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Raid 1 clone

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Hi, I need to clone a RAID 1 hard drive to a larger drive. Is this possible with Acronis True Image? The computer is a Dell Server with a RAID controler. I can take the hard drives out and clone them on a windoes workstation.

Thanks

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Carlos,

You have to try:
- to backup from ATI running in Windows,
- to restore from the ATI recovery CD to make sure it sees your RAID1 volume as a single volume, and not as 2 separate disks.

The first item shouldn't be an issue. The second item is often an issue because the recovery CD uses Linux and hardware support in Linux can be spotty. If the recovery CD doesn't see your RAID 1 correctly, you could buy the Acronis Plus Pack and create a WinPE-based disk. WinPE typically has a much better hardware support and be customized to include missing drivers.

Hi, I think I left some info out. Server is PowerEdge 2950 with perc controller. The OS is Windows SBS 2008. Currently I have two 80gb configured as RAID 1, and 3 360gb HD as RAID 5. The RAID 5 drives will remain the same. I want to replace the RAID 1 drives with two new 2TB drives and configure them as RAID 1. I want all partitions from the old RAID drives transfered to the new 2 TB drives. I want the new boot partition to be 500gb and leave the rest of the drive to be configured as an extra partition(not present on the current RAID drives).
I already tried cloning one of the old hard drives onto one of the new 2tb. Apparently all went well, but when I boot the server with the new cloned drive, it tells me that the boot MGR is no present. Am I missing something?
I figured that I only needed to clone one of the new drives and leave RAID to mirror its data onto the second 2TB drive. The problem is that when I boot the server with both new drives installed, I get the message no boot MGR.

Thanks
Carlos San Miguel

Carlos,

The message "not boot mgr" happens when the system doesn't find an active partition, or doesn't find the boot files in the active partition. On many systems, the active partition is on the system disk, sometimes it is hidden.
Check Windows Disk Management to determine where the active partition is after the clone.
If you see an active partition, unhide the hidden files and system files and inspect that partition to look for the boot folders and files.
If you see them, then using the Windows Installation DVD to repair the computer should suffice.
If you don't see them, then the active partition was/is somewhere else on the original system. Make sure it is properly marked active.
If the partition is missing altogether, consider doing a disk and partition backup of the old disks, include the (right) active partition, and any other hidden partition on the system, and restore the hidden partitions, maybe including the active partition, then the C:\system partition. If you have change the location of the active partition as a result, remove the disks that contained it before booting, boot on the Windows installation DVD and repair the startup. That will update the boot files correctly.
Don't forget to do clones and recoveries from the Acronis recovery CD.