[SOLVED] Migrating RAID1 from Intel (Z87) to AMD (x570) - can it by done?

[dodancs]

Hey all!


First of all, this is my first time posting here and also not native speaker, so please forgive me my mistakes and if I explained something incorrectly, let me know and I will edit it.


So, this is my current setup: a MSI Z87M Gaming motherboard. It's an Intel platform and I have two SSDs in the system, plus a RAID-1 4TB mirrored storage for work and large files.


A couple of days ago, I decided it was time to move to a newer platform, since this old one has served me very well in the past years, but it's getting rather slow for the work I intend to do.

That's why I bought a new Ryzen 5 3600X + MSI MPG X570 GAMING EDGE WIFI motherboard.


It hasn't arrived yet, but the idea started bugging me. I have an Intel RAID-1 array in my system, no left-over storage on my hands to copy the files to and I want to move to an AMD platform.

Is there any chance that I would be able to just move the RAID array to the new system and it could work? I am not sure if the RAID-1 array has any other special things on the disk or if it's just a normal filesystem which could be accessed on any platform, for example if you grabbed one of the disks from the array and connected them into an external enclosure, if you would be able to access the files on there or still would need the Intel raid chipset to deal with the way the disk is initialized and used?


I do not want to buy another 4TB spare to move the files, nor a smaller disk and make a compressed backup of the current RAID array on it, since that is a waste of money or a lot of time.


Do any of you guys have experienced and worked through this kind of issue? Has anybody tried this?


I am hoping that somebody has already been successfull, but if not, I will try it on my own and hopefully retain all my data and reach my goal.


Thank you all in advance!

 

[Dragos Manea]

Different RAID systems, different RAID chips, next time you better use windows mirror function or a RAID card.

 

[alexoiu]

Hi, Since RAID 1, even if deleting the RAID on the current system, you should be able to access the data on the volume.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000006188/technologies.html

 

[dodancs]

Different RAID systems, different RAID chips, next time you better use windows mirror function or a RAID card.

Yeah, it's quite late for that. When I was building the PC I had a very tight budget so no LSI card for me. Later I only upgraded the storage to larger ones.

 

[Dragos Manea]

Yeah, it's quite late for that. When I was building the PC I had a very tight budget so no LSI card for me. Later I only upgraded the storage to larger ones.

Well dont get me wrong, i know it is late for that, i m just saying this that you know in the future what you can do to avoid this, right now there is nothing you can do. Well maybe, just maybe:
remove the raid array, according to intel everything should remain as it is, next you enter windows and you should have 2 HDDs with identical files, format one of them, the go into Create and format partitions from windows search function delete one of the drives, then select the remaining hard drive right click on it and select mirror this drive and select the other drive, now you should have a fully functional mirror raid system without any complications adn compatible on all systems. You can reinstall windows, you can change motherboard, you can do anything because it will always be recognized. I know this because i use this function but as RAID 0 and i reinstalled windows numerous times until now and i could import the disks without any problems.

EDIT: Here an exact guide how to create a mirror drive in windows:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruCRLLnc8_I

 

[dodancs]

Well dont get me wrong, i know it is late for that, i m just saying this that you know in the future what you can do to avoid this, right now there is nothing you can do. Well maybe, just maybe:
remove the raid array, according to intel everything should remain as it is, next you enter windows and you should have 2 HDDs with identical files, format one of them, the go into Create and format partitions from windows search function delete one of the drives, then select the remaining hard drive right click on it and select mirror this drive and select the other drive, now you should have a fully functional mirror raid system without any complications adn compatible on all systems. You can reinstall windows, you can change motherboard, you can do anything because it will always be recognized. I know this because i use this function but as RAID 0 and i reinstalled windows numerous times until now and i could import the disks without any problems.

EDIT: Here an exact guide how to create a mirror drive in windows:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruCRLLnc8_I

How does this software raid work? Does it use some CPU/RAM overhead? So if I would to re-install windows, I would be able to keep the RAID-1 array?

Sounds nice. I will look into this, much thanks!

 

[Dragos Manea]

I did not noticed any overhead but i have a HEDT cpu. Not only windows reinstall but even motherboard and cpu change (from intel to AMD) and it will still work. You have to go Create and format partitions, right click on the drive array and import and voila, your raid is functional without any loss.

EDIT: Forgot to say that you can change sata cables and sata headers it will still be recognized.

EDIT 2: Forgot to mention that in your case because you did not created both drive in the same time and you add a mirror to an existing drive, it will take some time to copy one drive to the other.

 

[13thmonkey]

Assume you cannot access it, and act accordingly, or use your backup and restore from that.

 

[13thmonkey]

Well dont get me wrong, i know it is late for that, i m just saying this that you know in the future what you can do to avoid this, right now there is nothing you can do. Well maybe, just maybe:
remove the raid array, according to intel everything should remain as it is, next you enter windows and you should have 2 HDDs with identical files, format one of them, the go into Create and format partitions from windows search function delete one of the drives, then select the remaining hard drive right click on it and select mirror this drive and select the other drive, now you should have a fully functional mirror raid system without any complications adn compatible on all systems. You can reinstall windows, you can change motherboard, you can do anything because it will always be recognized. I know this because i use this function but as RAID 0 and i reinstalled windows numerous times until now and i could import the disks without any problems.

EDIT: Here an exact guide how to create a mirror drive in windows:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruCRLLnc8_I

personally i'd use a storage space

 

[Dragos Manea]

Storage space is not compatible with all windows versions, also it creates lots of problems, trust me i had lots of problems with Storage spaces, from the inability to create storage space to the problem of not removing my disk when i asked to, i lost a lot of data messing with storage spaces, the most reliable method to create any type of raid is in partition manager from windows. If you are sure that you will not use older versions of windows (for example you have 10 and want to use 7) then give storage spaces a shot. I lost data because i mess with various operating system, mostly for me that was the problem.

 

[captaincharisma]

Yeah, it's quite late for that. When I was building the PC I had a very tight budget so no LSI card for me. Later I only upgraded the storage to larger ones.

these are always the problems we run into when you have a tight budget and skimp on something crucial like this

 

[13thmonkey]

these are always the problems we run into when you have a tight budget and skimp on something crucial like this

+ Always have a backup, raid 1 is not a backup.

 

[dodancs]

So. I managed it. Partially at least.

While still on my Intel platform, I followed the short tutorial for deleting Intel Raid 1 Array without data-loss. You simply go to their desktop utility, or when booting press Ctrl + i and you will be shown their Raid setup. So there I clicked Delete Raid Array, which told me like a thousand times that I will loose my data, but as it was stated on their website, if the Raid 1 is the only & first memeber of Raid and also has only one volume, you will not lose any data (although they recommend to back-up your data beforehand, which I did).

So I rebooted my PC (cause I did it in their BIOS or whatever utility, that you access before boot time by pressing Ctrl + i) and one drive showed up with all the data on it. I felt relief. Then I started Disk Management inside Win10 and it showed the second drive which was marked as Offline. Upon making it go online, there was the copy of all my data.

Now, I wanted the Raid to be done through Windows as you guys suggested so I followed a short tutorial that was for making a Mirror copy of my existing disk which had some data on (so without data loss) - You remove all partitions (volumes) from the backup drive and then right-click on the disk you want to make backup of -> Add mirror. Then you select the backup disk, and you are done.

Now, first I did this on my Intel platform and I was relieved that it copies the files at around 180MB/s (as seen from activity in the Task Manager). Later my new parts arrived so I decided that I will finish the mirroring (resyncing) on my new build so I shut down the one backup drive (which broke the array - I wanted to backup some stuff just in case Windows10 won't boot on AMD straight away and so I wanted the resyncing to stop). I removed the mirror.

Let's move on to the AMD system. After one and a half hours of removing the old board, dusting everything and installing the new components, I booted the PC and after 3-4 reboots the system boots like there's no-one's business. It also booted straight into Windows 10! Yay! Everything works, I removed the old intel drivers, installed AMD drivers - no problems, this is exciting!

But, there's a bad part. Now I wanted the RAID 1 back. So I opened up Disk Management within Windows 10 and did the same thing - remove all partitions from the backup drive -> right-click on my existing data disk -> Add mirror -> select backup disk -> done. But when I opened the Task Manager I only see drive write speeds of 6.3MB/s and the drive is at 93-97% active. What is going on? The speed never reaches the full speed limit of my drives. At this rate I would be stuck copying my files for 56 hours!! Why is it this way? On Intel, it was going just fine, now on AMD it's so slow.

I read somewhere that it is slow because Windows doesn't want to compromise user's activity by using the drive a 100% - but this is stupid - I would rather if they allowed the user to say, yes please, I will not use the drive, make it copy files on full-speed.

Is there a way to speed this process up? It does not even show me any percentage on the Resyncing process in the Disk Management tool. I am confused.




TL,DR: It is possible to migrate RAID 1 from Intel to AMD. Also when moving across platforms, you don't really need to reinstall Windows 10 as it is handling it just fine - only minor problems occur - it's always recommended to reinstall. But now on AMD the Windows Raid (mirroring) is too slow. Help?

 

[13thmonkey]

My first guess is its a symptom of not reinstalling windows.

 

[dodancs]

+ Always have a backup, raid 1 is not a backup.

I'm living outside my city. I'm currently a student who also works alongside school. So I do not have much time/spare money as I pay for my own living. So setting up a NAS at the current place I live isn't really an option - don't have too much space.

And buying an external 4TB drive is also excessive in my opinion. I have GDrive, but only with 2TB space and my internet connection is not good for a lot of uploading, so if I wanted to backup all my 1.23TB that are in use now, that would take me 511 hours (21.5 days) and I cannot take internet from all my other inmates for almost 22 days each month 😀

That's why compromises were made and I at least wanted to have a RAID 1 backup of my data as all my work and personal things are on there.

 

[dodancs]

My first guess is its a symptom of not reinstalling windows.

That could be the culprit, I may try to reinstall Windows and see if it helps.

 

[13thmonkey]

Would your opinion still be that it is excessive if something went wrong? If you have enough discs for raid 1 then you have enough disks for a live disc and a backup. Which, though not perfect, would be better than raid 1. Raid is an uptime tool not a backup.

 

[dodancs]

Would your opinion still be that it is excessive if something went wrong? If you have enough discs for raid 1 then you have enough disks for a live disc and a backup. Which, though not perfect, would be better than raid 1. Raid is an uptime tool not a backup.

You're right, my data is very important to me, I want to improve my solution, but can only do it over time, so live and backup disk is a good solution, also maybe in combination with RSync or some similar software. I will look into this in the future.

 

[13thmonkey]

The gap between now and the future is when data loss will occur.

 

[popatim]

You're reinstalling windows. The data is already backed up you said so NOW is the perfect time to stop using raid 1.

Install 1 drive and restore your data if needed. Get an external enclosure for the other drive and Bingo! You have a backup drive.
Costs under $30. (This is the one I use here and while not an enclosure, it does have a fan and I can easily swap out any of my many drives.)

This is a much better situation then Raid 1 where any virus would wipe/encrypt both drives at the same time.
Just remember to keep the backup drive disconnected & unpowered when you aren't actively adding to or making a new backup.

 

[dodancs]

You're reinstalling windows. The data is already backed up you said so NOW is the perfect time to stop using raid 1.

Install 1 drive and restore your data if needed. Get an external enclosure for the other drive and Bingo! You have a backup drive.
Costs under $30. (This is the one I use here and while not an enclosure, it does have a fan and I can easily swap out any of my many drives.)

This is a much better situation then Raid 1 where any virus would wipe/encrypt both drives at the same time.
Just remember to keep the backup drive disconnected & unpowered when you aren't actively adding to or making a new backup.

Yeah, now, storing drives without power isn't also the best idea. One drop and all backups are gone. I think it's better to keep the other drive in my PC and just use a backup utility, that would do regular backups. These drives I am using are designed to be operated 24/7 so they should be just fine. Also, the backup drive won't receive as much traffic so it should last longer.

I found Cobian Backup 11. It is a very nice piece of software for this kind of thing, people on the internet said very positive things about it, so I decided to try it out. I set it up to make incremental backups every day, if there are any changes, and also compress everything. My issue was, that I already have 1.34TB in use, so when the software wasn't set to compress individual files, it just stopped when it was out of RAM. Now with the new setting, everything works like it should, and I have a proper (or more appropriate) solution for backing up.

Thank you guys for your help!

 

[popatim]

I don't think you get it.
If the drive is in your PC when a virus or lightning strike hits, do you really think the drive is going to be ignored because you only have backups on it?

Also, an unpowered drive will survive a drop better then a powered up one. The heads should park away from the platters into a dedicated area when you eject the drive from the OS. You can see the area in this video. Its the orange plastic piece he moved the heads into at 6:25.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Y7BniaRXg

 

[DAOWAce]

Anyone else able to chime in with their opinions?

Browsing Google as I'm going through basically the same situation. Have had a RAID1 setup for many many years via iRST as I've been on Intel since Sandy Bridge (9 years?). Finally upgraded to x570 from x99 and this issue has been one of the unfortunate problems I'm suffering and not experienced enough in to know what to do about it.

The mirrored thing seems like a very simple solution; too simple.

I boot between various OS installs/versions (still have XP in my boot loader though haven't actually booted to it since moving from Vista to 7), so Storage Spaces doesn't seem like a good solution.

Like the OP, I can't quite invest in a NAS and that's also a whole other learning experience besides.

For me, the point of my RAID1 is to have a redundant backup on the local machine, while also being actively used for many portable tools and mass storage. I've lost a hard drive before that I used for backups, which caused me to invest in a RAID(1) solution. I planned to move to 5/6/10 in future, which I wanted to do after upgrading as I do have 2 spare 4TB drives sitting in storage and my current 4TB array is nearly full.

So, ideally, I'd like to upgrade my 2x4TB RAID1 to 4x4TB RAID10? Or something similar. Not done much research into Windows' mirroring thing, but I'd assume it only works on 2 drives.