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RAID 0 back up

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I am looking to do a RAID 0 installation in Windows 7. I have 3 500GB SATA2 hard drives. If I do RAID 0 making 1 TB, can I create an image of the entire RAID 0 onto a single 500GB disk? Does it shrink the size to fit or? Also, I have True Image 2009.

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Cavicchi:

It depends on how much data is stored on the 1 TB array. When TI creates an image it does not include unused sectors and it skips the paging and hibernation files, and compresses the resultant backup file. The size of the image file can be estimated as follows. Determine the amount of used space on the array. Subtract the sizes of the paging file pagefile.sys and hibernation file hiberfil.sys. Then multiply this result by about 0.7 if normal compression is used. Keep in mind that certain files like .jpg photos, videos, and music files are already compressed so they won't compress any further.

So unless you fill your array you should be able to back it up to a 500 GB disk.

There is another option to clone a disk, so would that be a better method? I wouldn't fill the array beyond the point of capability, so that disk image you mentioned above should work. What I am wondering about is if one drive in the array did fail, what would I do to rebuild the array? Any suggestions?

If a drive fails in your RAID 0 setup, you would need to replace the drive and then restore the backup image to the new RAID 0 setup. It's practically the same procedure you would use when replacing a single drive.

I have assembled a system with the following specs
Core i7 920
EVGA X58 SLI Motherboard
2x320GB Seagate SATA HDD
1TB WD Cavair Black HDD
Asus 4870X2 Graphics
6GB OCZ DDR3 RAM
Windows 7 Professional

The RAID0 volume is the boot disk with all applications installed on it. Able to backup the same (Complete disk backup), validation is also successful, however, been unable to restore it even after multiple attempts using Acronis 2010 Home. The issue is that even though the disks are setup as RAID0 in BIOS Acronis sees them as 2 separate disks when trying to restore at startup. Even if I try a restore from within Windows, system reboots and Acronis still sees them as 2 separate disks.

Has anyone else faced the same issue? Any solutions?

Pratul:

The TI recovery environment is Linux (even if you initiate a reboot from Windows), so your symptom means that the recovery environment doesn't have the correct RAID driver for your hardware. You could try the bootable ISO file that is found by logging into your account on the Acronis web site, or you could contact Acronis support to see if they can get you an ISO of the boot environment that will see your RAID array properly.

Other options are to download the Safe Media version of the recovery environment, which is DOS-based, or to build a PE-based solution like BartPE.

Hello all,

Let me assist you with this situation.

Thanks to MudCrab and Mark for the correct recommendations!

pratul, this issue is related to lack of drivers for your RAID controller in the CD you've created from the product interface. As Mark correctly advised, you should download the version which is based on another loader (the version has some extended list of drivers and startup parameters). We have implemented the possibility to download the appropriate ISO file after logging into your account (the serial number should be registered). This option is available for the current and (n-1) versions. Please log in to your account, go to the Registered products and downloads section -> Bootable media. Download the file.
To get access to the ISO you should first register Acronis software.

You can find more information on how to burn an ISO image to a CD here.

If you're having trouble getting this ISO, please send me a PM, I will assist you with the download link. Additionally to this, you are welcome to ask me any other questions concerning Acronis, and I will assist you further.

Thank you.