure I understand and am comfortable using.
You were spot on with your comments as to how I went about all this...I'm putting it down as a lesson learned, costly as it may be. I just would like to get back to work and play instead of reading white papers, blogs and watching YouTube videos.
Thank you again for you time and assistance.
I'll let you know if my rig bursts into flames during boot up.

 

[GhislainG]

It sure won't burst into flames. Doing a migration is easier for me because I have access to all versions of Windows; therefore I can easily decide which one to use.

 

[MaxAmoeba]

It sure won't burst into flames. Doing a migration is easier for me because I have access to all versions of Windows; therefore I can easily decide which one to use.

Maybe I should be more concerned about myself bursting into flames.
I would love to have Win. 7 back but like many others using Z170 I can't get it to install by DVD, USB or command prompt voodoo.
Oh well, this is not a chat room.
Back to the learning curve.
Thanks for not treating me like an idiot...which I very well may be.

 

[PreevBR]

It sure won't burst into flames. Doing a migration is easier for me because I have access to all versions of Windows; therefore I can easily decide which one to use.

Maybe I should be more concerned about myself bursting into flames.
I would love to have Win. 7 back but like many others using Z170 I can't get it to install by DVD, USB or command prompt voodoo.
Oh well, this is not a chat room.
Back to the learning curve.
Thanks for not treating me like an idiot...which I very well may be.

Asking questions you don't know about is not being an idiot
Got the issue fixed?

 

[MaxAmoeba]

It sure won't burst into flames. Doing a migration is easier for me because I have access to all versions of Windows; therefore I can easily decide which one to use.

Maybe I should be more concerned about myself bursting into flames.
I would love to have Win. 7 back but like many others using Z170 I can't get it to install by DVD, USB or command prompt voodoo.
Oh well, this is not a chat room.
Back to the learning curve.
Thanks for not treating me like an idiot...which I very well may be.

Asking questions you don't know about is not being an idiot
Got the issue fixed?

I've been an HVAC Tech for 20+ years and I say the same thing to rookies all the time,funny thing is....it never works on the good ones.
To answer your question...yes, I took a fire extinguisher to myself then went and got a beer.
I need to set this aside for awhile and give myself time to digest before I eat any more.
Or send more money to Microsoft.