Need some good,sound advice please

[Bigdock]

Can someone please help. I've built this system a few years ago. It has an AMD 1800+,Asus A7V333 MoBo, 1 GB PC2700 DDR,Asus GeForce4 Ti4600, and (2) Maxtor 80GB HDD in a RAID 0 Array. My question is this: How can I install a new 250 GB WD HDD and be able to clean install Windows XP and then transfer my data from the Array? Is it possible? I'm open to any suggestions. I'd like to keep the other drives as back ups if possible. Do I have to delete the array? Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

 

[pscowboy]

Here's my idea - there will be others; terrific contributors here.

Temporarily, for now, install the 250 as a storage drive. In disk management, partition it into two parts, let's say "D" & "E". Format them both NTFS. Then transfer ALL of your data onto the "E" drive.

Now you break down the array. Hook up the 250 as your boot drive, and install XP clean on the first partition - now "C" (used to be "D").

You get your fresh install - you get your data, now on "D" (used to be "E") - and you have the two Maxtors as backups.

You have to be a little creative in your choice of size for the 250g partitions. After you're all done, you may want to transfer that data onto one of the Max's and reclaim the storage space to "C".

Why wouldn't you want to delete the array? You're not going to use it any more.

 

[Bigdock]

Thank you for the help. I was really stuck on this. Appreciate all the good help on this site by reading the other questions. Thanks again.

 

[Alyarbank]

If your running Windows XP you can also use the "Files and Settings Transfer Wizard" to copy your data to the drive "E" as described. This way after you do your clean install to (used to be D) "C" you can install all your programs then simply import your settings and data from the backup drive and be right back where you need to be in no time.

To use this tool click "Start" then in the "RUN" section type "migwiz.exe" without the quotes then follow the unscreen prompts to store the setting and data to a drive instead of going direct to another computer.

 

[Bigdock]

Thanks, I'm taking all this info and incorporating it into my hard drive move. Appreciate it all.