Need advice on replacing HDDs with SSDs in RAID 1 mode

[Commander]

Hi, I am looking for some advice on doing an HDD to SDD upgrade.

I know a good amount about hardware and software, but since I haven't done an upgrade like this before, I just want to make sure I am not missing any detail(s) that would prevent this upgrade from working.

I have a 2013 Dell XPS 8700 running Win7 with two 1TB HDD in a Raid 1 (clone) configuration and I want to replace the 2x 1TB HDDs with 2x 2TB SSDs.

The device manager lists the RAID controller as a "intel(r) Desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller) - but I don't know how to get the chipset model number yet.

So, these are the steps I was planning to do:
1) Take the 2x 1TB HDDs out of the computer
2) Using a desktop standalone disk duplicator device, clone one of the 1TB HDD to a "2TB" SSD
3) Install the Cloned 2TB SSD along with the blank/new 2TB SSD into the PC
4) Boot up the PC and do a Rebuild so the SSD's are synced
5) Run partition software to realign to 4k sectors
6) Run partition software to hopefully resize the SSD to its full 2TB capacity.

Will the above procedure work to simply replace my HDD with SSD?

If not, what changes to those steps should I make?

Do I need to modofy the BIOS in anyway?

My goal is to not have to do a backup/restore of the system.

Another goal is to not modify the raid controller settings in anyway so that if I can't get the SSD's to work properly, I can always simply re-install the original HDDs and at least I will be back up and running.

I appreciate your time in reading this and look forward to any replies.

[Jean_Intel]

Hello Commander,

We appreciate the information provided.

We need to know if you are using RAID hardware. It is important to mention that Hardware RAID is a dedicated processing system that can be done completely on a separate RAID card/cabinet or the motherboard. On the other hand, Software RAID is when your storage drives are directly connected to the motherboard without a RAID controller; the RAID configuration will be managed by the utility software in the Operating System. In case you are using a Hardware RAID, we would like to request the hardware model.

Also, we want to confirm the Operating System (and build) and Motherboard model you are using.

Best regards,

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Commander]

Hey Jean,

Your statement of "On the other hand, Software RAID is when your storage drives are directly connected to the motherboard without a RAID controller; the RAID configuration will be managed by the utility software in the Operating System." is confusing because:

1) The drives do directly connect to the motherboard, but I am thinking that my motherboard must have a dedicated RAID "chipset" on it and not a "software" raid system because when the Dell 8700XPS motherboard is booting up, it displays "Intel(r) Rapid Storage Technology Option ROM - 12.6.0.1867" at that BIOS level (before windows is even loaded)

2) Also, the startup BIOS screen displays the status of the RAID drives and which ones are "Members" or not, so if the RAID configuraiton is "Operating System" based, then how would the BIOS startup screen know that there are RAID drives before windows is even loaded?

3) Also, I am running Windows 7 SP1 (build 7601), but this should not make a difference because even though there is a Intel Rapid Storage Technology "app" that runs in windows that allows me to check the RAID status and initiate a "Rebuild", it is my impression that the app is simply a UI interface to the RAID hardware chipset on the motherboard. Is this correct?

[Jean_Intel]

Hello Commander,

Thanks for your response.

It is important to mention that Intel only creates the driver and provides it to the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). The OEM implements the product to work with their system requirements and needs. You should contact Dell Support for further recommendations.

If you need any additional information, please submit a new question, as this thread will no longer be monitored.  

Best regards,

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Commander]

OK, 

So when you provide the "driver" to DELL, where is the "default" storage loction that your driver will store the RAID configuration: In some NV memory location or on the hard drives themselves?

[JohnPapas]

I was redirected to this discussion from the HPE community forum, having the exact same question.

I have a Proliant ML10 gen9 server equipped with XEON E3-1225 v5 and two HDDs setup as raid 1 with intel rst software raid.

Driver version 12.0.1.1018, RAID option ROM version 14.6.0.2285.

I know that hardware raid, on proliant servers at least, store raid config on the disks and it is fairly easy to migrate as the controller reads and respects their raid configuration.

I also want to migrate the OS (server 2012 r2 foundation) to SSDs but am a little worried about the process.

Breaking and rebuilding the array makes me very uncomfortable and also you need same or larger size disks (not my case).

I also had the question what will happen if I re seat the original drives on the motherboard in their exact previous ports. Will the controller be able to regain the array config and resume as nothing happened ? Unfortunately there is no room for error. And no way to test in another server.

Yes sure having a backup is crucial, but is there a guaranty it will work properly if something goes wrong with the migration ? And say you have a bare metal image, will everything work exactly as before ? What about SQL server, Domain etc ?

I think Intel should really answer this basic question. Where is the raid information stored ? Is it possible to re seat the original disks and continue as before ?

Since I have to move to slightly smaller drives, I am thinking of using a third party cloning software tool.

That is, creating a second array with the SSDs, cloning original array, booting from the newly created array and if everything is ok, remove the old array.