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Breaking RAID 1

L

Lepy

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 28, 2004
Messages
65
I have a single 1TB RAID 1 array running at the moment that I am thinking about breaking for various reasons: extra space, and most annoyingly, dmraid on linux can't activate the array since the windows partitioner rounds up on space allocation. I think it goes without saying that in this process, I want to retain all of my data. I want to reformat one drive, transfer the data, then reformat the other (or should I only need to reformat one since the other drive should hopefully still be accessible?)

Anyway, the system is using a P5K Deluxe (ICH9R). According to the Intel Matrix Storage Manager faq (see here and here), it should be as easy as opening the Intel Matrix Storage Manager, right clicking on the array and deleting it. It also mentions, "Note: This will not result in data loss; the data will be available on each individual drive after the RAID 1 volume is deleted. See the following link for more details."

Before I proceed, I just want confirmation that the faq is true and that deleting the array from the manager will produce two identical 1TB drives with the information from the RAID 1 on completely intact.

A silly question, but I just want some reassurance. Thanks!
 
in my experience with MatrixRAID, you could just physically disconnect one of the drives, then move the port that it's attached to, on the motherboard. Since MatrixRAID ties it's config for the RAID group to the physical port...which the removed drive will no longer be on, it should show up as an unintialized drive. Just initialize, format, and copy the data off of the source.

The MatrixRAID drive will alert you that the mirrored array is operating degraded, but since the goal is to break it anyways, you're good to go. Move your data off to the second drive (now stand alone), shut down, turn off RAID in BIOS, and cross your fingers.

DO NOT TURN OFF RAID UNTIL YOU HAVE COPIED YOUR DATA OFF.

I am pretty sure that when you turn the RAID function off, and then select the drive that you copied the data to (the drive that was removed from the set, and made to be stand alone), you will not be able to boot the system. You will likely have to reload. The ICH chipset uses a different driver at boot, based on what mode it's in. SATA/IDE/Enhanced/Combined mode uses driver A, AHCI mode uses driver B, and RAID mode uses driver C. I'm betting that after you change the controller mode in BIOS, because the improper driver will be installed, it will not boot, and will BSOD/crash. You may have to reload the OS, then copy your data back, off of the initial stand alone drive.

However, after turning off RAID and going to either SATA mode or AHCI, you may be able to boot into Safe Mode and uninstall the ICH RAID drivers and MatrixRAID manager. Keep in mind that you WILL NOT be able to install the new mode drivers in Safe Mode, YOU WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO UNINSTALL. After Uninstalling the RAID drivers, you will need to reboot, and hope that whatever OS you're using has enough built in drivers to at least allow you to boot without full chipset support, and then re-install the drivers for the ICH chipset, which will at this point, re-detect, and re-install the disk controllers drivers, in the current operational mode.
 
Thanks, sabregen. I'll take your advice and keep the raid up, yet degraded while transferring the data to the other raid disk that has been reformatted.

However, I guess I should have mentioned that this array is a storage/backup array and does not contain anything that needs to be bootable. This should mean that, once the raid is degraded and the data transfered, I will be able to simply set driver C (RAID) to driver B (AHCI) and have access to the stand alone and a newly uninitialized drive. Correct?
 
Actually I have gone thru this with a customer. What I had to do was use the repair option on the Windows Server 2003 disc(of course had to use Nlite to slipstream the onboard SATA's driver into the install.) It works, however most of the time I prefer fresh installs.
 
It seems that the Intel MatrixRAID no longer ties a drive to a RAID group using the physical port, instead its s/n or UUID, I guess. I unplugged a non-RAID drive from port 4 and then plugged in one of the RAID drives (which used to be on port 3).

The MatrixRAID boot utility showed the RAID array still functional, listing the RAID disk on the new port (4) and the unplugged, non-RAID disk not listed.

So, the only other ports on the mobo (1 IDE and 2 ESATA) are under the control of the JMicron chip. Plugging a drive into one of those may work like you say, but I have no SATA to IDE or SATA to ESATA converters.

So, should I just trust the Intel faq or are there any other ideas of how to break my RAID 1 and retain all of the data on one of the drives.

Thanks
 
Well, I ended up following the directions of the Intel faq. I rebooted and accessed the Intel Matrix status ROM (using ctrl+i) and deleted the RAID array from there.

Upon booting back into Window 7, I found that my drives were all intact with their data. Opening Computer Manager, I found that my second 1 TB drive was offline because it shared its signature with the other RAID drive.

To be safe, I unplugged the power from the drive I was able to access and booted into Karmic. Interestingly, I was able to mount and access the data on the single drive that I was unable to access while it was in a RAID array (don't think its a dmraid bug though). I reformatted the drive and then booted back into windows after replugging the other drive.

I was greeted with the same drives and file structures that I had before I deleted the RAID volume. The data on drive D: was all still accessible. I then put the other drive into online mode through Computer Manager and was greeted with a clean 1 TB partition with a new drive letter.

The only anomaly I have experienced is that when I access the HDD boot order in the BIOS, I am greeted with two listings of the OS drive. I am still running in RAID mode, so perhaps changing to AHCI will remedy this, but I have risked already risked my chips for the day.

Thanks for the help!
 
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