Replacing a RAID array with a single HDD?

November 6, 2006 8:56 PM

How do I transfer the contents of a Raid array (2x80GB, Striped) to a new HDD so it still boots?

My current PC, a few years old now, has a pair of 80GB hdds which are running on a RAID array so the data is striped.

I want to increase the capacity of this computer, but I am not sure how to go about it properly. I plan on buying a 300gb HDD to replace these two drives.

Basic copying of the data is no problem, but what I need is an exact copy of the RAID's contents so that I can boot from the new disk the same as I do now, so boot sector and everything needs to be okay.

How do I go about this?

posted by tomble to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Is this hardware RAID? Software RAID under Linux, FreeBSD, or what?

If it's hardware RAID, you should be able to mount it (the logical drive) with Knoppix, Trinity Rescue Kit, etc, dd it to a new drive, and then resize the partition with gparted. Something along those lines. It's a little more complicated if it's Windows, since Linux NTFS support is crap. If that's the case, I'd just back up your documents and settings and install fresh.
posted by cellphone at 9:01 PM on November 6, 2006

Western Digital's Lifegaurd Tools (comes with their drives or can be downloaded) is supposed to do this. I don't know how successful it is for a boot drive. I imagine other drive manufacturers have similar utilities.
posted by ScotchLynx at 9:04 PM on November 6, 2006

I imagine this would work like any drive migration. I think TrueImage or PartitionMagic could probably do the job. Also, most retail HDD upgrade packages come with software that should work if you are using hardware striping.
posted by Good Brain at 9:25 PM on November 6, 2006

Response by poster: It's hardware raid.
posted by tomble at 9:47 PM on November 6, 2006