Do I reinstall everything with RAID?

Hi All, I have my system set up just the way I like .....but at the time I built this machine I could only afford one 74 gig Raptor sata HDD now, I have another (Raptor) and I would like to set up a raid 1 array. I have an Acronis image of my system and what I would like to know is can I set up my raid 1 array and then install the image I made from the original HDD? OR do I have to reinstall everything over again?

 

I may have my RAIDs mixed up, but if I remember, RAID1 is a mirrored array, where Windows sees only one 74gb drive, and all data changes are made to both drives simultaneously so both drives have identical content. That way, if one fails, you have an exact back up. My experience with this type of RAID is that when the 2nd drive is added later, you have to go into the RAID setup screen (usually has it's own BIOS built into the motherboard) and configure it there. When you exit, usually a prompt will come up asking if you want to image the original drive to the new drive. If you've already done this, then you can probably choose "No" and skip this step, but I always answer "Yes" just so that the image is performed by the same software that runs the RAID, and I can sleep easy knowing that it's all "compatible". In any case, you shoudn't need to re-install anything. Once the RAID is set up, and both drives have the same data image, the PC should boot up and run just like it did with the single drive....

 

Hi dlb, Thank You for your reply. If I understand you correctly, I physically install the second drive and then go into bios and configure RAID. BTW my mobo does have that option, however I believe all data on the original drive is lost during the raid setup. My question is, will the image I made (with Acronis), when I only had one drive, load on the RAID configuration? or will I have to start from scratch? I am reasonably sure the data on the first drive will not survive the RAID setup.