How to uninstall RAID

[JimN]

I have a computer that has a RAID1 set up installed using two 200gb Western Digital hard drives.

I need to upgrade the storage capacity to a Western Digital 500gb hard drive, its larger and faster. I want to remove the smaller hard drives and install a large hard drive. I am a little bit shaky on the process. I plan to remove one of the existing hard drives and install the larger hard drive, ghost over all of the application programs and data files, the tech guys indicate that I can do this.

I do have two external backup hard drives and I also have a online backup service, so I'm fairly well protected.

I just not sure how to transfer the information to the larger hard drive (I did purchase Acronis true image) and then remove the RAID1 stuff. I did search the posts didn't seem to find any relevant information.

When I'm confident the new hard drive is working good, I'll purchase another hard drive and reinstalled RAID1.

Can anyone lead me to relevant posts?

Jim

 

[paq7512]

Since it is Raid 1 it is really simple. And the fact that you have acronis you could just clone one of the drives to the new one. Then when you get another one you can create raid 1 by just rebuilding.

 

[JimN]

I don't follow the sequence of events. Can I just unplug the slave and plug in the new hard drive and then clone, and then put the new HD in the master connection? Do I have to remove the RAID1 software to do this? Any step-by-step instructions that you can lead me too? Jim

 

[SomeJoe7777]

The complexity of this process depends on the disk controllers involved, and whether you're currently booting from the RAID 1.

1. Is the computer's current Windows installation on the RAID 1, or is the RAID 1 just a data drive and the OS is on a separate drive?
2. What RAID controller is currently operating the RAID 1?
3. What disk controller will the single 500GB drive be attached to once everything is moved to it?

Getting everything on a single 500GB now but wanting to move to a RAID 1 later is a complicated process, depending on the disk controllers involved. It may be easier to move to the RAID 1 now.

 

[JimN]

1. Is the computer's current Windows installation on the RAID 1, or is the RAID 1 just a data drive and the OS is on a separate drive? No seperate drives

2. What RAID controller is currently operating the RAID 1? Via Sata Raid Controller.

3. What disk controller will the single 500GB drive be attached to once everything is moved to it? Good question, I don't know.

I thought this was suppose to be simple? Jim

 

[SomeJoe7777]

I thought this was suppose to be simple?

Like most things in life, it's never as simple as black and white.

1. Is the computer's current Windows installation on the RAID 1, or is the RAID 1 just a data drive and the OS is on a separate drive? No seperate drives

2. What RAID controller is currently operating the RAID 1? Via Sata Raid Controller.

3. What disk controller will the single 500GB drive be attached to once everything is moved to it? Good question, I don't know.

OK, separate drives is good. This makes it much easier.

I will assume you're using the hardware RAID functionality of the Via SATA RAID controller, vice using software RAID within Windows.

Basically all you should need to do is hook up the 500GB drive in the machine onto the same disk controller that your C: drive is on. Then run Acronis True Image, and copy the partition from the RAID 1 over to the 500GB drive. You can optionally remove one of the RAID 1 drives from the machine before this process if you need to.

Once the partition is copied, you should be able to shut down and remove the RAID 1 drives. That should be it.

 

[JimN]

SomeJoe, Thanks

I am confused. Is the Via Sata Raid controller a software or hardware controller? Can't see in my specs that is a hardware controller, so I was assuming that is is a software controller. Which I understand is not the best way to go here.

I have a new Western Digital RE2 Sata 500gb HD on the way. Is the controller built into the drive or do I buy a seperate controller card or is this done by the software? Jim

 

[JimN]

OK, the Via Sata Raid Controller is built into the motherbd, so it is a hardware controller, I got that.

Do I leave the RAID sotware setup in place and just swap out one of the drives with the new 500gb one, and clone the data and apps over? Jim

 

[JimN]

Also, the current SATA connections on the mobo, are 150mb, the new hard drive already ordered is Sata 300mb. Is there a way to upgrade the SATA on the mobo? Thanks Jim

 

[SomeJoe7777]

I'll assume for the moment that the VIA SATA RAID controller is the only disk controller on the motherboard, and that it can run single drives or RAID arrays.

How many SATA ports do you have on the motherboard? At this point, I count at least 3, since you're using 1 for your C: drive, and 2 for the current RAID 1. Do you have a 4th?

There is no way to upgrade the SATA on the motherboard to support 300MB/sec. Normally, that wouldn't matter, the drive you bought is supposed to automatically negotiate with the disk controller to find a common speed that they both support, in this case 150MB/sec.

However, your VIA SATA controller is one of the rare disk controllers that will not auto-negotiate properly. To work around this, there will be a jumper setting available on your new WD RE2 SATA 500GB drive that will force the drive to operate at 150MB/sec. Use that jumper in this case to set the speed to 150MB/sec so that it will operate properly on your controller. (I believe on Western Digital drives you jumper the "OPT1" set of pins to force 150MB/sec operation).

 

[JimN]

SomeJoe: "How many SATA ports do you have on the motherboard? At this point, I count at least 3, since you're using 1 for your C: drive, and 2 for the current RAID 1. Do you have a 4th?"

I took the box apart and checked the manual: there are only 2 SATA ports on the mobo, 1 for your C: drive, and the other for the current RAID 1.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

I took the box apart and checked the manual: there are only 2 SATA ports on the mobo, 1 for your C: drive, and the other for the current RAID 1.

How are you using only 1 SATA port for the RAID 1? RAID 1 is two drives, so where are they connected?

We're a little short on system specs here. Please list the following:

- What motherboard is this?
- How many physical hard drives are in the computer?
- How are then physically connected?
- How many optical (CD/DVD) drives are there?
- How are they physically connected?

 

[JimN]

How are you using only 1 SATA port for the RAID 1? RAID 1 is two drives, so where are they connected? Has 2 HD, one is connected to Sata port #1 and the other to Sata Port #2. There is a IDE, but the floppy is connected to that slot.

We're a little short on system specs here. Please list the following:

- What motherboard is this? K8T NEO2 (MS-6702E) V1.X ATX

- How many physical hard drives are in the computer? TWO -WDC WD2000JD- 55HBBO

- How are then physically connected? SATA CABLES
- How many optical (CD/DVD) drives are there? two
- How are they physically connected? I assume to the IDE slots.
Computer has 3-IDE slots and 2 SATA connectors.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Has 2 HD, one is connected to Sata port #1 and the other to Sata Port #2. There is a IDE, but the floppy is connected to that slot.

- How many physical hard drives are in the computer? TWO -WDC WD2000JD- 55HBBO

You said earlier that the C: drive was a separate drive. If there are only 2 drives in the computer, and they're RAID 1, that can't be the case.

Do the following:

- Right-click on "My Computer", go to "Manage".
- Click on "Disk Management" in the left-hand pane
- Expand the window by dragging the lower-right-corner until you can see the entire disk configuration in the right-hand pane.
- Hit Alt-Print Screen on your keyboard, this will copy the window to the clipboard.
- Go the Start menu, select Run, type "mspaint".
- In Microsoft Paint, go to the Edit menu and select Paste.
- Go to the File menu, select Save As.
- Save the file as a "GIF" type file
- Post the file somewhere on the Internet (such as Imageshack or Photobucket), and post the link here so we can click on it and see the image.

This will tell us what your disk configuration really is.

 

[JimN]

You said earlier that the C: drive was a separate drive. If there are only 2 drives in the computer, and they're RAID 1, that can't be the case. Yes, I have only 2 HD's, both 200gb and set up using RAID1

http://s238.photobucket.com/albums/ff169/Jimlyn_photos/?action=view&current=AMD64.gif

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Yes, I have only 2 HD's, both 200gb and set up using RAID1

http://s238.photobucket.com/albums/ff169/Jimlyn_photos/?action=view&current=AMD64.gif

OK, looks good. However, we need to do two things:

First:

Please retake this screen shot, but expand the window further so that all drives can be seen in the right-hand lower pane. You can do this by dragging the lower right-hand corner of the window downwards until the scroll bar from the lower right-hand pane disappears. This should enable you to see Disk 0, Disk 1, Disk 2, etc. all at the same time.

Also, do the following:

- Right-click on "My Computer", go to "Manage".
- Click on "Device Manager" in the left-hand pane.
- In the right-hand pane, click the "+" icon next to the following 3 categories: Disk Drives, IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers, SCSI and RAID Controllers
- Make sure the window is expanded enough so that all the devices under these 3 categories can be seen at the same time.
- Hit Alt-Print Screen and follow the previous directions to save and post this picture.

The Disk Management screen so far looks like you have more than 2 physical hard drives in the computer, but these two additional screen shots will tell me for sure.