Remove RAID0 and move Windows to SSD - Acer Predator 17

Question

Symptom: I've just bought an Acer Predator 17 (model number G9-793-73MB) and although the Technical Specs say it only has two (2) HDs it actually has three (3): 2 M2 SSDs and 1 HDD. However, the 2 SSDs are installed in a RAID-0 array and as RAID-0 is actually worse than no RAID at all from a reliability perspective, I'd like to change that to anything but RAID-0 and restore Windows back to SSD

What I've tried already:

• RTFM Acer Predator User Manual
• RTFM Acer Predator Disassembly guide
• RTFM Intel How To Access Intel RAID ROM and even
• RTFM Intel Unable to access the RAID ROM
• but no matter what, Ctrl+I, Ctrl+R, Ctrl+E, Ctrl+D or even Ctrl+Shift+I, R, E or D bring me into the RAID Setup ROM.
• Taken a CloneZilla Live backup of the pre-installed Windows 10 environment on the RAID-0.
• Downloaded RTSCLI64 V 13.2.0_1016 and then patched it to ignore driver version checking.

• Booted Windows 10 into command prompt and deleted the RAID array with the patched RSTCLI64:

  rstcli64 --manage --delete OEMRAID0 
  

• Restored the CloneZilla Image to my HDD as it refuses to be restored on any of the 2 individual SSDs. (too small)

Question: How do I restore my CloneZilla Backup to one of the SSDs and update the UEFI NVRAM to now boot from that SSD?

_{Note 1: Yes, I've used dd to copy them over already, but as the BIOS only allows legacy (BIOS) or Secure UEFI and not "unsecure" UEFI, I can't boot rEFInd and have a hard time booting its secure alternative to drop into an UEFI shell.}

_{Note 2: Yes, I know about EasyUEFI, but to add stuff I need the professional version :-(.}

Answer 1

Remove the RAID 0 and recreate a RAID 1 or stand-alone setup.

If you are not opposed to starting fresh, then you can download your own installation media here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

This will be the most straightforward way to go as Windows will rebuild everything on its own.

Your alternative here is to backup/restore in a way that allows you to resize partitions. This is not straight forward with CloneZilla: https://serverfault.com/questions/568227/prepare-a-disk-to-be-imaged-by-clonezilla-for-use-on-smaller-disks

You could also use Windows Backup/restore, or another 3rd party tool. Acronis comes to mind, but AOMEI Backupper Standard Freeware was also suggested in the comments.

Additionally, you can resize your working partitions by defragging/optimizing the drive first, then shrinking the main partition so that the total space used is smaller than one of your SSD drives. Then a clone should work fine.