RAID 0 plus a back-up drive---question

[Krum]

I'm going to set up a type 0 RAID using the SATA RAID controller on my ASUS mobo. I want to be able to have some backup in case the RAID eventually crashes. I'm guessing I need to install a seperate OS on the IDE drive in order to be able to boot from it in the event of emergency. Do I need to install the same OS twice on my computer?
Also, I'm thinking I'll can install the reg disk drive on my Primary IDE port as master with a CD-R/RW as the slave. On the Secondary IDE, I was thinking of installing a DVD-R/RW as master with a CD-R as slave. Is this a good configuration or am I screwing this up totally? Thanks!

[Harold7]

Have you considered using a program such as Powerquest's Drive Image or Symantec's Ghost to image your C partition?

I have a Raid 0 setup the same as you and I use Drive Image to save an image file of my C drive periodically to an external USB drive as a long term backup and for every day backup I place an image file of my C drive on my second partition as well.

The image file I place on the USB drive is there for safe recovery from a catstrophic HD failure... if I have to recreate the Raid 0 array with a new HD, all I have to do is reinstall XP, reinstall Drive image and then copy the image file back to the C partition and I'm back in business as though nothoing ever happened.

You could do the same thing with an IDE drive as your backup... if your system sees the IDE HD along with the Raid 0 array, I don't see why it wouldn't work for you as a way to backup your system.

[Krum]

That seems like a good way to go, but I do want to be able to automatically boot from the IDE drive in the event of raid failure. If I use Drive Image to backup the RAID to the IDE drive, will the computer boot from the image file? Thanks!

[Harold7]

OOPs, double post... sorry about that.

[Harold7]

Drive Image won't boot from the image file, but if you ever have to recreate your Raid array you can boot from the Drive Image CD or from boot floppies you can create and access the image file from the IDE drive to do a Restore back to the Raid array's C partition.

If you have Drive Image, create an image file, store it on your IDE drive and then boot from the DI CD(or floppies) to verify that you can do a Restore from the IDE drive to a Raid array... should work just fine.

Even if you have to replace an HD due to failure and then recreate your Raid array, you should just have to format and partition (Partition Magic is a good program for this) the array to the same configuration you had previously and then after a Restore operation, you should be back to where you were before the array was recreated.

You can also do a Disk to Disk copy of your Raid's C partition to the C partition of your IDE drive as well as putting an image file on a separate partition on the IDE drive... as long as you have your boot order to boot from the Raid array first, then the IDE drive, if you ever have a Raid failure, you can just reverse the boot order.

If Raid failure is your worry, why not just set up a mirrored Raid 1 array and just use the IDE as backup storage?

[Krum]

Thanks Harold! Sounds like Drive Image is the way to go. I'm not super worried about losing data, iIm just looking for maximum convenience in restoring the RAID in case it does fail. I've never used Ghost or Drive Image before and didn't realize you could create a boot CD which would allow you to restore from another drive. Sound like a good plan. My two Maxtor SATA drives arrive in the mail today and I can't wait to get going! Couldn't find those stupid power converter cables at our local Fry's though. Now i'll probably have to order those by mail also dammit. Anyway, thanks for all the the help and I'll keep ya posted on how it goes.

[Harold7]

You don't have to create a boot CD with Drive Image, just boot from the Program CD and the program will run... or you can create 2 boot floppies when you install the program which will let you boot to a Caldera DOS version of Drive Image.

BTW your two Maxtor SATA drives (if you got the retail, boxed versions) should have both the serial cables for connection to the SATA controller and the power adapter connectors... unless the Maxtor documentation says cables and connectors are not included... I wasn't sure if the Seagate drives I bought came with the serial cables and power adapter connectors so I bought extras that I found out that I didn't really need after I opened the boxes.