RAID 0 Arrays

[BobV]

What would happen to my RAID 0 HD array if I replaced my mobo & CPU.

Last week I got a good deal on a Radeon 9550 when I was looking to up my RAM to 1gig. Well to make a long story short my mobo and new video cards are not combatable. I was shocked because the ATI graphics care said noting about compatable mobos, only that it need to be an AGP. Furthermore this is not a very old mobo, a two year old ABIT KTX-333. Well now its either try and return the graphics card or spend a little more $ and get a new Mobo CPU combo. I'm running a Athlon xp1900 (1.6 ghz).

[redwudz]

I've never transferred a RAID 0 array with data to another MB, but it should work OK. I would, of course, try to back it up first, just in case. I assume you are trying to preserve the data.

I also assume you know that RAID 0 is not the best for safekeeping data. Good for speed, not good for longevity. Anyway, AFAIK, RAID is the same with different systems. You may have a few problems setting up the array, depending on the MB. Stripe size, etc., you need to get the parameters from your present setup so you can have the same on the new MB.

I have transferred arrays to different MBs with no problems, but they were blank at the time with no data. Once the MB RAID BIOS was set up, they were recognized as a array and installed. As long as you can back up your data, I would give it a try.

You also have the option to purchase a seperate RAID PCI card and go that way on a new system. On board RAID is cheaper though.



The MB I use now doesn't have RAID, and I don't really miss it that much. The only thing I really miss was the ability to connect drives together to get one big drive. I have lost drives before on RAID 0 and lost everything, but I always back up, so no real loss.

[ViRaL1]

You shouldn't have any problems. I've replaced a mobo and CPU in one of my servers and it left my 3 drive stripe in tact. This particular time I didn't reinstall Window$. You CAN reinstall Window$ and keep your array data so long as the OS wasn't running on the stripe. If you reinstall Window$, when it sees your array it will show up as foreign in Disk Management. All you need to do is import the array (you may have to import the disks individually if it's software RAID).

[ViRaL1]

The MB I use now doesn't have RAID, and I don't really miss it that much. The only thing I really miss was the ability to connect drives together to get one big drive. I have lost drives before on RAID 0 and lost everything, but I always back up, so no real loss.

If you're running XP Pro, you should still be able to setup a strip set in Disk Management. Pro supports dynamic disks, although I don't think Home does.

[rallynavvie]

Make sure to back it up. You will still likely run into the Windows configuration problems of dropping an existing setup of Doze into a new hardware environment. That will be a larger hurdle than the actual hardware portion of it. However if it does work let us know. It would be nice to know I can move them around in my systems at work.

[redwudz]

ViRaL1, thanks. I wondered about that when I accessed the drives in disk management. I just repartitioned them as individual, but I would like to join them again. They had no data on them when I changed MBs, so I wasn't too concerned. I'll have to check that out.

[BobV]

Well what I've decided to do is just return the video card. I'm really not eager to upgrade to that extent at this time (mobo and cpu). Looks a a good January project.

But thanks for the help!!