Is RAID 5 transferable

[ccowan]

Hi all,

I have a 1tb hard drive and I am quickly running out of space, I am highly considering getting 2 more 1 tb hard drive the same model and then use them in a RAID 5 configuration. However I might be being given a new motherboard soon, and I was wandering if the 3 hard drive are transferable and I would have all of my data and the same windows as before on my new motherboard, or as it is a new motherboard will I need to re-install windows anyway?

many thanks

C Cowan

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

depends on what motherboard you have now to which motherboard your going to. usually if the chipset is in the same series then you can. but reinstalling is always recommended regardless.

If you upgrade a lot you may want to consider getting a dedicated raid controller. they don't have to be that expensive but they do allow you move from system to system with greater ease.

 

[ccowan]

Well I have a P6T non duluxe and I am most likley getting a asus P6X58 and they both have the intel x58 chipset.

 

[ccowan]

also can you recommend any good raid controllers?

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

Both motherboards use the same intel ich10r south bridge so you should be to move the raid 5 array between the boards. I'm not a expert on raid cards but something like this should help.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115027

the two motherboards you mention don't seem to be all that different. can i ask why your making the upgrade?

 

[ccowan]

I really can't afford the RAID controller, I can only just afford the 2 additional hard drive atm.

I am building my parents a low end i7 computer and I am going to give them my motherboard so I can get a chance of getting a new one.

 

[paulcooperorama]

a separate raid controller is the way to go... but like mentioned you should separate your O/S on either a separate partition of the array or on a spearate drive all together... here is another wrinkle that you may want to consider... use Virtual Box to create a second "machine" on the same array. this way you can move your "host" o/s with little or no trouble then... the guest machines can move with little or no hassle from hardware

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

paul makes a good point. you should consider using intel matrix raid to create seperate arrays. Low end raid 5 like the ich10r provides can be a bit slow. You could take 100 GB from each drive to create a 300GB raid 0 array for the OS and programs. and a use the rest of the space (i think a total of 1.8TB) for the RAID 5. Make sure you create the RAID 0 array first, and that you disable indexing on the RAID 5 array in windows.

If the RAID card is out of your price range, and you plan on sticking with intel for awhile then you should be fine without it. but if your the type to upgrade every year and a half or so consider the RAID card for a future upgrade.