Cloning a RAID 1 array to a single SSD. Tried but failed.
Good day to the community
I tried to use Acronis True Image 2016, version 19.0.6595 (3 licenses purchased) to an older computer of mine, which has its OS (Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, Build 1803) installed on a RAID 1 HDD array, consisting of two Western Digital Velociraptors WD1500HLFS (150GB each). The SSD I wanted to use for cloning is a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256GB.
The process seemed to work well, until I was asked to restart my computer, to allow the finishing of the cloning and the software migration to the SSD. After restarting, I received a picture on my screen, showing the progress of cloning, which seemed to go well until the end. Finally, after completion of the cloning, the PC was shut down (it was pre-selected during the process).
Then I restarted the PC, I reset the parameters in the M/B BIOS, changing storage mode from RAID to AHCI and selecting as first booting device the new SanDisk SSD. The PC initially showed up the Windows Starting Flag but after a few seconds, I received a Blue Screen with a warning error saying that something went wrong at start-up (unfortunately, I did not keep the error code, but the description was something like a "defective" or "not bootable" booting device). I tried to restart the PC, but again I kept receiving the same Blue Screen. I did several restart efforts, all with the same results.
Finally, I was forced to disconnect the SSD and return to the old HDD RAID array, as first booting device, resetting the BIOS parameters to their previous status.
Can someone help me on this matter?
Thanks in advance.
IanL-S wrote:The problem could be disk signature related. Disks in a raid array often, if not always, have the same signature. When you remove the array the OS can go into meltdown if there are two disks with the same signature. I have seen this several times over the years. To compound matters, the PC may be seeing OS on all three disks. So, first thing to do is to disconnect the two Velociraptors (I had a raid 5 configuration for many uses using 3 x 600gig Velociraptors) and see if you can now successfully boot.
Ian
Thanks, lan, for your suggestion. Without knowing all the above, I figured that it would be correct NOT to have the Velociraptors connected, when starting the PC with the SSD on it. The truth is though that I did not disconnect them at the first start-up after the cloning. When the problem appeared for the first time, my next thought was to leave the PC with the SSD connected only to it, which I did at the second restart.
However, the problem persisted.
One more possible discrepancy, discovered later on, might be that one of the Velociraptors may not be at its best condition (software-wise, of course). When starting the PC and before entering the Windows, I checked carefully the BIOS start-up page and the following appears (please, see the attached screenshot):
Volume0 - RAID1(Mirror) - 139.7GB - Normal
System_Raid_90 - RAID1 (Mirror) 90.4GB Degraded
I am wondering if the condition of the second Velociraptor (as described above) could be the cause of the failure.
The degraded message means that there is a problem with the raid array. This is probably due to the switching between RAID and AHCI. In my experience, this status remains while the raid array is being rebuilt (I have only used RAID 5 which works in a different way,
Getting back to the original problem, it is likely to be driver related; windows uses a different driver when AHIC is used rather than RAID. I do not recall what operating system you are using. Edit; Latest build Window 10 Pro.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Unfortunately, my brain is not working - just after 3 am, having a sleepless night. Will come back to you later today.
Another edit: I would let the raid rebuild before going further. Just in case it is necessary to create a new or update backup.
Yet another edit: The degraded mirror raid should have no impact (other than speed). The question is when did the degraded state start. My thinking is that it was after trying to get the SSD to work - changing RAID to AHIC then back to RAID.
Ian
Ok, my brain is now back in action.
From the point of view of the operating system (Windows) you old system had two HDDs, that is the two separate RAID 1 (mirror). Each would have its own disk signature.
ATI sees each RAID array as a separate physical HDD. How I would have approach the task would have been to leave the data RAID partition in place. The process would have been:
- Do a full disk backup of the first RAID array (OS array).
- Do a full disk backup of the second RAID array (data array)
- Create a recovery disk.
- Shut down the PC.
- Booted up the PC and during the book process enter the Intel Raid Management (I am assuming that the raid is through onboard Intel controller). On older system you do this by pressing Crtl+I, in more recent systems it is done in the UEFI/BIOS. Once you are in the RAID management delete both RAID arrays. You can if you wish create a new RAID array using the full capacity of the 2 HDDs (see comment below). Do not change from RAID to AHCI.
- Attach the SSD, and reboot using the Acronis recovery media. Use recovery media to recover the OS Disk to the SSD.
- When the process completes, you should be able to boot into Windows. (You may get error messages about missing drives if you had moved any of the user directories to the second RAID Disk. Ignore them for the moment). Once in Windows recover the second partition.
You could recover the second RAID partition to the SSD, however I would not do so. I have found it is best to dedicate an SSD to OS. While it is possible to run Windows 10 on a 120 gig partition, these days it is very tight. On my main systems I have 240 gig SSD (either SATA or NVMe) dedicated to this process. I would them use the two Velociraptors as an RAID 1.
Growl, I could be confused (not unusual). I was assuming both RAID arrays were using the same disk. But if the Velociraptors are only 150 gig this not the case. This simplifies matters. Just delete that array and leave the other one in place.
You do not need to change from RAID to AHCI; the SATA SSD will work without issue in RAID. At one stage Intel recommended using RAID with its SSDs. Many computer manufactures set up single disk systems with RAID in a belief it optimises performance. Neither AHCI nor RAID make the most of SSD, but given the limits of SATA it really is not worth worrying about. I have been running a system with RAID rather than AHCI for 4 years and its has not had any performance issues related to the SSD.
Hope this will allow you to progress.
Ian