Upgrading a non raid to a raid 1

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liamread2000

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Jan 23, 2016
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Hello,

I have a hard drive (320gb) and are getting 2 new 1tb drives. I need to create a RAID with the 2 new 1tb drives and transferring the data from the old one to them. The problem is the computer can only fit 2 drives in it at a time so would the following work?

320GB drive (Old one) = Drive 1
1tb drive (New one 1) = Drive 2
1tb drive (New one 2) = Drive 3


I am using Intel built in Raid.

I take out drive 1 of the computer and put drive 2 and 3 in, setup raid with those two drives with Intel's raid built into the chipset. Next I will take out drive 3 and put drive 1 back in there. I'll boot from drive 1 and clone the hard drive to drive 2. When thats done, I'll power off the computer and take drive 1 out and put drive 3 back in. I'll boot to drive 2 and when I'm in windows open Intel Rapid Storage and select rebuild array.

Would this work?

Sorry if I haven't explained very well.

Thanks in advance.
 
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photonboy
Hey,

I am using the WD MY CLOUD unit for all my pictures, movies and backups. It works very well. It consumes about 5W of power and connects to the ROUTER via an ethernet cable so it is available to any local networked device on ethernet or wi-fi.

I can copy data through the normal File Explorer. It shows under "Network"-> "Storage"

I have a separate hard drive attached to the CLOUD unit which acts as backup.

They also have "DUO" and "Mirror" models which are RAID1, however those cost more than the solution I used (4TB Cloud + 4TB WD "My Book"). So an 8GB model is 4GB usable if set to RAID1 (for redundancy as you know).

*I am having a problem with my backup going missing and being forced to redo the backup though. If it happens...
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You should list the motherboard.

The problem is, I'd recommend doing a hardware RAID if possible. That means BIOS-> initialize the two drives.

Frankly, I would strongly recommend doing a CLEAN install of Windows, then attach the 320GB using a USB device like the BlacX or similar.
or
You could look for a CLONING utility that can create a boot CD. Machrium Reflect Free might do this. If so, then->

1) buy a BlacX or similar device to connect via USB
2) create the CLONE boot disc
3) install the 1TB drives, then initialize as RAID1 in the BIOS

4) attach the 320GB drive via USB
5) boot to the CD, then CLONE (choose the "verify" option to compare the created build to the original)
6) remove CD, shut down, remove USB drive

7) test
8) once satisfied working you can FORMAT the 320GB drive to use as a backup, then
9) make a BACKUP IMAGE of your Windows installation (overwrite this later, though at some point you won't have enough space)

Other:
1) This may not be ideal, but it's my advice. Again, knowing the motherboard would help.

2) Also, you should likely PARTITION the RAID1 configuration such as 200GB for Windows partition or whatever is optimal.

3) *Might want to add a PCI or PCIe? card for extra SATA connections. It wouldn't work until you boot into Windows though.
 
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Update:
Does the computer have more than TWO SATA connections?

You said it can only fit two drives, but is this a desktop with more than two connections or what? Or is it a laptop, if so what model?

If it's a desktop, and has more than two SATA connections you can use the third connector, just take the side off the case and place the drive on something for now.

As you can see now, more information always helps.
 
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it will not work that way fyi see photonboy recommendation on how to do it to get it to work out right

simple reason is once you setup drive 2 & 3 as raid you have to use them together (consider them as one hard drive at that point) so removing one is bad.
 
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The computer I am using is a HP Compaq 8000 Elite SFF. The reason I need raid one is I am using it as a storage server therefore if one hard drive goes then I'll have a backup.

Thanks :)
 
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The standard mantra applies here:
RAID 1 is not a backup.

It is useful in one and only one case...an actual drive fail, and you you need actual 24/7 ops.
And of course, that RAID 1 need to have an actual backup for it.

It does not save you from accidental deletion, corruption, virus, 'oops'...
It just means that 'oops' happens on 2 physical drives at the same time.

There are better, easier, safer, ways to manage a 'backup'.
 
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I know that raid won't recover data that I have deleted. I just want to use raid so if the hard drive ever fails I have a another copy of it which is on the other hard drive.

Thanks
 
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If you have another copy, why waste drive space in a RAID 1?
I'm just trying to delve into why...There are valid reasons to deploy a RAID 1 array. This doesn't seem to be one of them.
 
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Currently I only have one hard drive with all my data/pictures etc on. I am going to buy 2 bigger drives and copy the data from the old hard drive to the new one. I want to create RAID so if one of the new hard drives fail I'll have the exact same data on the other hard drive in the raid so i still have them.

Thanks
 
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I saw this: https://communities.intel.com/thread/52127

"Now, in order to create the RAID 1 again without losing the data you will need to boot into Windows*, start Intel® Rapid Storage Technology, and create the RAID volume from the drive with existing data, as explained in the user guide (page 30). This option does not appear in the RAID BIOS, therefore creating the RAID volume there will delete the data."

Does this mean if i add the old hard drive and one of the new ones and clone it. And then boot into windows with the 2 new hard drives one which is cloned from the old one and an empty one. And do this method would this work?

Thanks again!! :)
 
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For a storage drive with just regular files, I use this: SyncBackFree
Easier, no RAID required.
 
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What we're trying to say is that your proposed solution requires 3 hard drives. Two in RAID 1, and a third as a backup in case of accidental deletions or overwrites.

What USAFRet is proposing is to only use 2 hard drives. One in the computer, one as an external backup.

RAID 1 is only necessary if you're trying to minimize downtime. If a company will lose millions of dollars each hour that a file server is down, they want it to be on RAID so the file server can keep functioning while you're replacing the failed drive. If you don't need 99.99% uptime, then RAID 1 is unnecessary.
 
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Hey,

I am using the WD MY CLOUD unit for all my pictures, movies and backups. It works very well. It consumes about 5W of power and connects to the ROUTER via an ethernet cable so it is available to any local networked device on ethernet or wi-fi.

I can copy data through the normal File Explorer. It shows under "Network"-> "Storage"

I have a separate hard drive attached to the CLOUD unit which acts as backup.

They also have "DUO" and "Mirror" models which are RAID1, however those cost more than the solution I used (4TB Cloud + 4TB WD "My Book"). So an 8GB model is 4GB usable if set to RAID1 (for redundancy as you know).

*I am having a problem with my backup going missing and being forced to redo the backup though. If it happens again I'm going to disable backup mode and have my computer handle it through the network via Syncback SE (which does the same thing anyway). Native RAID would not have this issue.

Actually "Mirror" supports RAID0, JBOD too. Here's a list of models.
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/personalcloud/consumer/

This would cost a little more but should be much more useful. Main site:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1140

AMAZON's review system is an utter mess. They have comments for similar models all jumbled up. (not just computer parts but DVD's etc).

1) Single, 2TB unit is about $100:
http://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Personal-Network-Attached-Storage/dp/B00EVVGAFI/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1465170602&sr=1-2&keywords=wd+my+cloud

2) Adding a 2TB HDD like a WD My Book would bring the total to about $200 for both.

3) *I mentioned SyncbackSE. If you have a local computer with the pictures already, you can send them to the 2TB CLOUD unit so you have a backup of everything on your computer.

This is probably the cheapest and most reliable way. Set SyncbackSE to check once per day. I have mine set so it can NOT DELETE files. I check it every one and manually manage that because it's possible to have a situation where your drive letter changes so it decides to delete all the files. You should still have your original drive though but I thought I'd mention that.

4) If you get a WD unit make sure it's a "CLOUD" device not a USB device.

5) This 4TB unit (2x2TB) is $300.
http://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Personal-Network-Attached-Storage/dp/B014LE5FYQ/ref=sr_1_15?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1465171557&sr=1-15&keywords=wd+my+cloud+mirror

It's nice that it's a single unit, and RAID1 means you should be able to simply swap one of the drives if it becomes unusable, however the price is a bit expensive compared to what I did (which again has an issue though i can work around that as discussed).

This is the most hassle free way that I know of though.

*Again the Amazon comments are all mixed up so ignore them for the most part. Many are also OLD and don't apply once they fixed some software issues.

6) I tell people to have at LEAST two separate backup solutions. Such as:

#1) pictures on single drive on PC, and
#2) pictures on RAID1 or better NAS device, and
#3) pictures on DVD (preferably Millienata or "M-Disc") and stored in safe place.
#4) other solutions exist too. SSD isn't reliable outside the computer for a long time, though we should get similar technology that works well once prices drop (such as Intel's 3D XPoint).
 
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