Windows 7 Restoring Windows 7 System Image to RAID1 Configuration: Questions and Best Practices

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rickh

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I have a couple of questions on Win7 (Home Premium SP1) System Image. Not sure if this is right place to post this but the primary question is around System Image.

Currently running Windows 7 on a Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H with RAID Option ROM Version 3.3.1540.11 .

I have had some "challenges" attempting to upgrade SATA RAID HDD's from a pair of 160Gb drives to a pair of 500Gb drives. I thought it would be as easy as removing one drive and adding the larger capacity drive and rebuilding RAID image from remaining drive.. Wrong. Finally managed to recover back to a single drive in non-RAID mode and got it to boot via the System Recovery Options / Startup Repair. Lucky

Immediately made a System Image to another spare drive.

What I want to do is ADD the new 500Gb drives in a RAID1 config (in addition to the existing C drive), add the spare drive with the System image on it, boot up and then restore that System Image back to the new RAID1 array.

I am unclear though whether copying System Image back to a formatted & active drive will allow W7 to boot up from that drive, or, does the drive need to have boot files pre-installed as well?

And, is it even possible to Restore a System Image back to a logical RAID1 array?

Cheers…
 
Solution
I am guessing an image made from a single drive wil not re-image to a RAID setup. But I have not tried it, so not sure. If you have an image, you can try whatever you want.

I don't have enough RAID experience to suggest the best way to get the original system back. I understand you do not have an image of the RAID?

A Windows image is fully functional and will boot. But again, not sure about your setup, but I would not add any more drives than I had to at the start.
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I am guessing an image made from a single drive wil not re-image to a RAID setup. But I have not tried it, so not sure. If you have an image, you can try whatever you want.

I don't have enough RAID experience to suggest the best way to get the original system back. I understand you do not have an image of the RAID?

A Windows image is fully functional and will boot. But again, not sure about your setup, but I would not add any more drives than I had to at the start.
 
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