Need some help - major project (to me anyway!)

[David_L6]

I have a computer with two 74GB Raptors set up in RAID 0 and one of those harddrives sounds like it has gravel in it. I have a replacement for it on hand and also an external harddrive. How do I go about copying everything from my computer over to the external drive and then back to my computer once I replace the noisy harddrive?

I know which drive I have to replace. It was making some noise when I installed the second drive and created the RAID set-up. (I should have replaced it then.)

[CV21]

I'm not much help here, but you can check into "backup" under windows help. You can back up a drive to an external source to use for recovery. Hopefully the drive that you want to replace does not have your operating system on it. If not you should be able to "backup" the bad drive to your external drive. You would then have to format the new installed drive and then transfer the files back from the external.

Hope this little bit helps some.:)

CV21

[David_L6]

RAID 0..... Yes, the operating system is on it.

[pied]

I have the same setup, and when the noisy drive failed, I had to reinsatll everything... I've since purchased (at Newegg) a drive imaging prog, Acronis True Image. It allows you to make a complete image of the array or hd to use as a backup. It takes a few minutes to make the image and only a few minutes to put the image back onto a newly formatted array or drive. I gives me a large amount of piece of mind....

PIED

[David_L6]

What if I copy the stuff that I really want to keep (the planes I've paid for mainly), CFS2, FS9, etc. onto the exteranl drive and then install the new internal hard drive? I know that I'd have to re-install Windows XP but that isn't that big a deal is it?

[pied]

Unless you have a backup of the entire array you'll have to reinstallall of the programs that are there.

My understanding of the RAID 0 array is that the disk drives involved (in my case 2) have the data written in "strips" that are on both drives, so that if one drive goes bad all data is lost or unrecoverable. So, if you replace one of the two drives you have to reinstall everything that you have on the array. That's why a backup copy of the entire array is so handy, then if the array gets broken you can swap out the offending HD reformat the array and then put the copy back on.

PIED

[hey_moe]

Hi David, sorry to hear ya having them kind of problems. I know there isn't much you can do now if the drive has already failed but when ya get a few extra bucks you should make a cheap investment on a external drive and back everything up to that. I don't care if the whole computer blew up you still have all your info one that third hard drive. All you gotta do after that is drop and drag from one drive to the next. I have 2 of the WD in Raid 0 mode and a 120 gig back-up in the computer, but I have an external drive that holds everything I have brought and all my programs. This might not be your cup of tea, but if ya don't want to go through this loosing your data this would be the best way to go...Mike

[Awesome]

My grandmother's HD has sounded like it has gravel in it from day one, and it's still going strong. :rolleyes:

Awesome :costumes: