Vista - Vista64- Move OS from Raid Array to New Boot Drive

Hello All.

I've been wrestling with these problems for three months, so I'll try to keep it simple. I'm sure that I've omitted info that will help to resolve my issue- just let me know and I can provide screenshots or answers to clarify.

Just the facts:

-Vista 64bit install on Raid 5 array consisting of (4) 1TB WD Caviar black HDDs.

-I mistakenly expected a nominal volume of 3TB with redundancy. Was not aware that MBR has 2.0TB limit when the OS is installed on that volume, even with 64bit OS. Result was approx. 750GB unallocated space and no redundancy.

-I was told that I could ghost the entire volume, install new, smaller HDD, copy the volume to that new HDD, and then reconfigure old drives into new array without OS.

-I purchased a 150GB Velociraptor for quick boot-up with OS.

-I've tried Paragon Drive Copy and Macrium Reflect, but found that I cannot copy the original volume, because the volume size reads as 2.0TB, even though I'm using less than 50GB, and you can't copy a "bigger" volume onto a smaller one.

-My next attempt was to use my original *OEM* Vista disk, and do a clean install on the Raptor, with the understanding that I would have to call Microsoft for a new product key, citing hardware problems requiring a move from one HDD to another.

-When attempting to install the OS, it will only recognize the primary array. The Raptor is not available. It appears to be available in Disk Management, and was formatted with my nVidia Raid driver.

What I hope to achieve:

I want to move or install Vista 64bit onto the new 150GB Raptor, and then reconfigure the original HDDs into a new Raid 5 array for storage (NO OS). Once I've done that, I need to move my 700GB of data from a FIFTH, identical WD 1TB Caviar HDD, currently in an external enclosure acting as temporary storage. When that data has been moved to the reconfigured four-disk array, I would like to extend the volume by adding the FIFTH WD HDD, which is no longer needed for temp storage.

My Questions:

Is this possible? Have I gone about this in the wrong way? If so, what are the steps required to complete this epic build?

Thanks in advance for your help!!

Chris W.

-If your motherboard has EFI for firmware instead of a BIOS, then you can use GPT instead of MBR for your partitioning, which will allow for much much larger partitions than 2.0TB. It's important to understand that this is not a Vista shortcoming, but rather one of the BIOS design.

-Also, depending on your RAID controller, it might be possible to create a 4x1gig in RAID 5 array (total 3gig usable array), and then have your RAID controller partition a 2.0TB LUN and a 1.0TB LUN. Think of this just like when you create a NTFS partition & a FAT32 partition on a drive... but this is at an even "lower" level. Again: this will require support from your RAID controller. Adaptec, for instance, is well known for doing this to work-around the 2.0TB LUN limit on the old SCSI spec.

I would try a shrink operation on the sytem volume, down to a size that will definitely fit on the new system-disk, and then perform a backup/restore onto that disk. From there you should be able to boot and extend the volume to fill the entire disk (if necessary).


This should all be possible, and is likely only a limitation of the backup software.

HOWEVER - if it were me I would take the RAID array off-line when I first booted up the system using the Raptor. I'm a one-step-at-a-time kinda guy.

From there, assuming you have backed up your data from the RAID array (either before or after getting the Raptor booting), you can destroy your array and create a 3.0TB array and format it as GPT using Vista. All 3 TB will be fully usable in one large volume. Afterwards, copy your data back to it.

if the raptor doesnt show up when trying to install windows, you may need to install a hard disk controller first (either raid or sata).

Note that Windows is NOT to be installed on striped arrays (interesting that
you were able to do it)..

The steps listed under "What I hope to achieve" are ezxactly what should
have been done originally - OS on separate HD.


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