How to setup RAID 1 on AR51SU?

[phenriot]

Hi, I just received my new notebook with Vista.

It came with RAID 0 by default, but I would like the notebook to completely run on RAID 1.

How do I achieve that?

(FYI, I am an experienced computer user, but I don't know Vista)



P.S. the notebook really looks impressive, but it is sloooooooooooow. Any chance to speed it up?

[Blencogo]

Hi phenriot and welcome.

With the old VAIO Recovery Utility, all Vaios with a RAID configuration had the option to change the RAID when reformatting using the Recovery Discs. When you boot from the System Recovery Disc, the first option is "Change RAID". This allowed three options 'No RAID', 'RAID 0' and 'RAID 1'.

I am unsure if the brand new "Vaio Recovery Centre" allows this option. There is no information in the new Recovery and Troubleshooting Guide. I think if I were you, I would phone Sony Support and ask if this is still possible with the new software.

http://support.vaio.sony.co.uk/contacts/contacts.asp?site=voe_en_GB_cons&tp=vaio&cc=fr_CH&cm=phone

Moving from Striped RAID 0 (the default) to Mirrored RAID 1 will require a full formatting of both hard discs and a complete re-installation of everything in a non-striped format. I'm sure you appreciate that RAID 1 will cut your hard disc storage space by half - from 500GB to 250GB.

Good Luck!

[phenriot]

Thanks for your reply!
Maybe someone knows if this option still exists.

Of course I am aware of the reduction in storage space, but it is not the space I'm after!
A disk failure on a notebook is especially dreadful.

BTW, any idea on how to speed up the notebook?

And how do I get into BIOS?
Is it the classical or F6 Key?

[Blencogo]

It's F2 to get into the BIOS. You will find a lot is locked by Sony.

You can probably turn the RAID off in the BIOS, reformat both discs and reinstall the system from your Recovery Discs - I would make several copies of the Recovery Discs because changing RAID will format the Recovery Partition.

As for speed - welcome to Vista I'm afraid. Booting is always slow and you could turn off any Services not needed in MSCONFIG. I still find Vista annoyingly unstable but usually, when booted up, the speed is now similar to XP.

[phenriot]

Thanks, I'll try the F2 Key

I did the recovery disks, but even the process to make them is slow (it took about an hour to burn 3 DVD-R).

From your experience, was there a significant speed increase after an update to the latest vista version?

And then there would be the downgrade to XP. Does Vista Ultimate entitle to use XP Pro?
I think I read something about that somewhere, even about XP2.

[Blencogo]

There is a temporary downgrade path to XP but I don't know anyone who has actually managed to get this from Microsoft. I understand you need a licensed version of XP with discs to do it.

With the AR51SU the biggest problem is that none of the preinstalled software will work and I foresee massive problems with the Blu-Ray drive and the TV. This is a Media Centre Vaio designed for use with Vista!

After all, we will all have to accept Vista at some stage!

[smhese]

Setting up RAID1 is easy with the 51SU:

Just create a recover DVD set of your complete system. Reboot the computer and press F2 when you see the Sony logo. Activate the option to see the RAID configuration while booting. Save and exit the BIOS Setup.
Reboot again and press Cntrl-I when you see the RAID configuration (you only have 1 second to do this: be quick). If you managed to hit Cntrl-I in time you will get into the RAID controller BIOS. Here you can easily create new RAID partitions based on RAID0 or RAID1. Save and Exit the RAID Controller and reboot into the Recover DVD. Reinstall everything from DVD1-3 and you are done:)


Hope this helps!
Kind Regards,

Sören

PS: Reinstallation from DVD1-3 should be done within the "Vaio Security Center" Tool (its one option in the menu) and within the Vaio Center use "Restore the complete system". I tested that with the german version - so I dont know exactly the english naming that is used.

[phenriot]

Hi, I tried that, and now I got some serious problems:

To be sure, I made 2 sets of DVDs "Full Backup" - (backup of the whole computer).

Then I went into that RAID config. I deleted the 2 existing RAID-0 devices and initialized one new RAID1 device.

The only problem now is that the computer won't boot from a recovery DVD nor will it react to as it did before.
It keeps saying "operating System Not Found".

What is the problem?
How do I restore my backup?

ummmm... help?

[phenriot]

I probably need a boot disk.
How can I get one?