kernel

I have a LanParty NF3 Motherboard with XP booting off a SATA drive. Bought 2 new SATA drives to make a RAID setup and would like to do a partition copy from the old HD to the new RAID. Sort of Ghost it.

I don't have Ghost so tried a copy of Acronis Partition Expert off a cover disk. This causes a BSOD when it scans the drives, and if I create its boot repair CD it claims I have no hard drives in the computer

Question is "Am I barking up the wrong tree?". Is there a Ghost like tool that understands the NF3 RAID and SATA so I can do a partition copy or is there some other route to solving this without a complete resintall?

Any ideas?


[Edit] Forget me, seems I needed newer/different RAID drivers, copying as I type

Leg@cy

iTrader: (2)

have ypu ben to this website yet??

If not...... there is LOADSA enthusiasm..... and there are DFI Tech support people that assist where necessary....

they try to encourage other users to give answers, but if you have the correct attitude the help is flowing !!!

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=7

kernel

Thanks for that, looks good at a quick glance.

Sadly I got the OS partition copied across to the RAID but the boot hangs, doesn't crash as mouse/keyboard lights still work and there is occasional HD activity, but the boot doesn't complete.

I will have a look through that forum and ask if I can't find an answer

Ta

Fatman

Why not buy a copy of Ghost (~£34)? See if this makes sense...

Physically install the two new HDDs (not as RAID, just as drives) and boot your existing HDD. That should then allow you to install the drivers. Next Ghost the old drive to one of the new HDDs. Then remove (or disable) the old HDD so it can't be harmed if anything f!"£s-up. Next create a RAID array (in the RAID controller's BIOS, assuming it has one!) with the two new HDDs and specify that you want to create a mirrored set from the one existing (Ghosted) drive.

Does that all hang together...?

kernel

Makes sense other than I was trying to make a RAID 0 (striped) array

I managed to get Partition Expert to copy the existing HD to the new RAID but XP gets stuck during the boot. I wonder if it's something to do with physical HD references in NTLDR or something. I'll try safe mode this evening, maybe a repair XP to see if I can make it boot. Original HD is safely disconnected.

Maybe I shouldn't put the OS and stuff on RAID 0 and keep the OS on a seperate drive with the games in their own partition. I was being lazy (!) and didn't want to reinstall FS9 and the associated 17 CD's and 1 DVD that go with it plus all the freeware stuff!

Think I'm talking myself into this route.....

Fatman

Personally I wouldn't bother with a striped array. Are current SATA drives *really* not fast enough for you? Are your games really that HDD-intensive? I decided to go for a mirrored set for security. HDDs do go t1ts-up sometimes and you're twice as 'exposed' to that risk by using 'RAID-0'.

BTW: you should be able to fix the boor sector using the XP install CD ('repair' option).

I don't see a lot of benefit (unless gaming I/O is massive) in putting the games on a separate disc from the OS disc/array. If the OS disc/array completely fails, you'd need to reinstall the games anyway. I doubt many games would run if you just pointed a fresh Windows installation at the games folders used for a previous installation.