How move raid 0 to new motherboard

[Sarazen]

Hello,

My current ICH10 mb has a two disk raid 0 on it at present, and I want to change this current machine to be a 4 disk raid 5 server (and web host but thats by the by). My question is, if I move my two disks constituting this raid0 to a new hardware setup (new mb) will the new mb recognise the raid without any data loss? (data only, no o/s).

Many thanks!

 

[jsc]

:hello, Sarazen. Welcome to the forums.

Answer:
Probably not. Motherboard RAID tends to be a pretty economical solution, but it is not really portable.

You should backup your data to be safe.

 

[Sarazen]

Thanks Jsc.

Anyone else out there got a different answer that I can like more?

I suppose I could get 4x2tb disks for the raid5, and use one initially to take a backup of the current raid0 (place as new disk in old/pre-migration setup) then if the current raid0 doesnt work with the new mb I have a backup. Otherwise I'd have to find an extra 2tb of storage just for the migration...

 

[thespieler]

Unless your working in IT and your servers have physical Raid cards, this wont work.


*Edit* wait, what? your mobo is okay and your just migrating? just ghost the drive dude! create an image of the drive and then create the new array on the new mobo and copy the original drive image!

 

[Sarazen]

Not quite with you yet TheSpieler... perhaps I need to be clearer:

I have a current main machine (A) which has an ICH10 capable mb, but I am currently simply using it with 2x1tb disks in a raid0 config giving a 2tb partition.

Machine A is no longer viable as a high end gaming machine, and also it's high time I created a safe repository for all my data (I currently have no backup - yes yes yes I know - am flying close to the sun). Machine A will make a fine File Server/Web Server however (lets call this machine A2) and means I don't have to buy a new mb/processor/memory for A2 (the mb currently in machine A is only Sata 2 but the difference between Sata2 and Sata3 for my applications will not be significant). I will be using the new mb/proc/memory in a new gaming rig B, and once the data is safely on my raid5 I will wipe the raid0 and use that for the storage in B.

So current hardware:
mb
processor
memory
1xSSD (win7)
2x1tb disks in raid 0 (currently holding all data for the home network)

hardware that will be bought:
new mb/proc/memory
4x2tb disks which will form a 6Tb raid5


So the problem I have, and which prompted my question is that I want to set up the new raid5, and then copy what's on the raid0 to the raid5 - ergo all my lovely data is stored on the new, disk-fail-mitigated raid5. The trouble is, Jsc says that if I just move the two disks raid0 from A to B, there's a good chance the new mb wont be able to instantiate the raid0 properly and I'll lose my data.

So the end game is that I have a new raid5 in a machine which uses the current mb/proc/memory and a new spanky gaming rig with a 2tb raid0 for it's storage. And doing this hopefully without having to buy extra storage simply to do the migration.

Phew - hope thats clear. Thanks!

 

[thespieler]

Not quite with you yet TheSpieler... perhaps I need to be clearer:

I have a current main machine (A) which has an ICH10 capable mb, but I am currently simply using it with 2x1tb disks in a raid0 config giving a 2tb partition.

Machine A is no longer viable as a high end gaming machine, and also it's high time I created a safe repository for all my data (I currently have no backup - yes yes yes I know - am flying close to the sun). Machine A will make a fine File Server/Web Server however (lets call this machine A2) and means I don't have to buy a new mb/processor/memory for A2 (the mb currently in machine A is only Sata 2 but the difference between Sata2 and Sata3 for my applications will not be significant). I will be using the new mb/proc/memory in a new gaming rig B, and once the data is safely on my raid5 I will wipe the raid0 and use that for the storage in B.

So current hardware:
mb
processor
memory
1xSSD (win7)
2x1tb disks in raid 0 (currently holding all data for the home network)

hardware that will be bought:
new mb/proc/memory
4x2tb disks which will form a 6Tb raid5


So the problem I have, and which prompted my question is that I want to set up the new raid5, and then copy what's on the raid0 to the raid5 - ergo all my lovely data is stored on the new, disk-fail-mitigated raid5. The trouble is, Jsc says that if I just move the two disks raid0 from A to B, there's a good chance the new mb wont be able to instantiate the raid0 properly and I'll lose my data.

So the end game is that I have a new raid5 in a machine which uses the current mb/proc/memory and a new spanky gaming rig with a 2tb raid0 for it's storage. And doing this hopefully without having to buy extra storage simply to do the migration.

Phew - hope thats clear. Thanks!

I see, So then go ghost your raid 0 array, and with that image, throw it on your new raid 5 array.

 

[Sarazen]

I don't understand - if I create a "ghost"- which I assume you mean is a 2tb image, then where do I put it? I cant put it on the raid5 because that wouldnt have been created yet (the raid5 is going to be built on the mb which the raid0 is currently on)

. the mb is a Gigabyte GA-X58A-URD3 http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3449#sp

 

[thespieler]

If you must, back the image up to either A) external HD B) R-DVD's then once thats backed up, build the new array, use whichever ghosting software you decide on, then load it up using the discs or external drive.

 

[Sarazen]

Hmm well I was trying to avoid having to buy 2tb just to do the migration - and I've got 1.5tb of data so DVD's is not an option.

Thanks all for replies. Let me know if anyone has a brainwave.

I did consider just now that since my mb can support 6x disks, and there are multiple controllers, it might be an option to instantiate the raid5 alongside the raid0 and then just copy from one to the other... the chances of the planets aligning so that I've used the right controller/sata headers for the current raid 0 etc though I'm not confident!!

 

[thespieler]

Hmm well I was trying to avoid having to buy 2tb just to do the migration - and I've got 1.5tb of data so DVD's is not an option.

Thanks all for replies. Let me know if anyone has a brainwave.

I did consider just now that since my mb can support 6x disks, and there are multiple controllers, it might be an option to instantiate the raid5 alongside the raid0 and then just copy from one to the other... the chances of the planets aligning so that I've used the right controller/sata headers for the current raid 0 etc though I'm not confident!!

yeah, wouldnt hold your breath on that one, but worth the try

 

[jitpublisher]

I don't understand - if I create a "ghost"- which I assume you mean is a 2tb image, then where do I put it? I cant put it on the raid5 because that wouldnt have been created yet (the raid5 is going to be built on the mb which the raid0 is currently on)

. the mb is a Gigabyte GA-X58A-URD3 http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3449#sp

You don't need a 2TB drive, you only need a drive large enough to accommodate all the information on the array, so how much used space do you have? That is the best way to do it, you can use Acronis true image to mirror the data to another drive, set your new array, and then mirror the image to the array from the single drive. This is the easiest way I know of to do this, though you will have to have a spare drive large enough to hold the contents or current array.

 

[Sarazen]

Yeah, I have 1.4tb on that drive so am hunting down some storage...

 

[jitpublisher]

Move some of your data off the array until you get it down to a manageable size for cloning.

 

[Guest]

A few months have passed now...

Suggestion: pass your 1.4TB data in RAID0 to one of the new 2TB disk.
Break the Raid0 and move the 1.4TB to one of them.

Now you have your 4x2TB disks ready for the RAID5 and your info is safely in one 2TB disk.

I have 3.6TB of data in a 2x2TB RAID0, my mobo crashed (Asus P6P87 Deluxe b3) and I am trying to access the RAID from a different computer.

It seems the best avenue is to access the RAID from OS.

Before anyone starts to worry 🙂 I have buck up of the 3.6TB 🙂

Good luck to all of us toying with RAID 😛