Thinkpads Forum

Hello group.

I have a W700. I came with a single 160GB hard disk. I added a second 300GB disk. I now want to replace the original 160GB with a another 300GB and reconfigure the pair as a Raid 0.

I would like to be able to build the Raid 0 and then restore my entire system without having to reinstall all my software.

I have created the 17 CD set of the "System Restore", when I first received my W700. I hope I can avoid using it to rebuild under Raid 0 as it would require a complete re installation of all my application software.

Here are the basic steps I planned, but I have one open question that I will ask at the bottom.

Step 1. Do a "Complete PC Backup and Restore Image" to a external SATA hard disk.
Step 2. Install the two 300GB hard disks.
Step 3. Enter the BIOS and build the Raid 0, partition the disk.
Step 4. Restore the system from the backup in Step 1.

My big question comes in Step 4. At this point the Raid 0 is empty. I have no operating system to boot from to start the restore. So, do I have to use the 17CD "System Restore" set to get a copy of Vista up and running, or is there another way to restore the data from Step 1?

Or should I just go through the pain of reinstalling all my application software, service packs, etc to the "System Restore" built Raid 0 and then restore my data from the Step 1 backup. This is not very attractive as I have lots of application software and this take lots of time.

Thanks in advance for advice.

"

Hi,

I believe first of all you must create "Recovery Media" from the partition you should have in you laptop. The name of that partition is "Lenovo Recovery (Q:)". That will take about 3 DVD. Once you made those disks you can set up you RAID and then install all data back to the clean HDD. After that when you turn on your system it will look same as when you got it first time from lenovo factory. So, I beleive now you can start recovery process from those 17 CD.

I hope that help.

I now have my second harddrive to create my Raid 0.

Creating the Raid 0 is straight forward, after the BIOS change, during the reboot process there is a point where I hit CNTRL+I to enter into the Raid controller program and build the Raid 0.

I have on a ESATA external drive connected to the ESATA port on my W700 docking station. When I boot from the CD using the "Rescue & Recover Startup Disc", I can not get it to see the "Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore" image that I have on the drive.

But I still don't understand how the new Raid 0 drive gets partitioned. I need 4 partions, the S: (Servicev003), the Q: (Lenovo), the C: for Vista and a D: for my data.

I looked all over inside the Rescue and Recovery 4 software (available by booting from the "Rescue & Recover Startup Disc" CD) and I did not see the partitioning and low-level formatting functions that I expected.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

I solved my problem.

First I called Lenovo/IBM support. Appears this is a known problem.

In the old days, Win XP and Win2000, during the installation process on a Raid 0 config, there is a point that you can hit CNTRL-S to insert third party drivers needed for the install. This is the point where a Raid 0 driver could be inserted so the Windows would be built with it and later boot successfully.

It seems that Lenovo Recovery4 process never took this into consideration for the folks who were switching to Raid0 from an normal single drive W700.

Lenovo/IBM first said, just get the Intel/Raid 0 driver from the website and install it. Well that is impossible if you cannot get the system to boot. And there is no way to insert this driver into the recovery CD/DVD that we are suppose to create when we first get our systems. A real catch 22.

The solution. Lenovo/IBM sent me the actual Recovery CD/DVD to rebuild the system. Since my system is under warranty, the cost was zero. Slower process, but very effective. These CD/DVD have all the necessary drivers to build the system. The raid 0 was a snap to get up and running.

Hope this saves others the headaches.