First time RAID-0'er, and backup image question

[antigandhi]

so I have this 32gb OCZ SSD, and was hoping to run it in RAID-0 with a 32gb Corsair SSD. I already have all my windows 7 and apps set up on the OCZ SSD... I was wondering if I had to format the OCZ so it could work in raid? or can I keep all my stuff?

I have an AMD system, with a Gigabyte 870A-UD3 (i'm not sure what info is relevant, so i'll just tell you that...)

part 2: if i had to reformat... what would be the best way to backup the drive? I have a 500gb drive with more than 32gb left on it... and i heard something about "backing up an image"? could i do that (and how?) and back it up to the 500gb hard drive?

thanks guys!

[Jagged Tooth]

Unless you are using a dedicated RAID card, I doubt you will have the features necessary to add a disk to an array without doing a format (not even sure if it's possible for Raid 0).

As for backing up an image that's something I have never done before. Some quick Googling gave me Clonezilla (http://www.clonezilla.org/). It should be able to clone the disk easily, but apparently it doesn't support software/fake Raid by default. You might need to hunt for a tutorial.

[antigandhi]

cool, thanks. im backing up to a 500gb hard drive anyways, so it doesnt matter if it supports fake raid or not.

i guess i'll format it... whatever.

[darknight_15]

You will have to reformat, Raid 0 basically makes two hard drives into one, you windows installation would have no idea of the setup and just think it's one drive.

You can image the drive, but it might get upset when you re-image back because of the new drive setup. It might be best to just backup everything onto your 500GB drive and just re-install.

Also you are running drives from different manufactures so sometimes they won't play togeather. Do a test run first, i.e. install the Operating system and run it for abit.

[antigandhi]

ok cool, thanks darknight

[ThermioN]

You have to format every HDD in your RAID set-up (no matter which RAID-Level).
And yes, Clonezilla is a good choice for backups. You can choose between writing an image file or "regular" backup of single partitions or hard drives. Had no difficulties so far writing/restoring images from RAID or stripe-sets (not every software can handle this!)