RAID1 - Keeping 1 of the drives as backup and formating the other one

[metalcob]

I have a system with 2 HDD's in RAID1. I want to remove those 2 drives and upgrade to an SSD.
But I would like to keep 1 of the HDD's as a backup (OS and programs necessary for work installed) so I can connect it back and have my computer working in case of SSD failure.
Also, I want to move the second HDD to another system.

• 
  Should I "unraid" the 2 HDD's or is there no reason for doing this?

• 
  Does the drive remain in RAID mode even after being formated and installed in a new system? (Dumb question just to be sure it doesn't)

Thanks

 

[USAFRet]

1. Get the system running on the SSD
2. Wipe the HDD's
3. With whatever backup/clone/imaging tool you use, make a full drive backup of the SSD. Repeat this routinely.
4. Put the other HDD in the other PC.
5. Done.

 

[13thmonkey]

^
0.1 backup all data that you wish to keep.
0.5 Set to AHCI in bios.

 

[metalcob]

Thanks for your answers.
The HDDs are not considered to be RAID members after wiping, right?

Do you know any tool that I could use which automatically keeps a backup of one drive on the other one?
And what about OS? Do I have to install Windows on both of them or does the backup tool makes the second drive able to boot the OS if needed?

 

[13thmonkey]

I'm really concerned that you don't know some of the basics.

The OS is installed on 1 drive, the OS drive, in this case your SSD.
All other drives are data drives and do not have the OS installed on them.
They are raid members, or not, because they are set that way in bios, once the bios is not treating them as a member of a raid array then they are just disks, any data that was on them is probably lost (you might get lucky but you'd have to be very lucky.)
Windows backup will backup your system and data to specified locations, there are other solutions.

Please think very very carefully about what you are doing, don't assume anything, ask many many questions, we'll keep answering don't worry about that, but doing something without asking the right questions might turn a 10min job into hours and days of hard work to recover it, if it is recoverable.

 

[metalcob]

I'm really concerned that you don't know some of the basics.

The OS is installed on 1 drive, the OS drive, in this case your SSD.
All other drives are data drives and do not have the OS installed on them.
They are raid members, or not, because they are set that way in bios, once the bios is not treating them as a member of a raid array then they are just disks, any data that was on them is probably lost (you might get lucky but you'd have to be very lucky.)
Windows backup will backup your system and data to specified locations, there are other solutions.

Please think very very carefully about what you are doing, don't assume anything, ask many many questions, we'll keep answering don't worry about that, but doing something without asking the right questions might turn a 10min job into hours and days of hard work to recover it, if it is recoverable.

I've been through setting up and formatting computers multiple times but this system has kind of confused me because of the RAID discs and I can't find how to deal with it.

All I want to do is:
-Clean install Windows on the SSD.
-Make one of the HDDs a full system backup (Windows,Programs,Files) of the SSD.
-Clean install Windows on the other HDD and install it in another computer.

If you could give me a step by step guide that would be perfect! I can't find something similar or I don't know what to google for it.

 

[13thmonkey]

exactly what USAF_ret said + my two setup actions.

You can't install windows on a disk and move it to a new machine and expect it to work well.

 

[metalcob]

You can't install windows on a disk and move it to a new machine and expect it to work well.

Yes, I meant that I would connect the drive in the computer first and then install windows on it.

But what about the backups? Any tool you could suggest? It would be nice if I could use a tool that backs up the system let's say once a week or so.

 

[13thmonkey]

windows backup?

 

[USAFRet]

But what about the backups? Any tool you could suggest? It would be nice if I could use a tool that backs up the system let's say once a week or so.

Macrium Reflect

 

[USAFRet]

-Clean install Windows on the other HDD and install it in another computer.

You have to reverse the order of that statement.
Install the HDD in the other computer, then install the OS on that drive.